A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Donald Brittain, a revered Canadian figure, remains cherished for his genuine nature and unparalleled storytelling. He created over 100 acclaimed films, like "Volcano" (1976) portraying Malcolm Lowry and "Paperland" (1979) exposing Canadian bureaucrats. His breakthrough came with "Fields of Sacrifice" (1963), marking a shift in his career. Brittain's legacy isn't just his films; his camaraderie and perfectionism left a lasting impact at the National Film Board. Two decades after his passing, his absence is deeply felt by all who knew him.
Director:
1958 Setting Fires for Science
1961 Everybody's Prejudiced
1964 Bethune
1964 Fields of Sacrifice
1966 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
1966 Never a Backward Step
1967 Creative Person: Leonard Cohen
1967 Memorandum
1968 Saul Alinsky Went to War
1970 Tiger Child
1973 Starblanket
1974 Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939
1974 King of the Hill
1976 His Worship, Mr. Montréal
1976 Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1978 Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
1978 Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
1978 The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors
1978 The Champions, Part 2: Trappings of Power
1978 The Dionne Quintuplets
1979 Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed
1981 The Running Man
1983 The Accident
1985 Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
1986 The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle
1991 Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio
Producer:
1958 Setting Fires for Science
1961 Everybody's Prejudiced
1964 Bethune
1964 Fields of Sacrifice
1966 A Trip Down Memory Lane
1966 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
1966 Never a Backward Step
1967 Creative Person: Leonard Cohen
1967 Memorandum
1968 Saul Alinsky Went to War
1970 Tiger Child
1971 The Apprentice
1973 Starblanket
1974 Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939
1974 King of the Hill
1974 Thunderbirds in China
1976 His Worship, Mr. Montréal
1976 Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1978 Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
1978 Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
1978 The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors
1978 The Champions, Part 2: Trappings of Power
1978 The Dionne Quintuplets
1979 Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed
1981 The Running Man
1983 The Accident
1985 Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
1986 The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle
1991 Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio
Screenplay:
1958 Setting Fires for Science
1961 Everybody's Prejudiced
1964 Bethune
1964 Fields of Sacrifice
1966 A Trip Down Memory Lane
1966 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
1966 Never a Backward Step
1967 Creative Person: Leonard Cohen
1967 Memorandum
1968 Saul Alinsky Went to War
1970 Tiger Child
1971 The Apprentice
1973 Starblanket
1974 Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939
1974 King of the Hill
1974 Thunderbirds in China
1976 His Worship, Mr. Montréal
1976 Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1978 Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
1978 Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
1978 The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors
1978 The Champions, Part 2: Trappings of Power
1978 The Dionne Quintuplets
1979 Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed
1981 The Running Man
1983 The Accident
1985 Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
1986 The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle
1991 Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio
Script:
1958 Setting Fires for Science
1961 Everybody's Prejudiced
1964 Bethune
1964 Fields of Sacrifice
1966 A Trip Down Memory Lane
1966 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
1966 Never a Backward Step
1967 Creative Person: Leonard Cohen
1967 Memorandum
1968 Saul Alinsky Went to War
1970 Tiger Child
1971 The Apprentice
1973 Starblanket
1974 Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939
1974 King of the Hill
1974 Thunderbirds in China
1976 His Worship, Mr. Montréal
1976 Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1978 Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
1978 Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
1978 The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors
1978 The Champions, Part 2: Trappings of Power
1978 The Dionne Quintuplets
1979 Canada Vignettes: Wop May
1979 Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed
1981 The Running Man
1983 The Accident
1985 Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
1986 The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle
1991 Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio
Story Consultant:
1958 Setting Fires for Science
1961 Everybody's Prejudiced
1964 Bethune
1964 Fields of Sacrifice
1966 A Trip Down Memory Lane
1966 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
1966 Never a Backward Step
1967 Creative Person: Leonard Cohen
1967 Memorandum
1968 Juggernaut
1968 Saul Alinsky Went to War
1970 Tiger Child
1971 The Apprentice
1973 Starblanket
1974 Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939
1974 King of the Hill
1974 Thunderbirds in China
1976 His Worship, Mr. Montréal
1976 Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1978 Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
1978 Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
1978 The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors
1978 The Champions, Part 2: Trappings of Power
1978 The Dionne Quintuplets
1979 Canada Vignettes: Wop May
1979 Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed
1981 The Running Man
1983 The Accident
1985 Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
1986 The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle
1991 Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio
Writer:
1958 Setting Fires for Science
1961 Everybody's Prejudiced
1962 The Clouded Dawn
1964 Bethune
1964 Fields of Sacrifice
1965 Buster Keaton Rides Again
1966 A Trip Down Memory Lane
1966 Helicopter Canada
1966 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
1966 Never a Backward Step
1966 Stravinsky
1967 Creative Person: Leonard Cohen
1967 Memorandum
1967 What on Earth!
1968 Juggernaut
1968 Saul Alinsky Went to War
1970 Tiger Child
1971 The Apprentice
1973 Starblanket
1974 Dreamland: A History of Early Canadian Movies 1895-1939
1974 King of the Hill
1974 Thunderbirds in China
1975 Arctic IV
1975 Scoggie
1975 Whistling Smith
1976 His Worship, Mr. Montréal
1976 Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry
1978 Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle
1978 Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz Schumacher
1978 The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors
1978 The Champions, Part 2: Trappings of Power
1978 The Dionne Quintuplets
1979 Canada Vignettes: Wop May
1979 Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed
1981 The Running Man
1983 The Accident
1985 Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks
1985 First Stop, China
1986 Mobility
1986 The Champions, Part 3: The Final Battle
1991 Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio
???? The World Of Enrico Fermi
Director:
1977 For The Record
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.