- publicWebsite:
Visit - group Other Names:
description About
Julian Biggs (1920–1972) was a director and producer with the National Film Board of Canada and its first Director of English Production. Over the course of his 20-year career, he created 146 films, two of which (Herring Hunt (1953) and Paddle to the Sea (1966)) were nominated for Academy Awards. His film 23 Skidoo (1964) received two BAFTA nominations, including the BAFTA United Nations award. Biggs was born and raised in Port Perry, in southern Ontario. When World War II broke out in 1939, he joined the Canadian Army and then transferred to the Canadian Navy, where he spent the rest of the war serving on mine-sweepers. He then attended the University of Toronto and, in 1951, was hired as a production assistant by the National Film Board of Canada. He directed his first film, The Son, a year later. From 1956 to 1958, Biggs produced the Perspective series (paralleled by the similar series in French Passe-partout), which was 35 30-minute dramas with an emphasis on social themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, adolescence, the elderly, racial problems etc. One such film, Monkey on the Back, directed by Biggs, was a bleak, tragic story of man's unsuccessful struggle to free himself from drug addiction. Similar to Robert Anderson's Drug Addict (1948), which had been banned in the U.S., it was the type of film that caused the NFB to reconsider its role in producing socially relevant films. There was an unwritten policy and priority to shift away from social realism to the 'art' of film.
Info
- wc Gender: Male
- calendar_month Birth Date: 1920-02-24
- event Death Date 1972-12-04
- school Known for: Production
- star Popularity: 1.1
- info Birth Place Port Perry, Ontario, Canada
- visibility Views: 4 views
-
star User Ratings:
image Images
movie_edit Directing
0
A Little Fellow from Gambo: The Joey Smallwood Story
1970-01-01
0
A Little Fellow from Gambo: The Joey Smallwood Story
1970-01-01
0
Dresden Story
1954-01-01
0
23 Skidoo
1964-01-01
0
Phoebe
1964-01-01
0
Robert Baldwin: A Matter Of Principle
1961-01-01
0
Louis-Joseph Papineau: The Demi-God
1961-01-01
0
Family of Ghana
1958-03-06
0
Sable Island
1956-01-01
0
Encounter at Trinity
1957-01-01
0
With the Canadians in Korea
1952-02-03
0
23 Skidoo
1964-01-01
0
23 Skidoo
1964-01-01
0
Fighter Wing
1956-01-01
0
Herring Hunt
1953-10-16
0
High Steel
1965-01-01
0
A Little Fellow from Gambo: The Joey Smallwood Story
1970-01-01
0
Notes for a Film About Donna & Gail
1966-01-01
0
Wolfe and Montcalm
1957-01-01
0
Lord Durham
1961-01-01
0
Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova Scotia
1961-01-01
0
Georges-Étienne Cartier - The Lion of Québec
1962-01-01
0
Alexander Galt: The Stubborn Idealist
1962-12-31
0
Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova Scotia
1961-01-01
0
Alexander Galt: The Stubborn Idealist
1962-12-31
0
Lord Elgin: Voice of the People
1959-01-01
0
Portrait of the Artist
1963-01-01
0
The Barrier
1957-01-01
0
Howard
1957-01-01
0
The Oyster-Man
1951-01-01
0
Paddle to the Sea
1966-02-01
0
The Railrodder
1965-06-20
0
Crossroads
1957-09-25
0
Fires of Envy
1957-01-01
0
Buster Keaton Rides Again
1965-10-30