Tom Radford

Tom Radford CM (born March 12, 1946) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker from Edmonton, Alberta.[1] A cofounder with Anne Wheeler and P. J. Reese of the Filmwest Associates studio, Radford is most noted for films on the history, culture and politics of Western Canada.[1]

Born in Edmonton, Radford was the son of diarist Gertrude Hogg and the grandson of a former editor of the Edmonton Journal.[1] He studied Canadian history at the University of Alberta, but left halfway through his master's program to begin working on his first documentary film, Ernest Brown: Pioneer Photographer.[1] The film won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best of Festival at the Yorkton Film Festival in 1973;[2] in 1975, he won both Best of Festival and Best Director at Yorkton for The Man Who Chooses the Bush.[3]

In 1980 Radford left Filmwest to launch the Northwest Studio of the National Film Board of Canada, serving as executive producer of the division until 1985.[1] He was subsequently a founding partner in the National Screen Institute, and in the commercial firms Film Frontiers, Great North Productions and Clearwater Media.[1]

His other films have included Land (1971),[1] Death of a Delta (1972),[1] Every Saturday Night (1973), The Forests and Vladimir Krajina (1978), Life After Hockey (1989),[1] The Buffalo Ground (1995),[1] Tickling the Dragon's Tail (1999),[1] The Honour of the Crown (2000), Arctic Dreamer: The Lonely Quest of Vilhjalmur Stefansson (2003),[4] Tar Sands: The Selling of Alberta (2008)[1] and Lost Years: A People's Struggle for Justice (2011), as well as episodes of the television documentary series West, Pacificanada, The Nature of Things and A Scattering of Seeds.

He won the Gemini Award for Best Science and Nature Documentary at the 26th Gemini Awards in 2011 for "Code Breakers", a Nature of Things episode he produced in collaboration with director Niobe Thompson;[5] he also previously won Gemini Awards in 1988 for Foster Child and in 2004 for Arctic Dreamers,[6] and received nominations for Tipping Point: The Age of the Oil Sands and The Perfect Runner.

He was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada in 2020.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tom Murray, "Tom Radford". The Canadian Encyclopedia, March 22, 2010.
  2. ^ "Edmonton film chosen best at Yorkton festival". Regina, Saskatchewan: Regina Leader-Post. October 22, 1973. p. 2. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  3. ^ Humphries, Don (October 27, 1975). "Film board shows dominate film festival". Regina, Saskatchewan: Regina Leader-Post. p. 7. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  4. ^ "Documentary on discoverer of Arctic "blond Eskimos" makes TV debut". Canadian Press, January 29, 2004.
  5. ^ Fish Griwkowsky, "Locally produced doc wins two Geminis". Edmonton Journal, September 1, 2011.
  6. ^ Olenka Melnyk, "Study of last great Arctic explorer yields Gemini for filmmaker". Edmonton Journal, December 20, 2004.
  7. ^ Josee St-Onge, "'Such a surprise': Edmonton filmmaker awarded Order of Canada". CBC News Edmonton, November 27, 2020.