John Walker began his career as a photographer in Montreal. In 1975 he turned to cinematography and filmmaking. He has won many awards for his producing, directing and cinematography with credits on over sixty films. His films have received international acclaim, have been widely broadcast and have appeared at the major international film festivals in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin and London. From the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT) he has received numerous nominations and awards including the Genie for best feature documentary- Strand - Under the Dark Cloth, a Gemini for best director- The Hand of Stalin and the coveted Donald Brittian Award for best documentary - Utshimassits: Place of the Boss.

Walker has tackled some of the foremost tragedies of the twentieth century. He photographed and directed LENINGRAD and LENINGRADSKAYA - A VILLAGE IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA, both part of the BBC/October Films trilogy The Hand of Stalin, which addressed the devastating human suffering under Stalin's regime. The films were broadcast to general acclaim; "oral history at its most devastating," said London's Daily Mail; "words fail the enormity of what these films reveal," said The Observer. Nominated as best series by the Royal Television Society, the British Press Guild and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

His directorial credits include HIDDEN CHILDREN, on children who concealed their Jewish identity to survive the Holocaust, and ORPHANS OF MANCHURIA, on Japanese children orphaned in China at the end of the war, both broadcast on Great Britain's Channel 4.

With UTSHIMASSITS: PLACE OF THE BOSS he turned his attention to a tragedy on Canadian soil. Juxtaposing the powerful testimony of the Mushuau Innu of Davis Inlet with the vast Labrador landscape, Walker told the painful story of the nomadic Innu.

His feature length films include the documentaries TOUGH ASSIGNMENT,
STRAND - UNDER THE DARK CLOTH and the critically acclaimed theatrical feature collaboration with Jackie Burroughs, Louise Clark, John Frizzel, Aerlyn Weissman - A WINTER TAN.

In his most recent feature documentary THE FAIRY FAITH Walker returns to a theme explored in his earlier films - ways of seeing. In all of his films landscape is an essential element that informs his quest to understand the human experience. In this film, it is through the landscape of his ancestors both real and imaginary that he trys to reclaim a belief in a fairy realm that his grandmother instilled within him as a child. It is a search for the child's imagination in a rational world that has relegated the fairies to the nursery. From the Moors of Devon and the Highlands of Scotland to the brooding Celtic landscapes of Ireland and the intimate hills of Cape Breton, Walker finds evidence of this «otherworld».

FILMOGRAPHY

THE FAIRY FAITH (director, writer, co-cinematography, producer) 2000
A documentary that follows Walker's quest to reclaim a belief in the fairy realm.
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT) -
Genie nomination - best documentary
Atlantic Film Festival

CHANGING GROUND (director, writer) 2001
A documentary film shot in Papua New Guinea that witnesses an exchange between two indigenous communities: the Maisin of Collingwood Bay and the Sto:lo of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.

UTSHIMASSITS: PLACE OF THE BOSS (director, producer) 1996
A documentary film on the Mushuau Innu of Davis Inlet, Labrador.
ACCT Gemini - Donald Brittain Award
ACCT Gemini nomination - best documentary director
Hot Docs nomination - best cultural documentary
Yorkton Film Festival - Golden Sheaf Awards - best film of festival,
best documentary over 30min and best music
Atlantic Film Festival - Rex Tasker Award- best documentary

TOUGH ASSIGNMENT (director, cinematographer, co-producer) 1996
A feature length documentary following four teachers for a year at a Toronto high school.
Hot Docs award - best editing of festival

THE CHAMPAGNE SAFARI (executive producer) 1995
Feature length documentary on the life of industrialist and alleged Nazi collaborator Charles E. Bedaux.
ACCT Genie Award - best feature length documentary
Gold Medal - The New York Festivals - International Competition

HIDDEN CHILDREN (director, cinematographer) 1994
The story of children who hid their Jewish identity during WW II.
Chicago Film Festival - Golden Plaque Award
Invited to the New York, San Francisco and Toronto Jewish Film Festivals
ACCT Gemini nomination - Donald Brittain Award - best documentary

ORPHANS OF MANCHURIA (director, co-cinematography) 1993
A documentary on the plight of Japanese children left in China at the end of
WW II.
ACCT Gemini nomination - Donald Brittian Award - best documentary

SHEPHERDS TO THE FLOCK (director) 1992
One of four-part NFB/CBC series God's Dominion on religion in Canada.
Based on the book by Ron Graham.
DISTRESS SIGNALS (director, producer) 1991
A critical look at the economic and political world of global television culture.
ACCT Gemini nomination - best documentary

THE HAND OF STALIN (director, cinematographer) 1990
Two films from the BBC trilogy.
Leningradskaya - A Village in Southern Russia and Leningrad
ACCT Gemini Award - best documentary director
Nominated as best series by the Royal Television Society, the British Press Guild and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.
Leningradskaya - A Village in Southern Russia invited to the
Toronto International Film Festival
Nyon International Documentary Film Festival
St. Petersburg International Documentary Film Festival

STRAND - UNDER THE DARK CLOTH (director, producer) 1989
Feature length documentary on photographer and filmmaker Paul Strand.
ACCT Genie Award - best feature documentary
Nyon International Documentary Festival - Public Jury Award
Festival International Du Film Sur L'Art - best biography
Invited to the Toronto, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Washington, Amsterdam, Nyon and Hong Kong International Film Festivals

A WINTER TAN (co-director, cinematographer, co-producer) 1987
Theatrical feature drama starring Jackie Burroughs, based on the book
«Give Sorrow Words - Maryse Holder's Letters From Mexico»
Seven ACCT Genie nominations, including best picture and best director
Invited to the Toronto, Berlin, London and New York International Film Festivals

CHAMBERS - TRACKS AND GESTURES (director, cinematographer) 1982
Portrait of the Canadian artist Jack Chambers.
Canadian Film and Television Association Award - best documentary
Yorkton Film Festival - Golden Sheaf Awards - best film of festival and best human condition film
American Film Festival - Blue Ribbon
Houston Film Festival - Bronze Award
Canadian Film Editors Award - Best Editing
Canadian Society of Cinematographers Award - Best Documentary Photography

John Walker's awards for cinematography include a Gemini for A Fragile Tree Has Roots; Canadian Society of Cinematography awards for Chambers Tracks & Gestures and Blue Snake; Yorkton Film Festival - Golden Sheaf Awards - best cinematography of festival for On To The Polar Sea and Leningradskaya-Southern Russia. Whalesong and Making Overtures (Academy Award nomination) also received Gemini nominations for best documentary cinematography. The Hand of Stalin received a Gemeaux nomination for best director of photography in all categories.

PUBLICATIONS

Crooks Harold, "Vacuuming the Crumbs:The Politics of Film Production",
The Canadian Forum, #779 March 1989. Interview with John Walker.

Moscovitch Arlene, "The Filmmaker as Camel: interview with John Walker", Constructing Reality: Exploring Media Issues in Documentary,
The National Film Board of Canada, 1993

Perlmutter Tom, "Tough Assignment: A Film by John Walker", Take One, Volume 4, #11, Spring 1996. Feature article.

Perlmutter Tom, "Distress Signals", Channels of Resistance: Global Television and Local Empowerment, Tony Dowmunt editor, British Film Institute Publishing/Channel 4 Television, 1993. An article based on the film Distress Signals directed by John Walker.

Painchaud Jeanne, "Le Prix de la Liberte" Entretien avec Jackie Burroughs et John Walker, 24 Images, #41 Winter 88-89.

Steed Judy, "School daze inspire filmmaker's class act", The Toronto Star, March 20, 1996. Feature article on the filmmaker and the film Tough Assignment.

Stevens Peter, The Brink of Reality: New Canadian Documentary Film and Video, Toronto: Between The Lines, 1993. Includes a chapter and interview on the documentary films of John Walker.

Walker John, "Location Notes on A Winter Tan", Descant 64/65, Volume 20, Spring-Summer 1989. Notes and photographs from the location shooting of the feature film starring Jackie Burroughs.

Walker John, "The Big Deal", Cinema Canada, #156 October 1988. Feature article on the making of A Winter Tan.

Walker John, «Manufacturing Consent», POV,#20 Winter 1992.

Walker John "In conversation with John Paskievich", Take One, Volume 6, #18, Winter, 1998.

Wise Wyndam, "Back From the U.S.S.R.", POV, #14 September, 1990. Interview with John Walker.

MEMBERSHIPS

Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
Canadian Independent Film Caucus (Co-Founder, Past President)
Canadian Society of Cinematographers (Full member)
Writers Guild of Canada