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 and has 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 Brittain Award for best documentary (Place of the Boss: Utshimassits).

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, and 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. They were nominated for Best Series by the Royal Television Society, the British Press Guild and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

Walker's directorial credits include Hidden Children, on children who concealed their Jewish identity to survive the Holocaust, and Orphans of Manchura, on Japanese children orphaned in China at the end of the war. Both films were broadcast on Great Britain's Channel 4.

With Place of the Boss: Utshimassits, 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 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 one, it is through the landscape of his ancestors both real and imaginary that he tries to reclaim a belief in a fairy realm that his grandmother instilled in 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."

With his provocative film Passage, Walker challenges formal conventions with a complex mix of fiction and documentary. Martin Knelman of the Toronto Star described this work as "one of the great triumphs in Canadian documentary film history."  With his latest offering, A Drummer's Dream, Walker delivers a film that lifts you into another dimension of pure joy and exhilaration.
 
FILMOGRAPHY

A Drummer's Dream (director, writer, narrator, producer), 2010 spring release.
A rare and unique assembly of some of the greatest drummers in the world. Explosive talent, passion, humour and irresistible personality come together in a magical setting when seven diverse musicians create a profound and unforgettable experience.

Passage (director, writer, narrator, co-producer), 2008
Walker takes us on an epic historical adventure that involves cannibalism, a vengeful woman and an historical cover-up by British authorities that credited the wrong man with the discovery of the Northwest Passage.
Erik Barnouw Award - Organization of American Historians (2010)
Banff World Television Festival - Grand Jury Prize - Best Canadian Production (2009)
Grierson British Documentary Awards - Shortlist - History Today Best Historical Documentary (2009)
Canadian Film & Television Producers Association - Indie Award - Best Documentary Production (2009)
Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth - Best Picture
Atlantic Film Festival - Best Director, Best Cinematography
Writers Guild of Canada - Screenwriters Award - Best Documentary Script
Silver Chris Award - Columbus International Film & Video Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival - Audience Top Ten Canadian Films

Men of the Deeps (director, writer, cinematographer, co-producer), 2003
Featuring 16 outstanding songs that exemplify an oral tradition of almost 300 years, the film captures the grace and dignity of a group of miners whose livelihood has been lost but whose voices continue to inspire and uplift.
Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television - Gemini Awards -
Best Performing Arts Documentary, Best Documentary Photography, Best Documentary Sound
Audience Award at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
Canadian Society of Cinematographers Award - Best Documentary Photography
Atlantic Film Festival Award - Excellence in Sound Design
Viewers' Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Tidal Wave Film Festival

Years from Here (director, writer, narrator), 2002
The film is a follow-up to Changing Ground, which documented the Sto:los' journey the previous year to Papua New Guinea. It is through the observations of the Maisin and the experiences of the Sto:lo in Canada that we come to understand the complexity and tragedy of adapting to a foreign way of life

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.

Place of the Boss: Utshimassits (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 30 Min 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 Brittain Award - Best Documentary

Shepherds to the Flock (director), 1992 
One of a 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 for 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, Montreal - 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 Liberté" Entretien avec Jackie Burroughs et John Walker, 24 Images, #41, Winter 88-89.

Steed Judy, "School daze inspire filmmaker's class act," 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