Judith Crawley

Judith Rosemary (Sparks) Crawley (April 21, 1914 – September 16, 1986) was a Canadian film producer, cinematographer, director, and screenwriter. She and her husband Frank Radford "Budge" Crawley co-founded the production company Crawley Films in 1939.

Crawley is best known for writing the Academy Award-winning documentary The Man Who Skied Down Everest. She is considered to be the first Canadian female filmmaker, and is recognized as being a pioneer for women who work in the film industry.

Filmmaking career Crawley wrote the script and edited Île d'Orléans (1938), the first film she worked on with her husband. During her time at the NFB, Crawley directed Four New Apple Dishes, the first NFB film to be directed by a woman.

As an independent filmmaker on contract to the NFB, the Crawley's The Loon's Necklace (1950) "remains in the national collective unconscious of generations of Canadians.

In 1957, Crawley and her husband were given a joint Canadian Film Award.

After 1961, Crawley elected to focus on producing and writing rather than directing. As a result, Crawley wrote the script for The Man Who Skied Down Everest, which in 1975 won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. This film was the first Canadian-made production to take home the Academy Award for Best Documentary .

From 1979 to 1982, Crawley was the president of the Canadian Film Institute.

In 1986, Crawley and her husband received a joint Special Achievement Genie Award for their continued work in the Canadian film industry.

Death On September 16, 1986, Crawley died from respiratory disease.

Partial filmography