William Weintraub

William Weintraub (February 19, 1926 – November 6, 2017) was a Canadian documentarian/filmmaker, journalist and author, best known for his long career with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

Early life Weintraub was born in Montreal, to Louis Weintraub and Mina Blumer Weintraub, and grew up in the blue-collar neighbourhood of Verdun. His father had been a stock broker; he lost everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and worked as the manager of a corner store. William studied English Literature and political science at McGill University, where he had worked on the McGill Daily. In 1947, he took the job of a ski reporter at The Montreal Gazette, from which he was fired for trying to unionize. His time at the Gazette was the basis for his 1961 novel Why Rock the Boat?, which director John Howe turned into a film in 1974.

Career From 1951 to 1955, Weintraub worked as a copy editor at Weekend Picture Magazine. He became interested in the new medium of television and, in 1955, after taking a two-week course in script-writing, started freelancing as a writer with the CBC and the NFB.

In 1965, he joined the NFB staff and stayed until his retirement in 1987, writing, producing and/or directing 115 documentaries and short films. Productions ranged from Canada: Beef Cattle to historical documentaries to a portrait of Canadian writer Margaret Laurence. His final documentary The Rise and Fall of English Montreal dealt with the second large Quebec diaspora that began in the 1960s and accelerated rapidly after the 1976 Quebec election.

From 1975 to 1976, Weintraub was the director, National Film Board studio in Nairobi, Kenya. He served on the international jury of the Kraków Film Festival and was on the board of the Quebec Council for the Diffusion of Cinema. He was a member of the Canadian delegation that visited China's film industry in 1977, a delegate to the UNESCO Conference on Film and Television, and was a recipient of a Canada Council Senior Arts Fellowship. Neither marriage produced children.

From an early age, Weintraub suffered from depression. He dealt with it with Psychoanalysis, Electroconvulsive therapy and, eventually, by abstaining from alcohol.

Filmography (All for the National Film Board of Canada)

Carnival - documentary short, Julian Biggs 1955 - writer Road of Iron - documentary short, Walford Hewitson 1955 - writer New Hearts for Old - TV series episode, Jean Lenauer 1955 - writer Embassy - documentary short, Don Haldane 1956 - writer Is It a Woman’s World? - documentary short, Don Haldane 1956 - writer Stress - documentary short, Ian MacNeill 1956 - writer Canadians Abroad - documentary short, Don Haldane 1956 - writer Fighter Wing – documentary short, Don Haldane 1956 - writer Saskatchewan Traveller - documentary short, Don Haldane 1956 - writer Portrait of the Family - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 - writer The Invisible Keystone - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 - writer Four Centuries of Growing Pains - documentary short, Ronald Dick, Nicholas Balla 1957 - writer The Colonies Look Ahead - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 - writer Can It Hold Together? - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 Crisis in Asia - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 The Ghost That Talked - documentary short, Don Haldane 1957 - writer A Letter from Oxford - documentary short, Julian Biggs 1957 Colonialism: Ogre or Angel? - documentary short, John Howe 1957 Million Dollar Smile - TV series episode, David Boisseau 1957 - writer Storm Clouds Over the Colonies - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 - writer Ten Days That Shook the Commonwealth - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 - writer Poverty and Plenty - documentary short, John Howe 1957 - writer Road to Independence - documentary short, Ronald Dick 1957 - writer They Called It White Man’s Burden - documentary short, John Howe 1957 - writer Black and White in South Africa - documentary short, John Howe & Ronald Dick 1957 - writer First Novel - documentary short, Donald Wilder 1958 - writer School for the Stage - documentary short, Julian Biggs 1958 - writer Canada: World Citizen - documentary short, Julian Biggs 1959 - writer Correlieu - documentary short, Jean Palardy 1959 - writer In the Beginning a Wilderness of Air - documentary short, Richard Gilbert 1959 - writer Double Heritage - documentary short, Richard Gilbert 1959 - writer The Golden Age - documentary short, Richard Gilbert 1959 - writer Sunshine and Eclipse (1927-1934) - documentary short 1960 - writer and producer The Good, Bright Days (1919-1927) - documentary short 1960 - writer and producer Twilight of an Era: 1934-1939 - documentary short 1960 - writer and producer Thousand Islands Summer - documentary short, Roger Blais 1960 - writer Sun, Sand and Sea: The Region - documentary short, James Beveridge 1961 - writer The Awakening - documentary short, James Beveridge 1961 - writer Vote for Michalski - documentary short, John Howe 1961 - writer Yukon Old, Yukon New - documentary short, John Howe 1962 - writer Sun, Sand and Sea - documentary short, James Beveridge 1962 - writer Aspirations - documentary short, James Beveridge 1962 - writer The Impact of the West - documentary short, James Beveridge 1962 - writer Nahanni - documentary short, Donald Wilder 1962 - writer The Contest for Power - documentary short, James Beveridge 1962 - writer New Voices - documentary short, James Beveridge 1962 - writer The Rough Road to Freedom - documentary short, James Beveridge 1961 - writer Drylanders - documentary, Don Haldane 1963 - writer Fisherman’s Gamble - documentary short, Ray Jones 1963 - writer Anniversary - short film 1963 - writer, producer and director Background to Latin America - documentary short, James Beveridge 1963 - writer Canada Between Two World Wars - documentary short 1963 - writer and producer Canada: Human Vaccine - documentary short, Hector Lemieux 1963 - writer Canada: Beef Cattle - documentary short, Hector Lemieux 1963 - writer Canada: Calf Leather - documentary short, Hector Lemieux 1963 - writer Canada: Heating Units - documentary short, Hector Lemieux 1963 - writer The Visit - documentary short John Kemeny 1964 - writer Turn of the Century - documentary short 1964 - writer and producer Haida Carver - documentary short, Richard Gilbert 1964 - writer Landfall Asia - documentary short, Gordon Sparling 1964 - writer Magic Molecule - documentary short, Hugh O'Connor & Christopher Chapman 1964 - writer The Way of Science - documentary short, Guy L. Coté 1965 - writer Trans-Canada Journey - documentary short, Graham Parker 1965 - writer Celebration - documentary short, 1966 - with Rex Tasker, producer and director Reception - documentary short, Douglas Jackson 1967 - writer New England and New France: 1490-1763 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1967 - writer Canada and the American Revolution: 1763-1783 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1967 - writer The War of 1812: Causes and Consequences: 1783-1818 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1967 - writer People of the Buffalo - documentary short, Austin Campbell 1968 - writer Dangerous Decades: 1818-1846 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1968 - writer The New Equation: Annexationism and Reciprocity: 1840-1860 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1968 - writer The Triumphant Union and the Canadian Confederation: 1863-1867 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1969 - writer The Border Confirmed: The Treaty of Washington: 1867-1871 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1969 - writer A Second Transcontinental Nation: 1872 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1969 - writer The Friendly 50s and the Sinister Sixties: 1850-1863 - documentary, Ronald Dick & Pierre L’Amare 1969 - writer Below Zero - documentary 1970, Michel Régnier 1970 - writer A Matter of Fat - documentary 1970 - writer and director Challenge for the Church - documentary short 1972 - writer and director The Aviators of Hudson Strait - documentary short 1973 - writer and producer Why Rock the Boat? - feature, John Howe 1974 - writer and producer Drylanders, 2-4 - documentary, Don Haldane 1974 - writer Seven Shades of Pale - documentary short, Les Rose 1975 - producer I’ve Never Walked the Steppes - documentary short, Jerry Krepakevich 1975 - producer Kaszuby - documentary short, André Herman 1975 - producer The World is Round - documentary short, Ian McLaren 1976 - producer The Walls Come Tumbling Down - documentary short 1976. With Pierre Lasry & Michael Rubbo - director Fort Good Hope - documentary, Ron Orieux 1977 - writer Bekevar Jubilee - documentary short, Albert Kish 1977 - producer Hold the Ketchup - documentary short, Albert Kish 1977 - producer The Hottest Show on Earth animated short, Wolf Koenig, Derek Lamb & Terence Macartney-Filgate 1977 - writer Sub-Igloo - documentary short, James de Beaujeu Domville & Joseph B. MacInnis 1977 - writer Our Kinda Talk: An Introduction to Margaret Laurence - documentary short, Robert Duncan 1978 - producer Margaret Laurence, First Lady of Manawaka - documentary, Robert Duncan 1978 - producer The Point - documentary, Robert Duncan 1978 - producer Arthritis: A Dialogue with Pain - documentary, Susan Huycke 1981 - producer The Concert Man - documentary short, Tony Ianzelo 1982 - writer Learning Ringette - documentary short, Bill Graziadei & Tony Ianzelo 1982 - producer Overtime - documentary, Marrin Canell 1984 - producer To Set Our House in Order - documentary short, Anne Wheeler 1985 - producer Going to War - documentary, Carol Moore-Ede 1985 - producer The Concert Stages of Europe - documentary short, Giles Walker 1985 - producer The Legs of the Lame - documentary short, Bruce Pittman 1985 - producer Uncle T - short film, Douglas Jackson 1985 - producer Mortimer Griffin and Shalinsky - short film, Mort Ransen 1985 - producer Esso - short film, Don McBrearty 1985 - producer The Sight - short film, Francis Mankiewicz 1985 - producer Connection - short film, Wolf Koenig 1985 - producer Happy Birthday, Hacker John - short film, Michael Keusch 1985 - producer Jack of Hearts - short film, Cynthia Scott 1985 - producer Red Shoes - short film, Allan Kroeker 1985 - producer The Dream and the Triumph - short film, Bruce Pittman 1986 - producer The Rebellion of Young David - short film, John N. Smith 1986 - producer Hotwalker - short film, Gil Cardinal 1986 - producer The Trumpeter - short film, Janice L. Platt 1986 - producer The Rise and Fall of English Montreal - documentary 1993 - writer and director

Awards

Anniversary (1963) 16th Canadian Film Awards, Toronto: Genie Award for Best Theatrical Short Film, 1964

Celebration (1966) La Plata International Children's Film Festival, La Plata, Argentina: First Prize, Special Films, 1967

A Matter of Fat 22nd Canadian Film Awards, Toronto: Best Film Over 30 Minutes, 1970 Atlanta Film Festival, Atlanta: Gold Medal, 1971 Atlanta Film Festival, Atlanta: Special Jury Award, 1971 American Film and Video Festival, New York: Blue Ribbon, 1971

Jack of Hearts (1985) Chicago International Children's Film Festival, Chicago: Second Prize - Live-Action Film Under 30 Minutes, 1986 National Educational Media Network Competition, Oakland, California: Honorable Mention, Literary Adaptations, Elementary, 1986

Mortimer Griffin and Shalinsky (1985) American Film and Video Festival, New York: Red Ribbon, Literary Adaptations, 1986

Red Shoes (1985) Columbus International Film & Animation Festival, Columbus, Ohio: Bronze Plaque - Arts and Culture, 1986. Chicago International Children's Film Festival, Chicago: Honorable Mention, Live-Action Film Under 30 Minutes, 1986