Donald Brittain Award
Canadian television award
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The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards. The award may be presented to either a standalone broadcast of a documentary film, or to an individual full-length episode of a news or documentary series; documentary films which originally premiered theatrically, but were not already submitted for consideration in a CSA film category before being broadcast on television, are also considered television films for the purposes of the award.
CountryCanada
Presented byAcademy of Canadian Cinema & Television
First award1991
Currently held byThe Fifth Estate: "The Shadow War on Libraries" (2025)
| Donald Brittain Award | |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Presented by | Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television |
| First award | 1991 |
| Currently held by | The Fifth Estate: "The Shadow War on Libraries" (2025) |
| Website | academy.ca/awards |
The award is named in honour of Donald Brittain, a pioneering Canadian documentary filmmaker.[1] On one occasion to date, the award has been won by a documentary film about Brittain and his importance to the history of Canadian documentary film.
Nominees and winners
1990s
| Year | Nominee | Film | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 6th Gemini Awards | |||
| Island of Whales | George Johnson, Jack Silberman, Gillian Darling, Jerry Appleton | [2] | |
| Between Two Worlds | Peter Raymont | ||
| Distress Signals | Kent Martin, John Walker, Tom Perlmutter | ||
| James Bay: The Wind That Keeps Blowing | Nancy Archibald | ||
| Transplant: The Breath of Life | Elias Petras | ||
| 1992 7th Gemini Awards | |||
| Timothy Findley: Anatomy of a Writer | Terence Macartney-Filgate, Don Haig | [3] | |
| Man Alive: "Chernobyl 2" | Halya Kuchmij | ||
| On the Eighth Day: Perfecting Mother Nature | Mary Armstrong | ||
| Threads of Hope | Les Harris, Jane Harris | ||
| Women in the Shadows | Signe Johansson, Christine Welsh | ||
| 1993 8th Gemini Awards | |||
| Donald Brittain: Filmmaker | Adam Symansky | [4] | |
| Adrienne Clarkson Presents: "Artemesia" | Adrienne Clarkson | [5] | |
| Man Alive: "Held Hostage" | Halya Kuchmij | ||
| The Fifth Estate: "Odd Man Out" | Susan Teskey | ||
| The Nature of Things: "Trading Futures" | Michael Poole | ||
| 1994 9th Gemini Awards | |||
| Shadows and Light: Joaquin Rodrigo at 90 | Larry Weinstein, Niv Fichman | [6] | |
| Dream Tower | Ron Mann | [7] | |
| Hidden Children | Julia Sereny | ||
| No Man's Land | Shelley Saywell | ||
| Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo | John Zaritsky, Virginia Storring | ||
| 1995 10th Gemini Awards | |||
| Ms. Conceptions | Linda Frum, Ric Esther Bienstock | [8] | |
| The Fifth Estate: "Sealed in Silence" | David Kaufman | [9] | |
| The Last Trip | Ina Fichman | ||
| The Negotiator | Laszlo Barna | ||
| Orphans of Manchuria | Annie Dodds | ||
| The Voyage of the St. Louis | Arnie Gelbart | ||
| 1996 11th Gemini Awards | |||
| Utshimassits: Place of the Boss | John Walker, Mike Mahoney, Peter d'Entremont | [10] | |
| Fire and Water | Shelley Saywell | [11] | |
| Scenes from a Corner Store | Sun-Kyung Yi | ||
| Summer in the Cherry Orchard | Ann Bromley | ||
| The True Story of Linda M. | Norma Bailey, Joe MacDonald | ||
| 1997 12th Gemini Awards | |||
| The Selling of Innocents | Elliott Halpern, Simcha Jacobovici, William Cobban | [12] | |
| My Russian Campaign: From Montreal to Moscow | John Curtin | [13] | |
| Mystics, Mechanics and Mindbombs | Michael Chechik, Jerry Thompson | ||
| Nowhere Else to Live | Alan Handel | ||
| Picturing a People: George Johnston Tlingit Photographer | George Hargrave, Sally Bochner | ||
| 1998 13th Gemini Awards | |||
| Gerrie & Louise | Phyllis Brown, Sturla Gunnarsson, David York | [14] | |
| Confessions of a Rabid Dog | Rudy Buttignol, Gerry Flahive, Julia Sereny | [15] | |
| Dad | Chris Triffo | ||
| Some Kind of Arrangement | Geeta Sondhi | ||
| Witness: "Between Here and Heaven" | Andrew Gregg, Wayne Abbott | ||
| 1999 14th Gemini Awards | |||
| Crimes of Honour | Shelley Saywell | [16] | |
| Believing | Nicole Lamothe | [17] | |
| The Dragon's Egg | Rudy Buttignol, Allan King, Elizabeth Yake | ||
| East Side Showdown | Peter Starr | ||
| Four Women of Egypt | Éric Michel |
2000s
| Year | Nominee | Film | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 15th Gemini Awards | |||
| Deep Inside Clint Star | Silva Basmajian | [18] | |
| Asylum: Falling Through the Cracks | Christopher Sumpton | [19] | |
| Kikkik | Ole Gjerstad | ||
| Legacy of Terror: The Bombing of Air India | Rudy Buttignol, Shelley Saywell | ||
| The Holier It Gets | Rudy Buttignol, Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier | ||
| 2001 16th Gemini Awards | |||
| Breakaway: A Tale of Two Survivors | Johanna Lunn Montgomery, Johanna Eliot, Mathew Welsh | ||
| Chickens Are People Too | John Kastner, Hilary Armstrong, Marie Natanson, Charlotte Odele | ||
| In the Shadow of a Saint | Mark Johnston, Stephen Milton | ||
| Kim Campbell: Through the Looking Glass | Silva Basmajian | ||
| A Moment in Time: The United Colours of Bronstein | Judy Jackson | ||
| 2002 17th Gemini Awards | |||
| Offspring | Barry Stevens, Laszlo Barna | ||
| Aftermath: The Remnants of War | Peter Starr, Ed Barreveld, Michael Kot | ||
| Culture Jam: Hijacking Commercial Culture | Jill Sharpe, Lynn Booth | ||
| In the Line of Fire | Patricia Naylor | ||
| Waging Peace: A Year in the Life of Caledonia Junior High | Sally Bochner, Peter d'Entremont, Kent Martin | ||
| 2003 18th Gemini Awards | |||
| Return to Kandahar | Paul Jay, Nelofer Pazira, David M. Ostriker | ||
| Chinese Daughters | Dorlene Lin, Rudy Buttignol | ||
| Salvation | Kent Martin | ||
| Seeing Is Believing | Francis Miquet, Peter Wintonick, Katerina Cizek, Catherine Olsen | ||
| The Tree That Remembers | Sally Bochner | ||
| 2004 19th Gemini Awards | |||
| Dying at Grace | Allan King, Rudy Buttignol | [20] | |
| Deadline Iraq: Uncensored | Stuart Coxe, Greg Kelly, Douglas Arrowsmith, Eric Foss, Aaron Williams | ||
| Dying to Be Free: Zimbabwe's Struggle for Change | David Belluz | ||
| Short Infinity | Jean Lemire, Yves Bisaillon | ||
| The Man Who Could Be King | Mark Johnston, Edith Champagne, Nancy Ing Duclos | ||
| 2005 20th Gemini Awards | |||
| Runaway Grooms | Ali Kazimi | [21] | |
| El Contrato | Karen King-Chigbo | [22] | |
| No Place Called Home | Peter Starr | ||
| One More River | Ernest Webb, Catherine Bainbridge | ||
| Rage Against the Darkness | Deborah Parks, John Kastner | ||
| The Take | Avi Lewis, Naomi Klein, Laszlo Barna, Silva Basmajian | ||
| 2006 21st Gemini Awards | |||
| House Calls | Gerry Flahive, Silva Basmajian | ||
| Beyond Words: Photographers of War | Eric Foss, Stuart Coxe, Greg Kelly | [23] | |
| Big Sugar | Stephen Phizicky, Sylvia Wilson, Arnie Gelbart | ||
| Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company | Kathy Avrich-Johnson, Allan King, Rudy Buttignol | ||
| No More Tears Sister | Pierre Lapointe, Sally Bochner | ||
| 2007 22nd Gemini Awards | |||
| Fatherland | Manfred Becker, Laszlo Barna | ||
| Bombay Calling | Sally Bochner, Adam Symansky | [24] | |
| Cottonland | Annette Clarke, Kent Martin | ||
| EMPz 4 Life | Kathy Avrich-Johnson, Rudy Buttignol, Allan King | ||
| Faith Without Fear | Silva Basmajian, Gordon Henderson | ||
| Martyr Street | Deborah Parks, Shelley Saywell | ||
| 2008 23rd Gemini Awards | |||
| A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman | Peter Raymont | [25] | |
| A Place Between: The Story of an Adoption | Joe MacDonald, Graydon McRea, Michael Scott, Derek Mazur | [26] | |
| Darfur: On Our Watch | Neil Docherty, Lisa Ellenwood | ||
| Forgiveness: Stories for Our Time | Johanna Lunn, Kent Martin | ||
| Girl Inside | Maya Gallus, Justine Pimlott | ||
| 2009 24th Gemini Awards | |||
| Tiger Spirit | Ed Barreveld, Anita Lee, Min Sook Lee | [27] | |
| Air India 182 | David York, Sturla Gunnarsson | ||
| bploi wai dtaai: Leave Her to Die | Antonia Thomson, Sean Buckley | ||
| Norm | Kent Nason, Teresa MacInnes | ||
| Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma | Peter Raymont, Silva Basmajian |
2010s
2020s
| Year | Film | Filmmakers | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 9th Canadian Screen Awards | |||
| 9/11 Kids | Steve Gamester, Michael Kot, Betty Orr, Elizabeth St. Philip | [47] | |
| Above the Law | Geoff Morrison, Marc Serpa Francoeur, Robinder Uppal | [48] | |
| Assholes: A Theory | Ann Bernier, Annette Clarke, John Walker | ||
| Meat the Future | Liz Marshall, Janice Dawe, Chris Hegedus | ||
| The Walrus and the Whistleblower | Frederic Bohbot, Nathalie Bibeau | ||
| 2021 10th Canadian Screen Awards | |||
| Ghosts of Afghanistan | Arnie Gelbart, Julian Sher, Natalie Dubois | [49] | |
| Big News | Catherine Legge, Saman Malik, Michelle Mètivier, Sarah Peterson, Michael Gruzuk | [50] | |
| Dispatches from a Field Hospital | Matt Gallagher, Cornelia Principe | ||
| No Responders Left Behind | Rob Lindsay, Jaime Sanchez, Kelly Zemnickis, Kristine Yanoff | ||
| We Know the Truth: Stories to Inspire Reconciliation | Meagan Fiddler, Bertram Schneider | ||
| 2022 11th Canadian Screen Awards | |||
| The Pretendians | Drew Hayden Taylor, Paul Kemp | [51] | |
| Come Clean | Derreck Roemer, Neil Graham | [52] | |
| Dear Jackie | Henri Pardo, Katarina Soukup | ||
| Marketplace: "Crisis in Home Care" | Tiffany Foxcroft | ||
| My Indian Name | Abraham Cote, Jason Brennan | ||
| 2023 12th Canadian Screen Awards | |||
| Coming Home: Wanna Icipus Kupi | Jennifer Podemski, Ernest Webb, Tanya Brunel, Michelle van Beusekom, Daniel Morin, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick | [53] | |
| Category Woman | Howard Fraiberg | [54] | |
| Marketplace: "Mortgage Fraud Caught on Camera" | Tiffany Foxcroft, Nelisha Vellani | ||
| Naked: Sex and Gender | Michael McMahon, Kevin McMahon, Kay Siering | ||
| The Passionate Eye: "Inside the Statue Wars" | Steve Gamester, Yuma Dean Hester, Elizabeth St. Philip, Michael Kot | ||
| 2024 13th Canadian Screen Awards | |||
| The Fifth Estate: "Contract to Kill" | Raj Ahluwalia, Allya Davidson | [55] | |
| Against All Odds: The Unstoppable Story of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital | Mark Selby, Barry Avrich | [56] | |
| APTN Investigates: "Food for Profit" | Tom Fennario, Brittany Guyot, Paul Barnsley, Allya Davidson, Ivan Angelovski, Steven D'Souza, Lisa Ellenwood, Linda Guerriero | ||
| S-yéwyáw: Awaken | Ecko Aleck, Liz Marshall, Alfonso Salinas, Charlene SanJenko | ||
| An Unfinished Journey | Nadine Pequeneza, Charlotte Uzu | ||
| 2025 14th Canadian Screen Awards | |||
| The Fifth Estate: "The Shadow War on Libraries" | Allya Davidson, Emmanuel Marchand, Rachel Ward, Grant LaFleche | [57] | |
| The Good Canadian | Leena Minifie, David Paperny, Sarah Jane Flynn | [58] | |
| Marketplace: "The Secret Cost of Housing" | Jeremy McDonald, Nelisha Vellani, Sneha Agrawal, Tomi Joseph Raji | ||
| The Ozempic Effect: Beyond The Waistline | Paul Kemp, C. Hudson Hwang, AJ Leitch | ||
| W5's Avery Haines Investigates: "Our Son the Terror Suspect" | Avery Haines, Joseph Loeiro |