Owen, Don

Don Owen was born in 1931 in Toronto and grew up in this city. Although he dreamed of becoming a poet, in the stiff Toronto of the 1950s this was not considered a good career opportunity, ^[2] and Owen entered the anthropology department of the University of Toronto . After graduating from university, he worked at CBC as a screenwriter for popular science and documentary films, a stage worker and an assistant director ^[3] .

In 1960, Owen began working in the Canadian Public Service of Cinematography ^[3] . After moving to Montreal, in the early 1960s, he took part as an operator in the filming of the resonant documentary films Wrestling ( fr. La Lutte ) and “The Fifth of September in Saint-Henri” ( fr. À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre ), and in 1962, returning to Toronto, shot his first own documentary, “Runner,” dedicated to Canadian long-distance driver . The main motives of the film, unlike most works of his contemporaries, focusing on sports drama, were the stubbornness and loneliness of the athlete. Owen succeeded in persuading the well-known poet Wisten Auden to write a text for a voice-over for the film ^[2] . The following year, there was another documentary by Owen entitled “The Toronian Jazz”, which tells about the jazz ensembles of , and Alpha Jones ^[3] .

The theme of the next documentary film, commissioned by Owen, was juvenile delinquency and law enforcement agencies' fight against it; the length of the tape should have been half an hour. However, as he worked on the script, Owen got the idea of ​​an artistic full-length film, which he shot contrary to the instructions of his superiors. In the process of filming, the topic of juvenile delinquency faded into the background, and questions of the relations of generations and rebellion of radical youth from wealthy families against bourgeois society were put forward - a topic that became popular in the second half of the 1960s. The plot of the tape and the text of the dialogues were largely the result of improvisation — Owen himself insisted on this, considering it as part of the “maturing” of Canadian English-speaking culture ^[4] .

The film, dubbed “Nobody said goodbye,” went for a short time at the end of 1964 in the cinemas of Montreal and Toronto and was quickly withdrawn from hire. Canadian criticism met him coldly - in particular, the reviewer of Globe and Mail called him "dreary" ^[4] . The deviation from the given theme and the clearly felt support of the director of the rebellious position of the protagonist attracted the wrath of the Canadian cinematographic establishment on Owen ^[2] . However, when the film was shown at the New York Film Festival the following year, New York Herald Tribune critic Judith Krist called it the highlight of the program, which opened the way to New York cinemas, followed by a wave of benevolent reviews in the American press. Among others, New Yorker reviewer Brendan Gill compared the film with Salinger's novel “The Catcher in the Rye ” ^[4] . As a result, the film was released again in Canada, and was also awarded the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, despite the fact that it was fictional (much later, in 1984, it also made the top ten list of Canadian films Poll at the Toronto Film Festival ) ^[3] .

After that, Owen switched to documentary films for a while. His 1965 film, co-produced with and dedicated to Leonard Cohen , received the Canadian film award for the best television documentary, and the 1966 film “High Steel” about mohawk editors of New York skyscrapers for The best montage and prize of the youth jury at the Berlin Film Festival ^[3] . A noticeable resonance was also caused by the 1965 film “No Retreat”, dedicated to Canadians working with international non-profit organizations in Africa. By this time, Owen turned to Buddhism , of which he remained until the end of his life ^[2] .

In 1966, Owen shot another feature film, Notes for a film about Donna and Gale, the love story of two young women, and a year later, Ernie's Game. This film was commissioned by Owen in preparation for the centenary of Canada, but the director again showed non-conformism: the hero of the tape was a homeless bisexual thief, suffering from a mental disorder, trying to survive in the cold Montreal winter. The film was shot despite the resistance of the film industry officials and caused a very diverse reaction from enthusiastic to angry and contemptuous. The first peak was the Ernie Games victory in the Best Feature Film and Best Direction nominations at the next Canadian Film Awards, and the second apotheosis was the debate in the Senate , where the film was called "indecent, immoral and repulsive." As a result, the Canadian Public Service of Cinematography ceased cooperation with Owen until 1984 ^[2] .

These two feature films were the last for Owen before a nearly ten-year break, again filled with work on documentaries. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he made a whole series of biographical films about Canadian artists: (1966), singer Michael Snow (1970), writer Mordechai Richler (1971), and photographer Robert Markl and the artist Gordon Rainer (1972) ^[3] .

In 1976, Owen made the feature film, Partners, an allegory of Canadian-American relations. The tape included in the program of the Festival of Festivals in Toronto , almost led to its closure, as the provincial censorship of Ontario sharply objected to the explicit bed scenes it contained. In the mid-1980s, two more Owen feature films were released - “Unfinished Business”, which was a long overdue sequel to “Nobody Says Goodbye”; and “Exchange”, in the center of the plot of which are two women from workers and wealthy circles, changing places. The “Unfinished Business” reflected the processes of Toronto’s movement to multiculturalism , “Exchange” contained sharp criticism of gentrification ^{[2] [3]} .

“Exchange”, filmed in 1987 for television, was the latest tape in Owen’s film career. He devoted the rest of his life to painting and poetry ^[3] . In 2005, a retrospective of his films was held as part of the Toronto Film Festival ^[5] . He also published a memoir book, Search for Crazy Wisdom by Captain Donald ( Eng. Captain Donald's Search for Crazy Wisdom ). In the early 2000s, Owen suffered a heart attack, then, on the operating table - a stroke . His rehabilitation was hampered by arthritis , and he never managed to regain full mobility ^[2] . Don Owen died in February 2016 at the age of 84 ^[5] .

Director

• 1962 - Runner ( eng. Runner , short d / f )
• 1963 - Toronto Jazz ( English Toronto Jazz , short d / f)
• 1964 - Nobody said goodbye ( born Nobody Waved Good-bye )
• 1965 - You can not retreat ( English You Don't Back Down , short d / f)
• 1965 - Two Montreal ( Eng. Two Men of Montreal , d / f)
• 1965 - Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen ( Eng. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen , d / f)
• 1966 - High Steel ( eng. High Steel , short d / f)
• 1966 - Notes for the film about Donna and Gail ( English Notes for a Film About Donna & Gail )
• 1966 - Monica Leirac at the concert ( English Monique Leyrac in Concert , d / f)
• 1967 - Ernie Game ( The The Ernie Game )
• 1967 - Gallery: a look at time ( English Gallery: a View of Time , d / f)
• 1970 - Snow in Venice ( Eng. Snow in Venice , d / f)
• 1971 - Richler of St. Urbain Street , D / F, Richler from St. Urban Street
• 1972 - Cowboy and Indian ( born Cowboy and Indian , d / f)
• 1976 - Partners ( English Partners )
• 1984 - Unfinished Business ( English Unfinished Business )
• 1987 - Exchange ( eng. Turnabout )

Screenwriter

• 1962 - Runner
• 1964 - No one said goodbye
• 1966 - High Steel
• 1966 - Notes for a film about Donna and Gale
• 1967 - Ernie's Game
• 1976 - Partners
• 1984 - Unfinished Business
• 1987 - Exchange

Producer

• 1964 - No one said goodbye
• 1976 - Partners
• 1984 - Unfinished Business
• 1987 - Exchange

• Wyndham Wise, Andrew McIntosh. Don Owen (Neopr.) . The Canadian Encyclopedia (February 24, 2016). The appeal date is February 7, 2017.
• Steve Gravestock. Waving Good-bye: Don Owen, 1931-2016 (Neopr.) . Toronto International Film Festival (February 23, 2016). The appeal date is February 7, 2017.
• Don Owen Films (Eng.) On the Canadian State Cinematographic Service's official website