Giles Walker
{{Short description|Scottish-born Canadian film director (1946–2020)}}
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Giles Walker (January 17, 1946 - March 23, 2020){{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theglobeandmail/obituary.aspx?n=giles-walker&pid=195837359|title=Giles WALKER|publisher=Legacy|accessdate=May 20, 2020}} was a Scottish-born Canadian film director.
Biography
Giles Walker, born in 1946 in Dundee, Scotland, received a B.A. from the University of New Brunswick and an M.A. from Stanford University Film School in 1972. He joined the National Film Board of Canada soon after, directing documentaries, then switching to dramas in 1977. Bravery in the Field was nominated for a live-action short Oscar in 1979. The Masculine Mystique (directed with John N. Smith), the first of a trio of NFB movies dealing with issues of gender relations, showed Walker's experimental side, working with non-professional actors and the technique of improvisation.{{cite book | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJr5BJkGQoQC&dq=Giles+Walker+NFB&pg=PA239 | title=Canada's Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films | publisher=Rodopi | author=Stukator, Angela | date=30 May 2013 | pages=239 | isbn=978-9042015982 | editor=Eugene P. Walz | chapter=Pictures of age and ageing in Cynthia Scott's The Company of Strangers}} The two other films in the series, however, moved closer to an easy, palatable Hollywood style – successfully in 90 Days but less so in The Last Straw. Perhaps Walker's most successful fictional work is Princes in Exile, a film about a summer camp for children with cancer, notable for delicate treatment of the subject and a moving lack of sentimentality. Walker died in March 2020 after a 10-year battle with brain cancer.{{Cite web |title=Giles Walker - View Obituary & Service Information |url=https://www.aftercare.org/obituaries/Giles-Walker/#!/TributeWall |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=Giles Walker Obituary |language=en}}
Partial filmography
Short film
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director ! Writer |
|---|
| rowspan=2|1979
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} |
| Twice Upon a Time...
| {{yes}} | {{no}} |
Feature film
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director ! Writer ! Producer |
|---|
| 1984
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |
| 1985
| 90 Days | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |
| 1987
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |
| 1990
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |
| 1993
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |
| 1996
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |
| 2001
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |
Television
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Notes |
|---|
| 1999
| 1 episode |
| 2001
| Tales from the Neverending Story | 2 episodes |
| 2004
| 11 episodes |
| 2007
| 2 episodes |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0907761}}
- [https://www.nfb.ca/explore-all-directors/giles-walker Films by Giles Walker] at the National Film Board of Canada
See also
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Category:Canadian comedy film directors
Category:Canadian television directors
Category:Scottish emigrants to Canada
Category:Bishop's College School alumni
Category:National Film Board of Canada people
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