Brian McKenna

Brian McKenna is a filmmaker, historian, author and journalist, Brian McKenna is best known for provocative, prize-winning films on Canada's history: The Killing Ground, War at Sea, Valour and the Horror, Web of War and War of 1812, and Fire and Ice: The Rocket Richard Riot. Last year he was awarded the lifetime achievement Pierre Berton award for bringing history alive, and the year before, a lifetime Gemini. . Brian McKenna is also a founding producer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Oscar-winning current affairs show, the fifth estate, a former parliamentary correspondent for The Montreal Star and co-author of the Penguin Books history of Montreal's legendary mayor, Jean Drapeau. He is the founding chairman of the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists, prompted by his experience with war, torture and terrorism. During a 12-year career at the fifth estate, McKenna wrote and directed some 60 films, winning a host of awards for writing, filmmaking and investigative journalism. For his feature documentary on torturers, "The Hooded Men", McKenna was awarded the Nellie Award for best documentary writing in Canada. The film also was honored in the United States and used by Amnesty International in their campaign against torture. In 1987, he wrote and produced a feature length drama on the Montreal Underworld. Directed by Francis Mankiewicz, the film, And Then You Die, was broadcast internationally, and won a pair of Gemini Awards. This was followed by The Killing Ground, a two hour film on Canada and the 59,000 Canadians who died in the First World War. It won the Anik Award for best CBC documentary in 1988. This led to Valour and the Horror, easily te most controversial TV series in Canadian history. It was a three year inquiry into three Second World War battles: Hong Kong, Normandy and Bomber Command. The series was broadcast on both the English and French networks of the CBC in January 1992 and, in 1998, by History Television. The films were honoured with five Gemini Awards, as well as sparking a CRTC investigation (favourable), a Senate inquiry (unfavourable) and, most famously, a $500 million law suit (which was thrown out). Mr. Justice Robert Montgomery, himself a WWII veteran, said the films stirred, "... a feeling of how incredibly courageous the Canadian airmen were." The Supreme Court of Canada upheld this judgment. In 1994, when the program was broadcast in Great Britain by Channel 4, the Times of London called it, "brilliant", the Daily Mail denounced it vehemently, but the Mail on Sunday said, "it was a brave film to make and show." The Director of the Canadian War Museum said, "...love it or hate it, the Valour and the Horror has provoked more interest in Canada and the Second World War than anything that has happened since the war itself." McKenna is also the director of the Gemini Award-winning television program, Memoirs of Pierre Trudeau, a five part series broadcast on both the French and English networks of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A companion volume to the series became a Canadian publishing bestseller. In 1995, with his brother Terence, McKenna returned to an investigation of Canada's wars for the CBC and the National Film Board. This resulted in War at Sea, a two-hour documentary feature on Canada's navy in the Second World War. It was followed up by Web of War, an emotional tribute to the women of the Warsaw uprising, and the Polish division fighting under Canadian command in Northwest Europe. From 1996-1999, McKenna investigated the War of 1812, writing and directing the first film series ever created on a conflict that was decisive in the histories of Canada, the United States and the First Nations. The resulting four x one-hour series, War of 1812, was broadcast in 1999 on TVOntario and History Television. He followed this up with the one-hour documentary Fire and Ice: The Rocket Richard Riot, which aired to great ratings and acclaim on the Global Television Network. His most recent work was a history of slavery and sugar, which won the Gemaux for best TV series, and the Great war, a unusual docu-drama on the First World War. At the meoent, he is writing the narration script for Conquest: the story of the Plains of Abraham, Brian McKenna is a graduate of the University of Montreal (Loyola College) with degrees in English Literature (1967) and Communication Arts (1968).