Don Haig (1933-2002)

1993 Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Screens and Voices (formerly Broadcasting and Film))

"I've been lucky," says Don Haig, "to work with so many talented people". For thousands of Canadian filmmakers, from young students starting out to Academy Award winners, the luck has been to meet Don Haig.

After becomming established as a brilliant CBC film-editor on such programmes as Seven Days and The Fifth Estate, Haig went on to open his own post-production house, Film Arts. Gentle but tough-minded, he became the patient associate of many of Canada's top filmmakers.

A self-styled catalyst, his help has ranged from examining filmmakers' rough cuts and offering simple advice, to becoming a full-blown producer arranging financing and offering his own money, goods and services to ensure some of Canada's best films were made.

Among his credits: I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, Academy Award-winner Artie Shaw... Time Is All You've Got, and internationally renowned documentaries such as Warrendale and The Mills of the Gods.

In the early 1990s he was appointed Executive Producer for drama and documentary at the National Film Board where he intends to keep opening doors for young talent: "to put filmmakers in touch with mentors." In fact he is the "mentor par excellence".