Julian Biggs

A Little Fellow from Gambo: The Joey Smallwood Story

Julian Biggs

Budd Knapp, Joey Smallwood

This feature-length documentary paints a lively portrait of Father of Confederation and first premier of Newfoundland Joseph Roberts Smallwood, or "Joey," as he is known to most Canadians. Following one of Canada’s most colourful political figures during a two-and-a-half-month period that included a stormy Liberal leadership convention, the film reveals a man misunderstood even by his close associates.

23 Skidoo

Julian Biggs

If you erase the people of downtown America, the effect is bizarre, not to say disturbing. That is what this film does. It shows the familiar urban scene without a soul in sight: streets empty, buildings empty, yet everywhere there is evidence of recent life and activity. At the end of the film we learn what has happened.

Dresden Story

Julian Biggs

Gordon Burwash

People are interviewed in Dresden, Ontario, to sample local attitudes towards racial discrimination against black people that brought this town into the news. After a round-up of the opinions of individual citizens, white and black, commentator Gordon Burwash joins two discussion panels, presenting opposite points of view. The rights and wrongs of the quarrel are left for the audience to decide.

Herring Hunt

Julian Biggs

Herring Hunt is a 1953 French-English language documentary about the operations of a herring boat off the coast of British Columbia, directed by Julian Biggs, written by Leslie McFarlane, and produced by Guy Glover. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.

The Oyster-Man

Jean Palardy, Julian Biggs

This short film is an introduction to oyster farming in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Showing the various stages of oyster cultivation, the film highlights the sampling of larvae by Department of Fisheries biologists, the staking of oyster beds by farmers, the nurturing of spat, and underwater scenes showing the dragging of the seabed with cotton mops to ensnare starfish, which prey upon the oyster. Final sequences show the grading and shipping of oysters and their arrival at the seafood restaurant or family dinner table.