Director, Producer, Cinematographer

(b. June 13, 1935 Toronto, Ontario)

One of the National Film Board’s most talented, reliable and prolific cinematographers from the late sixties through to the nineties, Tony Ianzelo has more than one hundred credits as cinematographer, director and producer. His unobtrusive camerawork and sense of empathy with his subjects are particularly evident in the several films he made with Boyce Richardson, notably Cree Hunters of Mistassini (1974) and North China Commune (1980).

He studied at Toronto’s Ryerson Polytechnic College, joined the NFB in 1960 as a camera assistant, and in 1966 directed and photographed his first film, Antonio, a moving portrait of his father. Always something of an innovator, he co-directed (with Colin Low) Transitions (1986), the first film to be shot in Imax-3D. He also co-directed the award-winning Blackwood (1976) and High Grass Circuit (1977), which were both nominated for Academy Awards® for Best Documentary Short.

Perhaps best known for his many films concerned with the Cree nation and other issues of the Far North, Ianzelo established a reputation as a filmmaker with honesty and compassion. One of the first cinematographers elected to the Royal Academy of Arts and a mentor to countless filmmakers, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2003.

Film and video work includes

Ice Boating, 1964 (co-cinematographer with Ray Jons)
All Systems Go, 1966 (cinematographer)
Antonio, 1966 (director; writer; cinematographer; co-editor with Martin DeFalco)
The Ever-changing Lowlands, 1966 (director; cinematographer)
Inmate Training: Part 1 & 2, Penitentiaries Staff Training series, 1966 (cinematographer)
The Long Haul Men, 1966 (cinematographer)
The Accessible Arctic, 1967 (co-cinematographer with Lynton Diggle, Richard Culbert, Hector Lemieux, et al)
Chain of Command, Leadership [Navy] series, 1967 (cinematographer)
Compassionate Leave?, Leadership [Navy] series, 1967 (cinematographer)
The Defaulter, Leadership [Navy] series, 1967 (cinematographer)
Impressions of Expo 67, 1967 (co-cinematographer with Eugene Boyko and Paul Leach)
Isotopes in Action, 1967 (co-cinematographer with Paul Leach)
The North Has Changed, 1967 (co-cinematographer with Lynton Diggle, Richard Gilbert, Michel Hazel, et al)
A Question of Priority, Leadership [Navy] series, 1967 (cinematographer)
The Tactless One, Leadership [Navy] series, 1967 (cinematographer)
We're Gonna Have Recess, 1967 (cinematographer)
Building an Organization, Challenge for Change series, 1968 (co-cinematographer with Peter Pearson)
A Continuing Responsibility, 1968 (cinematographer)
Deciding to Organize, 1968 (cinematographer)
Flight in White, 1968 (cinematographer)
Oskee Wee Wee, 1968 (co-cinematographer with Martin Duckworth, Douglas Kiefer, Eugene Boyko, et al)
People and Power, Challenge for Change series, 1968 (cinematographer)
Saul Alinsky Went to War, 1968 (cinematographer)
Sir! Sir!, 1968 (cinematographer)
They're Putting Us Off the Map, 1968 (cinematographer)
Through Conflict to Negotiation, Challenge for Change series, 1968 (cinematographer)
Altitude Zero to Infinity, 1969 (cinematographer)
Bing Bang Boom, 1969 (cinematographer)
The Dowry, 1969 (cinematographer)
Struggle for a Border: Canada's Relations with United States, Part 1 - 9, 1969 (cinematographer)
You are on Indian Land, Challenge for Change series, 1969 (cinematographer)
Mrs. Ryan's Drama Class, 1969 (co-cinematographer Paul Leach, Martin Ducksworth and Robert Humble)
Don't Knock the Ox, 1970 (director; cinematographer)
Fort Who, 1970 (production team)
Go With Us/Viens avec nous, 1970 (production team)
Here's to Harry's Grandfather, 1970 (cinematographer)
Tee-Won Short, Episodes #1-3, 1970 (cinematographer)
That's the Price, 1970 (cinematographer)
Angus, 1971 (cinematographer)
Cosmic Zoom, 1971 (cinematographer)
Don Messer: His land and his music, 1971 (cinematographer)
En Garde, 1971 (production team)
God Help the Man Who Would Part with His Land, 1971 (cinematographer)
Summer's Nearly Over, 1971 (cinematographer)
Temples of Time, 1971 (cinematographer)
The Unplanned, 1971 (co-cinematographer with Andreas Poulsson)
A Bus - For Us, 1972 (cinematographer)
Here is Canada, 1972 (director; cinematographer)
Goodbye Sousa, 1973 (director; co-cinematographer with Andreas Poulsson, Tony Westman and Bob Charlie)
Bate's Car: Sweet as a Nut, 1974 (director; co-cinematographer with Allan Morgan)
Cree Hunters of Mistassini, Challenge for Change series, 1974 (director; co-cinematographer with Buckley Petawabano)
Our Land is Our Life, Challenge for Change series, 1974 (co-director with Boyce Richardson; cinematographer)
Alberta Girls, 1975 (co-director with Malca Gillson; co-cinematographer with Savas Kalogeras)
Bill Loosely's Heat Pump, 1975 (co-cinematographer with Andy Kitzanuk)
Cold Journey, 1975 (cinematographer)
Musicanada, 1975 (co-director with Malca Gillson; co-cinematographer with Douglas Kiefer, Robert Humble and David de Volpi)
Ready When You Are, Atlanticanada series, 1975 (co-cinematographer with Douglas Kiefer, Les krizsan, Kent Nason, et al)
Striker, 1976 (cinematographer)
The Whales Are Waiting, 1976 (director; co-cinematographer with Strowan Robertson)
Cree Way, 1977 (director; cinematographer)
Little Big Top, 1977 (director; co-cinematographer with Torben Schioler; editor)
The Mighty Steam Calliope, 1978 (director; cinematographer)
Cree Hunters, Canada Vignettes series, 1979 (director)
Don Messer: His land and his music, Canada Vignettes series, 1979 (cinematographer)
North China Commune, 1979 (co-director with Boyce Richardson; cinematographer)
Viking Visitors to North America, 1979 (co-director with Anthony Kent; cinematographer) Breadmakers, Canada Vignettes series, 1980 (director)
Calliope, Canada Vignettes series, 1980 (director)
China: A Land Transformed, 1980 (director; co-cinematographer with Boyce Richardson)
North China Factory, 1980 (director; cinematographer)
Wuxing People's commune, 1980 (director; co-cinematographer with Boyce Richardson)
Celebration, Canada Vignettes series, 1981 (director)
In Search of Farley Mowat, 1981 (cinematographer with Pierre Letarte, Andreas Pousson and Nash Read)
The Concert Man, 1982 (director; cinematographer; editor)
Gala, 1982 (performance camera)
Learning Ringette, 1982 (co-director with Bill Graziadei; cinematographer)
Singing: A Joy in Any Language, 1983 (co-director with Malca Gillson; cinematographer)
From Ashes to Forest, 1984 (director; cinematographer)
Max Ward, 1984 (cinematographer)
Musical Magic: Gilbert and Sullivan in Stratford, 1984 (co-cinematographer with Andreas Poulsson, and Andy Kitzanuk)
Overtime, 1985 (cinematographer)
Feeding and Clothing China's Millions, 1986 (cinematographer)
Making Transitions, 1986 (director; cinematographer)
School in the Bush, 1986 (cinematographer)
Transitions, 1986 (co-director with Colin Low)
Give Me Your Answer True, 1987 (co-director Stefan Wodoslawsky; co-cinematographer with Michael Mohoney and Susan Trow)
Emergency/Urgence, 1988 (co-director with Colin Low)
The First Emperor of China, 1989 (co-director with Liu Hao Xue)
Momentum, 1992 (co-director with Colin Low)
The Art of the Animator Part I, 1993 (director; cinematographer)
The Art of the Animator Part II, 1996 (director; cinematographer)
Making Momentum, 1996 (director)
Postcards from Canada, 2000 (director)