Don Owen

Who is Don Owen?

Don Owen is a Canadian film director, writer and producer.

Owen worked for Canada's National Film Board, producing short documentaries in the 1960s, and the dramatic film Nobody Waved Goodbye, which was the NFB's first full-length feature. A sequel, Unfinished Business followed in 1984.

He and fellow NFB director Donald Brittain co-directed the 1965 documentary portrait of Leonard Cohen, Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen, and for his film on the Canadian Olympic runner Bruce Kidd he persuaded poet W. H. Auden to write and voice the narration. In 1966 he directed the acclaimed Notes for a Film About Donna & Gail and the following year he directed The Ernie Game, which was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Although not prolific, Owen is an influential Canadian filmmaker who was the subject of a retrospective at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.