As many of these stories tell clearly, Bill was concerned about social justice all of his life. I had the pleasure of working with him for a little while just a few years ago on a political initiative about which some of his friends might not be aware:

In September 2012, while standing in a Telluride Film Festival queue at the Mountain Village cinema, Bill and I had a lively conversation about public policy discourse. We agreed - and were both angered by the fact - that while politicians and the media argue about the roles of government and business in health, education and public safety, the public is noticeably absent or – worse – ignored in those debates, except perhaps to be inveigled to support entrenched political and professional positions that frequently don't serve the public's interest. We thought we should and could do something about that.

So, on our return to London, we met several times (usually at the old Riverside Studios in Hammersmith) and developed the idea of "Raising PUD", a campaign to help heighten public understanding and discourse (PUD) on the direction of change in society and ultimately on the exercise of democracy.

We registered a web site, Raising PUD, and collaborated on a short paper on the need to engage the public in a wider and more intelligent debate about public policy and public value. Our aim was to find financial support for deliberative work and enquiries with citizens that would be undertaken by the then Public Management Foundation, which I chaired. Using the paper as a starter, we held a couple of seminars on PUD in 2013, including all sorts of folk, ranging from the Imperial College to the BBC to the WellcomeTrust (which expressed great research interest in the subject - but offered no money!).

Sadly, nothing emerged from our organising efforts in the end and the disempowerment of citizens from public policy continues as a real problem today - a problem that also continued to anger Bill. 

I fondly remember Bill introducing himself at one of our seminars (held just after his 70th birthday-induced change of career) as a "stand-up comic". Funny or not, it certainly was fun - and energising - working with him.

Published in Realcrean and re-printed in Playback 

Bill Nemtin, filmmaker and executive producer of Achilles Media’s History Makers conference, has passed away at the age of 77.

As an award-winning documentary producer, Nemtin’s career first took flight at the National Film Board of Canada, where he began as a coordinator of its Challenge for Change program in the late 1960s. The program gave communities access to film and video to promote social change and featured nine films directed by IMAX co-founder and Canadian documentarian Colin Low.

Nemtin went on to work with many PBS stations in the U.S. while in Canada and in the UK, putting together international coproductions. Among the award-winning documentaries he produced and created are the Gemini-winning The Hand of Stalin, produced with John Walker Productions, PTV Productions and October Films for the BBC in 1990; The War of 1812, produced for the NFB by PTV Productions and Galafilm; and 2008′s Passage, produced once more by John Walker Productions and PTV Productions, and shortlisted for a Grierson Award for best historical documentary.

In 2008, Nemtin worked with Canadian events company Achilles Media as executive producer for the History Makers conference, which brought together producers and network executives from around the world working in the history, current affairs and documentary genres. The event was rebranded as the Impact Media Summit in 2013.

“Bill made History Makers the vibrant ‘must attend’ gathering for producers during the ‘golden age’ when cable channels offered history-packed schedules and before they switched their focus to reality series,” recalled consultant and publisher Peter Hamilton of documentarybusiness.com in a statement to Realscreen.

Over the past two decades, Nemtin lived in the UK, and after retiring from active production work in 2013, worked as an executive consultant. At the age of 70 he returned to his love of performance and launched a stand-up comedy routine under the stage name Buzz Newman. At 75, he began writing about his mentor and the founder of the National Film Board, John Grierson.

Nemtin passed away on Friday, January 8 in the United Kingdom.

In a statement provided to Realscreen, Claude Joli-Coeur, government film commissioner and chairperson of the NFB, said the film body was “greatly saddened” by the news of Nemtin’s passing.

“The NFB’s 80th anniversary in 2019 gave us a chance to work with Bill again when he presented the illustrated talk ‘My Grierson’ in collaboration with Hot Docs, and we’re grateful that we could reconnect with him on a very special event,” he said.

“His commitment to Challenge for Change helped to transform how the NFB worked with communities — and continues to do so to this day. Our current engagement with Canadian communities in participatory media, our use of new digital technologies to put creation into the hands of citizens, all this and more is part of Bill’s living legacy.”

Nemtin is survived by his wife Jane Drabble; his children, Andrea Nemtin, Jessica Martin and Tito Martin Nemtin; grandchildren James and Charlie, and brothers Howard, Steve and Stuart.

His daughter, Andrea, also worked on several of the above projects via PTV Productions, where she was president and CEO. Currently the executive director for Social Innovation Canada, she supplied a statement to Realscreen in remembrance of her father.

“My father taught me a lot about being in the world, and everything I know about producing, what was important and what wasn’t: people are important, content is important, the big picture matters, the small stuff doesn’t. On behalf of the family, we will miss him terribly, but carry the warmth of his smile and the sound of his laugh with us.”

The family has set up a fund to honor his legacy. Donations can be made in his name to C4C Canada via Canada Helps or 44 Alcina Avenue, Toronto, M6G2E8.