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Rudy Buttignol (born June 18, 1951 in Pordenone, Italy) is a Canadian broadcast and media executive http://www.knowledge.ca/about/president-ceo. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge Network Corporation http://knowledge.ca and its subsidiary, BBC Kids http://www.bbckids.ca/. Knowledge is British Columbia’s public educational broadcaster. The acquisition of BBC Kids has produced Knowledge’s first entrepreneurial revenue stream, which augments funding from government grants and donations from “Knowledge Partners."

Buttignol’s career in film, television and media spans nearly four decades. During this time, he has steadily risen to become a key figure in Canadian and international documentary film and television communities. Buttignol’s career is defined by an extensive body of compelling work as an independent producer, director and writer of documentary and children’s programs, as well as an influential and successful commissioning editor, television programmer, and broadcast executive. “Balancing business risks with creative imperatives has been a key theme in his career.” [Wagler, Jenny. (April 10-16 2012). “Knowledge base. Knowledge network’s President and ECO is launching new platforms and tapping new funding streams”. Business in Vancouver. P. 43.]

Buttignol regularly serves as a moderator at annual financing forums and documentary forums in Amsterdam and Leipzig, and is a tutor at the Berlin-based Documentary Campus Masterschool. He is a vital force behind many of the important documentaries and landmark series for television made in Canada over the past four decades and has worked with many accomplished documentarians including the late Allan King. Buttignol has earned the reputation of being one of the most influential figures in Canadian film and television.

CAREER

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Rudy Buttignol is the President and CEO of Knowledge Network Corporation http://knowledge.ca and its subsidiary, BBC Kids http://www.bbckids.ca/. Since Buttignol’s appointment to Knowledge in 2007, he has transformed British Columbia’s public broadcaster into multiplatform, multi-channel digital broadcasting and communications service, increasing audience share, viewer donations, and entrepreneurial revenues. Knowledge Network now operates two television channels, three websites, a magazine, and social networks on Facebook and Twitter. Next year will see the launch of a dedicated Knowledge channel on YouTube, and the launch of a High Definition television channel. BBC Kids is a national subscription channel acquired in 2011 as a joint venture with BBC Worldwide Canada http://www.bbcworldwide.com [[1]]. Knowledge's BBC Kids was successfully re-branded, re-programmed and re-launched as a commercial-free premium service aimed at young children and families.

In 2006-07 he worked as a consultant, leading workshops all over the world on the international financing and marketing of documentaries.

From 2000 to 2006, as TVO’s Creative Head of Network Programming, Buttignol re-branded the regional public television network, increased ratings and revenues, and launched new arts series Film 101 and Masterworks. He was also the Executive Producer of Saturday Night at the Movies and the international documentary series Human Edge. In 1993, Buttignol was hired by Peter Herrndorf http://blog.nac-cna.ca/blog/2011/07/12/read-all-about-nac-leaders-peter-herrndorf-and-rosemary-thompson/ as TVO’s first Commissioning Editor and Creative Head of Independent Production. From 1993 to 1999, Buttignol originated TVO's award-winning series The View From Here and commissioned notable feature documentaries and documentary series including the following and many others:

From 1975 to 1993, Buttignol worked as writer, director and producer documentaries, children’s series and commercial work. His programs have appeared on A&E, Bravo, CBC, Channel 4, Discovery, Global and PBS, and include such personal works as:

  • Alan Bean: Art Off This Earth (1991)
  • Jack Bush (1979)
  • The Dairy (1977)
  • Neon: An Electric Memoir (1984)
  • Shipyard (1980)
  • Soviet Space: the Secret Designer (1992)

Buttignl's filmography can be found at http://tiff.net/CANADIANFILMENCYCLOPEDIA/content/bios/rudy-buttignol.

In 1979, Buttignol founded a film production company called Rudy Inc. with offices in Toronto and Houston. Concurrent with his work as a producer in the 1980’s, Buttignol was a part-time instructor at the Ontario College of Art & Design University http://www.ocadu.ca/, and an administrator of the Producer’s Assistance Program at the National Film Board’s http://www.nfb.ca/ Ontario office. In 1984, Buttignol spent two months in Bangladesh, filming health and literacy initiatives for an NGO.

HONOURS

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Buttignol is the recipient of several international awards. In 2007, he was honoured with the inaugural Hot Docs http://www.hotdocs.ca/ Outstanding Industry Achievement Award, for making a significant contribution to the creative vitality of the documentary industry both in Canada and abroad over his career. Hot Docs is North America’s largest Documentary Festival. Buttignol is also the recipient of nine Gemini Awards http://www.geminiawards.ca/ from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television http://www.academy.ca/national/.

Buttignol has been the recipient of several other awards and honours throughout his career, including Honorary Texan from the Governor of Texas and the Distinguished Merit Award from the Government of Fiume Veneto, Italy Fiume_Veneto

SERVICE

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Recently, Rudy Buttignol was appointed to the Cultural Properties Export Review Board http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/bcm-mcp/cebc-cperb/index-eng.cfm on the recommendation of Canada’s Heritage Minister. He is a Director on the Boards of the Vancouver International Film Festival http://www.viff.org/festival/ and Knowledge West Communications Corporation [[5]] and the Britannia Mine Museum http://www.britanniaminemuseum.ca/. As well, Buttignol is Chair of the International Advisory Council of the Hot Docs Documentary Forum http://www.hotdocs.ca/conference/toronto_documentary_forum/, Vice-Chair of the Canadian Association of Public Educational Media, and President of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Foundation.

In the past, Buttignol has served as Chair of the Board of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television http://www.academy.ca/national/ (1997 to 2003). He was the founding Chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada http://docorg.ca/ and founder of the Hot Docs Financing Forum http://www.hotdocs.ca/conference/hot_docs_forum/ He has also served as a Director on the boards of Banff Media Festival http://www.banffmediafestival.com/, Canada Media Fund http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/program/2065// Canadian Conference for the Arts, and Hot Docs International Documentary Festival. He was a member of the European Television and Media Management Academy’s Advisory Council in Strasbourg, and a tutor at the Berlin-based Documentary Campus Masterschool for a decade.

EDUCATION & PERSONAL

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Rudy Buttignol is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Film Department, at Toronto’s York University http://www.yorku.ca/finearts/film/ where he studied under such notables as the late James Beveridge [[6]] and the late Louis DeRochemont 111 http://www.in70mm.com/newsletter/2001/66/de_rochemont/index.htm. Buttignol has completed Executive Education programs at the Banff Centre http://www.banffcentre.ca/departments/leadership/, the Stanford Graduate School of Business https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/ and the Harvard Business School http://www.exed.hbs.edu/Pages/default.aspx . Born in Pordenone, Italy, Buttignol came to Canada in 1955. He was raised in Toronto and now resides in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife, Margie. They have two adult children, Elvira and Genevieve (“Kiki”), and a granddaughter, Stella.

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