Rudy Buttignol is the President and CEO of British Columbia’s public broadcaster, Knowledge Network, and President of the BBC Kids channel. He moderates financing forums at IDFA and Asian Side of the Doc, and is a Director on the boards of several arts organizations. Buttignol is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Toronto’s York University and has completed Executive programs at Stanford and Harvard.
From 1993 to 2006, Buttignol was TVO’s Creative Head of Network Programming, Head of Independent Production, and Commissioning Editor. Notable commissions include The Corporation, Manufactured Landscapes, and Emmy/Grammy Award winning Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach.
From 1975 to 1993, Buttignol was an independent writer, director and producer of children’s series and documentaries. International honors include the inaugural Doc Mogul Award from the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival and nine Canadian Academy Awards.
In 2015, Buttignol was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada, “for his contributions as a champion of Canadian documentary filmmaking and for his transformative leadership at the Knowledge Network.”
In 2017, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Thompson Rivers University.