Derek May

May grew up in London and moved to the United States to study painting at the Chicago Art School. When the Vietnam War broke out, he immigrated to Canada. In 1966 he directed his first film with the NFB, Angel, a six-minute experimental love story featuring music by Leonard Cohen. May’s 1970 experimental autobiographical feature, A Film for Max, about his infant son, is one of the first Canadian films to incorporate elements of the home movie. His 1971 experimental short, Pandora, is a feast for the eyes. Some of May’s films examined the conflict between rich and poor as explored by different artists, including the documentaries Pictures from the 1930s (1977), featuring a National Gallery exhibition that toured Canada, and Krzysztof Wodiczko: Projections (1991), a look at the renowned projection artist’s work and philosophy of art.