Barely a week before we kick off with the Symposium, let’s mention the highly influential  and sadly missed founder of the Stanford Documentary Programme, Henry Breitrose who passed away at the beginning of October. A long standing member of CILECT, his reputation as an inspirational teacher, scholar and lover of all things documentary left a really strong impression on several generations of students. Alan Rosenthal – himself a respected filmmaker and scholar – wrote the following about his experiences  as his student in the sixties: “Henry […] was a superb teacher, and was clearly the brightest spark in  department. He was funny, learned, witty and inspiring. And he pointed me towards the path of documentary, with the idea that it could change the world.”

Although I never met him in person, I did occasionally correspond with Henry down the years. I’m sure he would have loved to have been with us in Cardiff!

John Burgan

Full obituary by Kathleen J Sullivan on the Stanford website.