Born in 1954, John Houston spent his first eight years in the Canadian Arctic. Early immersion in Inuit culture has affected his entire life. Later, in British and Ontario schools, John still called the North home, spending summers on the land with Inuit friends. His first job in film was as coffee boy on The White Dawn (Paramount/73), adapted from his father, James Houston’s first novel. John graduated from Yale University in 1975, having spent his junior year in Paris, printmaking at Atelier 17 while gaining fluency in French.When Inuit artist Lipa Pitsiulak offered him the position of Art Advisor to Pangnirtung’s printmaking project, he seized the opportunity to return north. John enjoyed the position for five years, bringing out four remarkable graphics collections, gaining complete fluency in Inuktitut, creating the story idea for Art of the Arctic Whalemen, a documentary directed by his father.
Hollywood called, and he was off on a 20,000 mile trek, casting Inuit for Carroll Ballard’s Never Cry Wolf (Disney/82) on which he served as 1st Assistant Director. With the proceeds, he and his mother established Houston North Gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, now in its 39th year of showcasing Inuit art. They also co-founded Folk Harbour, the province’s longest-running music festival. Since 1991, John has guided eco-tourists on Arctic sailings with Adventure Canada. He worked on films around the world, and rejoined Ballard to make Fly Away Home (Columbia/96).
With 25 years of helping directors to realize their vision as his apprenticeship, John started filming his own stories in 1998, co-writing and directing Songs in Stone, a one-hour documentary about the collaboration between his parents, James and Alma Houston, and the Inuit of Cape Dorset, that launched Inuit art onto the world stage. His Arctic trilogy continued with a quest for the ancient Inuit deity, Nuliajuk: Mother of the Sea Beasts, and was capped by Diet of Souls, a look inside the mind of the Inuit hunter. Then Kiviuq, a performing arts special, revived the ancient Inuit shaman/hero whose story missionaries strove to eradicate. Next, he made a celebration of his father’s life, James Houston: The Most Interesting Group of People you’ll ever Meet, and then, for his first drama, John adapted his father’s children’s book, The White Archer. Growing up between two cultures gave John a deep appreciation for the sustainable values he explores in his work. His six films have all won national and international awards.
To help promote and preserve the Inuit oral tradition, John co-authored inuitQ.ca, a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) on Inuit Traditional Knowledge with Acadia University, followed by a website on the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: TRCtalk.ca.
John lectures and screens his films nationally and internationally, including presentations at Yale, Berkeley, the Smithsonian (Washington & NYC), Montana, Ottawa, Vancouver, Spain and Tokyo. Dedicated to growing Nunavut’s film industry, John was Ajjiit Nunavut Media Association’s founding President, and the 2005 recipient of Ajjiit’s Film, Television & New Media Industry Recognition Award. He served as co-producer for feature film The Snow Walker and associate-produced Sleep Murder. For outstanding service to the membership of the Directors Guild of Canada, John was the 2012 recipient of the Don Haldane Distinguished Service Award. He has since co-produced the feature film Copperhead, capper to Ron Maxwell’s Civil War trilogy. In 2017, John issued a wall-sized environmental photographic mural, “The Six of Bees.”
In Fall 2019 he released two films: L’NUK 101: Finding Common Ground, a docudrama on which he mentored three Mi’kmaq as co-writer, co-director and co-producer; and his eighth film, in which Northern Quebec Inuit and Cree recount the rise of their co-ops: Atautsikut/Leaving None Behind (nominee for the Directors Guild of Canada Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary.) John shares a Halifax heritage home with his wife, marine biologist and fellow Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, Ree Brennin Houston. They enjoy spending time with John’s son Dorset when he’s home from Queen’s University, and daughter Becky Kilabuk of Iqaluit, Nunavut.