In Toronto, they were reunited with Marino Buttignol, who had immigrated in 1954 to work for Canadian National Railway laying rail in northern Alberta.

From 1971 to 1975, he attended York University, Faculty of Fine Arts,[8] where he studied film under James Beveridge, Louis de Rochemont III and Terence Macartney-Filgate.

His early documentaries were about an Italian dairy (The Dairy (1977), a Canadian artist (Jack Bush (1979), a pop history of neon lights (Neon, an Electric Memoir (1984), an Apollo-era astronaut who became an artist (Allan Bean: Art Off This Earth (1990), and the early history of the Russian space program (Soviet Space: The Secret Designer (1992).

From 2000 to 2006, he was TVOntario's creative head of network programming, green lighting commissions such as: In 2004, he shared the Gemini's Donald Brittain Award with documentary filmmaker Allan King for Dying at Grace (2003).

[33] On December 30, 2015, it was announced that 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 February 2022 an internal audit[37] revealed that under Buttignol's leadership only 1.7% of the Knowledge Network's $2.054 million pre-licence funding, over a seven year period, had been awarded to production companies owned by people of colour.

[39] Members of the IBPOC film community claimed that Buttignol's response "contributed to an increased distrust and lack of confidence from filmmakers of colour and other concerned British Columbians".

On June 17, 2022, the Knowledge Network's Board released a statement that Buttignol's contract had been terminated and that a national search would begin to find his replacement.