My Films

Director
Margaret MacMillan on Stephen Leacock, writer-director, half hour biographical documentary of the most famous Canadian writer & humorist of his time. Seen through the eyes Margaret MacMillan, award-winning author of “Paris 1919” and “Nixon in China”, we discover the man who became famous around the English-speaking world. When he began writing early in the 20th Century, Canada was a very British colony. Leacock’s writings captured a distinctly Canadian voice and helped the country come into its own by the time he died during World War Two. Leacock aspired to be taken seriously for his social, political and economic ideas. He wrote 70 books on a wide variety of topics. But ultimately it was his humour which made him famous, and which survives today. Canada’s annual award for humour is given in his name. This film is part of a series, “Extraordinary Canadians”, for CITY-TV, the Biography Channel, and the OMNI Network. Produced by PMA Biographies Inc.

Singing in the Shadow: The Children of Rock Royalty, co-directed with Ben Duffield. It explores the challenges of forging a career in music when your parent is a superstar, and your main claim to fame is less the quality of your music than the familiarity of your name. Most try to avoid trading on their parent’s fame. But often the odds are so great that they have no choice but to surrender, which may mean singing a parent’s song, or being billed as “the son of” or “the daughter of”. Featuring Louis Osborne (son of Ozzy Osborne); Simon Collins (son of Phil Collins); Sally Taylor (daughter of James Taylor & Carly Simon); Jason Everly (son of Phil Everly); James Raymond (son of David Crosby); Teddy Richards (son of Aretha Franklin); Sarah Lee Guthrie, (daughter of Arlo Guthrie, granddaughter of Woody Guthrie); A.J. Croce (son of Jim Croce); Julian Lennon (son of John Lennon). 90 minute feature documentary for CBC, Bravo US. Produced by Handel Productions Inc.

Is Love Enough?, writer-director. The film probes the question of whether mentally disabled people should be parents. It profiles several mentally disabled parents in Canada and the United States who had to fight for the right to parent their children, and who are doing so aided in one case by a local minister, and in another by an organization for the mentally disabled. There is also a disabled couple who want to adopt a child, and a strikingly honest account by a teenaged girl who was raised by two mentally disabled parents and sounds a cautionary note. One hour documentary for CBC TV. Produced by Handel Productions Inc.  link to web site

“An unprecedented look at an issue infrequently discussed. Thoughtful and well done.” Science Books & Films

“The parental rights of persons formerly known as ‘retarded’ are thoughtfully dealt with in this balanced, heart-wrenching documentary. A fine discussion prompter for high school and college students and others.” Booklist

AWARDS:
Western Psychological Association, 2002
American Association on Mental Retardation, 2002

Coat of Many Countries, co-writer & co-director with Josh Freed. We follow the making of a men’s suit on an around-the-world trip. This remarkable journey starts with a clothing convention in Las Vegas where a thousand suits are sold to a major retailer. It then follows each component of the suit, including choosing the fabric at a secretive Paris trade show, acquiring wool from sheep in Australia, manufacturing the fabric at a textile plant in Amritsar, India, shoulder pads in Hong Kong, lining in South Korea, and buttons in Montreal. They are all sent to Hamburg where they are packed into a truck and driven to Nishny Novgorod, east of Moscow, to be assembled by Russian workers. The finished suits are shipped to New York where they are sold at a discount suit shop in Manhattan. Because of the low salaries in each country, it’s cheaper to manufacture this suit on a global assembly line, than it is to manufacture it in North America. global assembly line. The film also visits New Delhi, Szhenshen in central China, and Moscow. One hour documentary for CBC TV. Produced by Galafilm Inc.  link to web page

Untangling the Mind: the Legacy of Dr. Heinz Lehmann, writer-director. The film traces the evolution of psychiatry from the era of the snake pit, when massive asylums warehoused patients and treatment was limited to shock therapy, lobotomy and incarceration. It depicts a remarkable experiment by Dr. Lehmann involving intensive human care which provoked near-miraculous recovery from some catatonic patients, and then the introduction of the first psychoactive drugs to treat psychosis and depression, which revolutionized treatment of mental illness and in which Dr. Lehmann played a key role. Initial research for the film entailed visits to Bedlam in London, Salpetriere in Paris, community mental health services in Trieste, Italy, and the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington. One hour documentary for the Discovery Channel. Produced by Green Lion Productions Inc.  link to web site

AWARDS:
Chris Statuette Columbus Film Festival, 2000
Western Psychology Association, 2000
Best Documentary, Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, 2000
Certificate of Merit, Golden Gate Awards Competition, 2000

The Need to Know, writer-director. The film profiles women’s struggle for equal access to education around the world. We visit Wellesley University in Massachussets, and a unique Women’s University in Norway designed to see the world from a female perspective. We also see an innovative girl’s school in rural India where teenaged girls are routinely married off rather than educated. We meet a Bangladeshi woman who fled for her life because of her advocacy of women’s education, and hear from a Princeton theology professor who broke the stained glass ceiling with her pioneer study of suppressed gospels which told of women with prominent roles in the early church. We also hear from a CNN television host who wonders what discoveries we may have lost by preventing women from contributing their talents to science, the arts and politics over the centuries. We hear from famous men throughout history who dismiss women as too weak to be educated. And get a response from an American feminist who blames male jealousy for this historical oppression. This episode was part of a six-film series “Women: A True Story”, for CTV and Radio Canada. Hosted by Susan Sarandon in English and Marie Tifo in French. Produced by les productions Pointe de Mire & the National Film Board of Canada.  NFB web page

The Double Shift, writer-director. This film explodes the myth of equality, when a working woman is also a mother and in effect has two jobs. The film profiles a Montreal surgeon who is often mistaken for a nurse, and a Montreal waitress who struggles to juggle the night shift and her daily duties to her son. We meet CNN television producers who know they may have to forego a family if they want to advance in their profession. The situation is even tougher for a Russian doctor where the standard of living is already low. And in an intriguing “shoe on the other foot” situation, we meet some stay-at-home dads in Maine who discover how quickly their social status diminishes when their conversations revolve around playtime and diapers rather than spreadsheets and business talk. One hour documentary for six-part series “Women: A True Story”, CTV, Radio Canada, hosted by Susan Sarandon in English and Marie Tifo in French. Produced by les productions Pointe de Mire Inc. & The National Film Board of Canada.  link to web page

The Last Train: A Cross-Canada Journey, co-director with Josh Freed, two one-hour documentaries travelling across Canada from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, with side trips to Moosonee in northern Ontario and Churchill Manitoba on Hudson Bay. Through the eyes of grizzled veteran journalist Murray Sale we meet a fascinating cross-section of Canadians, including salty Newfoundlanders, a singing Nova Scotia sailor, Quebec separatists, a renowned Canadian historian, experience an aboriginal sweat lodge, visit a polar bear jail, go moose-calling in the Ontario wilderness, listen to a singing baggageman, meet an eloquent railroad engineer recounting how the railroad built Canada as we cross the endless prairies and climb the awesome Rocky mountains, and disembark at the Pacific Ocean. It was the last time you could travel continuously from Atlantic to Pacific on the legendary transcontinental railway built in the 19th century to link Canada together. The films were one of the most successful shows on PBS’s travel series, and were also broadcast on Channel Four in England and CBC in Canada. Produced by Galafilm Inc.

René Lévesque: sa vie et son rêve, director, half-hour biography of the founder of Quebec’s separatist movement, commercially-released videocassette, written & narrated by Doris Lussier (in French). Produced by Alan Handel.

North/South, a weekly television series about the developing world, for Vision TV. Hosted by former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Flora MacDonald, it covered a wide variety of stories from around the world.

Associate Producer

Behind the Smile, associate producer, village women in Thailand working in Bangkok in factories and construction sites to support their families in the North, for low wages and in poor working conditions, one hour documentary made for CIDA. Produced by Alan Handel.

Tapoori, associate producer and co-writer, life on the streets of Bombay with children who have run away from their villages, half hour documentary for CBC TV’s Man Alive, Produced by Alan Handel.

The Bomb Under the World, one hour documentary about the economic and environmental impact of the growing middle class in India, with their demand for consumer products. Three months of research and filming in Bombay. Hosted by Gwynne Dyer. Directed by Werner Volkmer. This was one episode in a four-part series The Human Race for CBC TV.Produced by Green Lion Productions.

Escaping from History, one hour documentary about the impact of literacy and industrialization in Mexico, from the advent of satellite television in remote villages in Oaxaca, to the lure of jobs in huge factories called “maquilladoras” along the Mexican/American border. The factories draw thousands who live in rudimentary slums near the factories, but over time their wages enable them to build a better life for themselves and their children. Hosted by Gwynne Dyer. Directed by Josh Freed. One episode in a four-part series The Human Race for CBC TV..Produced by Green Lion Productions.

Strangers in a Strange Land, behind the scenes documentary about the high hopes and considerable tensions created when a Canadian production company and the Chinese Army studio produces a feature film about Dr. Norman Bethune, who is revered in China. The film called Bethune: the Making of a Hero, starred Donald Sutherland as Dr. Bethune. One month of location research during the shoot in central China. Directed by Bob McKeown.

Series Research

Scam City, a ten part series for National Geographic about how tourists get scammed in the top destinations around the world. Did location work for the Bangkok episode and general research for other episodes in the series.

Mars Rising, co-ordinated research for six-part series on the first human mission to Mars for the Discovery Channel. Produced by Gala Film in Montreal.

Steinberg, two-part docu-drama chronicling the rise and fall of the Steinberg grocery chain in Quebec. Shared Gemeaux award for Best Research with Terri Foxman.