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SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES |
| "Here we find out about some of the people coming to visit" - Vicky | |
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| Michael Conway Baker
Considered a leading composer in many fields, with major awards in each, including several Genies, a Juno, a Golden Sheaf and others. Michael has over 120 film, television and video music scores to his credit in addition to an extensive background in writing symphonic concert music. At present he has over 110 concert works to his credit, winning awards in virtually every category of film music. His accomplishments also include the 1997 Order of British Columbia. |
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| Allen Bell
Atom Egoyan has called Bell's story editing contribution to his films "as always extraordinary and most inspiring." Bell has worked on Family Viewing, Speaking Parts, The Adjuster, and The Sweet Hereafter. Bell, has taught at several Canadian Universities. |
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| Robert Berlinger
A 1997 nominee for the Director's Guild of America award for outstanding achievement in a comedy series for his work on 3Rd Rock from the Sun. Robert has directed over one hundred hours of network primetime comedy and has served as principal director on such series as Veronica's Closet, Cybill, Love and War and Anything But Love. He spent twelve years directing theatre at such venues as the Old Globe Theater, The Guthrie Theater, and the Mark Taper Forum. |
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| Sharon Bialy
Ms. Bialy's work as a casting director has garnered eight Casting Society of America Award nominations including Mr. Holland's Opus with Richard Dreyfuss (Academy Award Nomination). Her eclectic list of projects, includes Drugstore Cowboy, Rudy, Indian Summer, Gas, Food, Lodging, Three Musketeers, Bound By Honor, as well as the Emmy winning pilot and first of Picket Fences. Sharon Bialy, executive produced her first feature film Santa Fe, written by Mark Medoff (Academy Award nominee for Children of a Lesser God) and director Andrew Shea, and most recently was associate producer and casting director for two independent films The Book of Stars with Mary Stuart Masterson, and The Sex Monster a romantic comedy written and directed by Mike Binder. |
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| Natalie Bookchin
A visual artist who has temporarily given into new media. Natalie lives in Los Angeles where she teaches at Cal Arts (the California Institute of the Arts.) She has exhibited her work widely in the States, in Europe and in cyberspace. She is working on translating a short story by Jorge Luis Borges into an online interactive net narrative constructed from a series of computer games modeled on classic game imagery from pong to space invaders. |
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| David Brenner
Oscar winning editor of Born on the Fourth of July. Also did Independence Day and Lolita. |
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| Bruce Broughton
One of the most versatile composers working in films today, Bruce writes in the tradition of the great film composers of Hollywood history. From his Oscar nominated score for Silverado Bruce has gone on to secure 19 nominations from a variety of bodies and has received the Emmy seven times. Other film scores include The Presidio, Lost in Space and Krippendorf's Tribe. |
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| Keith Clarkson
As executive producer at Digital Renaissance, Clarkson is the driving force behind entertainment content development, overseeing the creative, legal, and financial aspects of projects. Recent credits include helping create Dish it Out, a hybrid TV/Web cooking series, Empire of the Bay, a Web site based on the documentary series, and Splice, a seven-episode Web series on the history of communication in Canada produced for Microsoft Network. He is currently executive producer of the upcoming feature Grass, which will premiere at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. |
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| Nelson Coates
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| Rob Cowan
President of Winkler Films, Irwin Winkler's Academy Award winning production company known for such films as Rocky, Raging Bull, The Right Stuff. Rob has produced The Net (Sandra Bullock), The Juror (Demi Moore & Alec Baldwin) and At First Sight (Val Kilmer & Mira Sorvino). |
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| Doug Cuthand
A writer, journalist, director, and producer, as well as the owner and proprietor of Blue Hill Productions. His producing and directing credits include Theatre for Change, a one-hour documentary for Can West which won four Showcase awards, Spirit and Intent, a documentary for CBC Newsworld, and Mounties and Indians - Partners in Crime, a half-hour documentary. Cuthand recently finished co-producing Big Bear, a two-part mini-series for CBC. Cuthand is a member of the Little Pine First Nation. |
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| Francis Damberger
A wonderful filmmaker whose work, Heart of the Sun is being screened at this year's Festival. Francis' two other films are Road To Saddle River and Solitaire for which he earned a Genie nomination. Being the versatile soul that he is, Damberger has directed several episodes of Jake and the Kid, Due South, and Mentors as well as a music video for Paul Gross. |
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| Richard Farnsworth
From stuntman to star, Farnsworth has had a varied career. Canadians first took note of him for the wonderful warmth he conveyed as Bill Miner in The Grey Fox and later as Matthew in Anne of Green Gables. Richard has also appeared in The Natural, Misery and The Getaway. Farnsworth is currently starring in the next soon to be released David Lynch film. |
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| Brian Freeman
CBC executive for Movies and Mini series. |
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| "My 1st husband was a banker. Been there,
done that" - Vicky |
John Genzal
Manager, Media and Entertainment, at the Royal Bank of Canada. His department is dedicated solely to servicing the film industry and related companies. Prior to his twenty-three years at the Royal Bank, John studies sales and marketing at the Vancouver Community College and the University of British Columbia. |
| Janet Graham Borba
Currently director of production for Home Box Office where she oversees physical production of medium-budget feature-length films produced for the cable channel. Projects at HBO include Gotti (Armand Assante), Don't Look Back (Eric Stoltz), and The Cherokee Kid (Sinbad). Her previous co-producing credits include Still Breathing (Zap Pictures), Hackers (United Artists Pictures), and Camp Nowhere (Hollywood Pictures). As vice-president of Mike's Movies from 1991-1993, Borba also pursued scripts, books, and screenplay ideas for Michael Peyser's production company at Hollywood Pictures. |
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| Nathon Gunn
After helping to found the interactive department of Citytv/MuchMusic/Bravo!, Nathon ran the New York Music FestivalÕs Internet Video Broadcast and then returned to Toronto to start Bitcasters, producing film and new media for BMG, Universal and Citytv. Nathon has been involved in many firsts including South East Asia's first touch-screen kiosks and the first live internet event coverage of the Grammy Awards. |
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| Edmond Letain
Graduated from Ryerson with a film production degree and worked as a Producer with Alberta Access Network for 6 years. He graduated from the University of Victoria law school, winning an award for top standing in copyright research and has since published a paper on copyright law and film colourization. Letain's main practice areas are entertainment, copyright, multi-media business law and general civil litigation. |
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| Ryan Nicholson
Co-owner of Flesh and Fantasy Inc., a company that provides special make-up effects for motion pictures and television. In the business since 1989, he is largely self-taught. Current projects include eXistenZ (Alliance), directed by David Cronenberg, Camouflage (Interlight Pictures), directed by James Keach, and Lake Placid (20th Century Fox), directed by Steve Miner. His television work includes Resurrection, Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1 and FX, The Series. |
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| Peter O'Brian
Now president of Independent Films Inc. of Toronto and Vancouver, O'Brian started his film career in 1970, working on the production staff of feature films, television series, and commercials. He later produced Love at the First Sight, starring the then unknown Dan Aykroyd, Outrageous! (associate producer), and David Cronenberg's Fast Company. During the 1980s, O'Brian and Independent Pictures crafted some of Canada's most important feature films, among them Phillip Borso's The Grey Fox, which won a Best Picture Genie and was nominated for Best Foreign Picture at the Golden Globe Awards, and Sandy Wilson's My American Cousin which also won a Best Picture Genie. Currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Feature Film Project at the Canadian Film Centre. |
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| Alex Park
An award winning television producer, Mr. Park developed prototypes for the introduction of interactive programming and on-line services for Municipal governments. Park is responsible for high-speed fiber networks, Internet and cable modem technology, content development and system management for Shaw Communications. |
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| John Pierson
After acting as a producer's representative in 1986 for Bill Sherwood's Parting Glances, Pierson became the largest equity investor and producer's representative for Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It. He later turned his attention to other first-time filmmakers, representing over 20 career-launching American independent features. Pierson's portfolio was described by Premiere magazine as a "virtual hit parade of the independent movement." Titles include Laws of Gravity (RKO'92), Slacker (Orion Classics '91), Anna (Vestron '87) and Working Girls (Miramax '87). Pierson produces and hosts the Independent Film Channel's new program Split Screen. |
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| Denise Pizzini
A Production Designer and Set Decorator whose credits include the international hit Like Water for Chocolate. She received the Ariel, The Mexican Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Pizzini's set decorating credits includes A Walk In The Clouds, Problem Child, Monkey Trouble and Music From Another Room. Pizzini entered the film business by fluke, after working on a Spanish language beer commercial and as a local set dresser on Johnny Be Good. |
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| "I'm not allowed within 200 metres of
Mr. Ransen.
All I'll say is 3 things: Montréal-1983, Rue St.Denis" - Vicky |
Mort Ransen
After a brief stage career as an actor and director, Ransen joined the National Film Board where he wrote and directed 19 films, winning several awards. His most recent triumph is as director of Canada's box-office feature film hit Margaret's Museum, which won Best Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival (beating out Leaving Las Vegas). Margaret's Museum scooped up six Genie awards after 11 nominations. Ransen also produces feature films and television programs through his company Ranfilm Productions. Current projects include Shegalla Summer, co-written by Joan Hopper and Ransen, Endorphins, a movie-of-the-week, and Daycare, a suspense thriller. |
| Jim Robinson
Studied filmmaking in Paris and graduated from Trinity University in Texas, with degrees in Cinema and Art History. His first independent film, a 30-minute musical parable entitled Music Box, was honoured at many film festivals and became one of the most profitable critically-acclaimed films of its kind. He is a director of dramatic television film, including The Estate Sales. His documentary credits include Miracle of Taxila and Tinsel. The recently completed Still Breathing is his first feature film. |
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| Dorothy Schreiber
Became active in the film and television industry in 1992, as a partner in Great Plains Productions Inc., now called Kanata Productions Inc. Since her early venture as production manager of the feature-lengh documentary "Our Home and Native Land," Schreiber has gone on to produce several other documentaries including "Spirit and Intent" (for CBC Newsworld), and "The Great Possibility: Louis Riel and the Metis Resistance: (for CanWest/Global). She also directed "Mother Knowledge," a documentary examining industry on the Peace, Athabasca, and Slave River systems and its effects on aboriginal lifestyle. At present, Schreiber is producing the four-hour television mini-series "Big Bear," as well as directing the documentary "The Little Trapper: for the National Film Board. |
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| Ian Verchere
From Electronic Arts to Radical Entertainment and back to Electronic Arts, Ian has had an amazing career that has seen him direct or create such diverse projects as the hit Sega game Beavis and Butt-head, Mario is Missing, Jackie Chan's Stuntmaster, and The Divide: Enemies Within an integration of linear story telling with non-linear interactive environments. |
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| "Any woman who can say anything is better
than
chocolate has guts, gotta meet her"-Vicky" |
Anne Wheeler
Director of Loyalties, Bye Bye Blues and Angel Square, Wheeler is an award-winning writer, director and producer of feature films, films for television and documentaries. Her films have been screened at festivals around the world. Cowboys DonÕt Cry, The Diviners and Other Women's Children are among her acclaimed films for television. As well as directing the pilot for CBC series DaVinci's Inquest, she has also directed episodes of television series Cold Squad, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, Jake the Kid and North. Wheeler's latest feature, Better Than Chocolate is soon to be released. |
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| Robert Wisden
Born in England and educated at the University of Alberta, Robert has managed to maintain a very busy acting career in Vancouver. Recently starring in Davinci's Inquest, Robert's many credits include Legends of the Fall, Excess Baggage and recurring roles on the X-Files. |
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| Chris Young
A great creator of music for horror films, Chris has done the music for such nail biters as Jennifer 8, and Species. His latest score was the music for The Rounders with Matt Damon |
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| Yale Udoff
Writer of Nicholoa Roeg's Bad Time / A Sensual Obsession, Eve of Destruction |