Cinema & Media Arts
Manfred Becker
Assistant Professor
Graduate Program Director, MA/MFA Film

EDUCATION
PhD, Communications & CultureYork & Ryerson Universities
The Frankenbite – Ethics in Factual Programming (York Dissertation Prize)
2017
To be published as monograph in 2020
M.A. Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies
York University
Capturing the Platform – Public Relations and the Olympic Games
2011
B.A. Journalism & Film Studies
Universität Dortmund, West Germany, 1984
BIOGRAPHY
CURRICULUM VITAE
Manfred Becker, PhD
Assistant Professor & Filmmaker
AMPD, Department of Cinema and Media Arts, York University
(416) 998 4903, bmanfred@yorku.ca
DEGREES:
2017 PhD, Joint Graduate Program Communication & Culture, York University &
Ryerson University, The Frankenbite – Ethics in Factual Programming
2011 Masters, Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies, York University
Capturing the Platform – Public Relations and the Olympic Games
1984 (Pre-) Bachelor, Journalism & Film, Universität Dortmund, West Germany
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
2018 – 2022 Assistant Professor, Department of Cinema & Media Arts (CMA), York University
2019 – 2025 Graduate Program Director, MFA in Film, York University
2020 – 2021 Graduate Program Director, MA Cinema and Media Studies, York University
2017 Course Director, RTA School of Media at The Creative School, Ryerson University
2014 – 2018 Course Director & Thesis Advisor, Documentary Media Graduate Program, Ryerson University
2013 – 2018 Course Director, School of Image Arts, Ryerson University
2011 Course Director, School of Media Studies, Humber College
2010 – 2017 Instructor, Documentary Institute, Seneca College
2005 – 2018 Course Director, CMA, York University
2000 – 2022 Independent Documentary Writer and Director
1984 – 2014 Independent Sound, Film and Video Editor
HONOURS AND AWARDS
2020 Nomination, Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program, Canadian Screen Awards – In Search for a Perfect World (director)
2017 Faculty of Graduate Studies Dissertation Prize, York University
2014 Special Jury Award, Best Canadian Documentary, Hot Docs &
2014 Nomination, Best Documentary Editing, Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) – When the Last Curtain falls (editor, co-writer)
2015 Grimme Online Award – The Polar Sea (co-director)
2013 Best Documentary Series, Canadian Screen Awards – The Photograph (director, writer)
2013 Webby Award – Official Selection; One Show Interactive Competition – Official Selection; Prix Numix – Official Selection; Prix Boomerang – Grand Prix; The Favourite Website Award (FWA) – Site of the Day, for At Home/Chez Soi (co-director)
2012 Nomination, Golden Sheaf Award, Yorkton – Dark Tourism (director, writer)
2011 Special Jury Award, Hot Docs Festival – Guantanamo Trap (editor, co-writer)
2011 Nomination, Best Feature Documentary, Genie Awards – Guantanamo Trap (editor, co-writer)
2007 Best Documentary, Directors Guild of Canada &
2007 Nomination, Best Historical Documentary, Gemini Award – Hitler’s Children (director, writer, editor)
2007 Best Social Documentary, Donald Brittain Gemini Award &
2007 Nomination, Directors Guild of Canada Award &
2007 Chris Award, Columbus International Film & Video Festival – fatherland (director, writer, editor)
2007 Best Documentary Series, Gemini Awards – Diamond Road (co-director)
2005 Nomination, Directors Guild of Canada Award &
2005 Gold Camera Award, US Film & Video Festival &
2005 Chris Award, Columbus – – The Siege (director, writer, editor)
2004 Best Biography and Best Documentary Series, Gemini Awards) &
2004 Nomination, Directors Guild Award &
2004 Best Direction, Hugo Awards, Chicago &
2004 World Film Fest Award, Houston – Neighbours (director, writer, editor
2002 Nomination, Canadian Directors Guild Award &
2002 Best of Festival, World Film Fest, Houston &
2002 Finalist, BASC, Australia – Death of a Warrior (director, co-writer, editor)
2001 Donald Brittain Award for Best Social Documentary, Gemini Awards – Breakaway (editor, co-writer)
1999 Nomination, Best Editing, Gemini Awards – Thin Ice (editor)
1997 Best Feature Documentary, Genie Awards – A place called Chiapas (editor, co-writer)
1996 Best Editing and Best Biography, Gemini Awards – Wrestling with Shadows (editor)
1995 International Emmy Award &
1995 Donald Brittain Award for Best Social Documentary, Gemini Awards – Gerrie and Louise (editor)
1990 Nomination, Best Short Documentary, Genie Awards – Who Gets In (editor)
PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTION & STANDING:
IN DEVELOPMENT
2022 Smoke and Gifts feature length documentary on the alternative music group Broken Social Scene, directed by Stephen Chung, produced by Fathom Films. Story editor.
2022 Chai Audio-visuals on an augmented book of photography on the Shoah by Edward Burtynsky,
Steidl Verlag, Germany
2021 Digital Afterlives – Co-applicant, with Prof. Julia Creet, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant Digital Afterlives, $328,000 (pending)
BOOK PUBLICATIONS
2021 – Creating Reality in Factual Television: The Frankenbite and Other Fakes. Monograph, print and e-book. London, UK: Routledge. (refereed)
FUNDING
2021 Principal investigator, SSHRC Insight Development Grant: A Vaccine against Fake News $40,273.
2021 Ahmad F (PI), Morrow M (Co-PI), Becker M, Bohr Y, Daftary A, Flicker S, Gaetz S, Hankey J, Gorman RS, Orbinski J, & Weiss J. Community-engaged Research for Health Equity (CeRHE). Submitted to Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Cluster, Office of VPRI, York University. Requested amount year $449,873 (to be resubmitted in 2023)
CREATIVE/ARTISTIC ENDEAVOURS
Director/Writer
2019 Saving Rabbit One-hour process documentary on a young homeless man wanting to beat his fentanyl addiction, for CBC’s ‘POV’ strand. Media Headquarters.
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/cbc-docs-pov/s01
Rabbit’s story displays the contradictory approaches available in the crisis from helping users change their lives completely, as opposed to keeping them safe while they fight to do it themselves. Perhaps the best way
to understand the crisis is to go beyond the statistics and help those in the middle of it tell their stories. CITY NEWS
2019 The Divided Brain Feature length documentary about neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist’s monumental work, The Master and his Emissary, featuring the Archbishop of Canterbury and John Cleese. Matter-of-Fact-Media https://gem.cbc.ca/media/the-divided-brain/s01e01
The Divided Brain is a very powerful documentary that has not shied from including critical voices. It conveys, with great clarity and conviction, the immeasurable dangers of the colonisation of the brain by the left-brain hemisphere. Sunil Kumar, former Dean, London School of Economics
2018 In Search for a Perfect World International Co-production between the CBC and ZDF on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, with Peter Mansbridge. Primitive Entertainment.
https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/specials/in-search-of-a-perfect-world-1.5086982
2018 From the Vaults, Six-part series of the CBC Music Archives that tell the history of Canada. Banger Films.
Co-director with Adrian Callender, Sam Dunn, Nicolina Lanni and Ann Shin.
https://www.cbc.ca/television/fromthevaults
And there’s some amazing music on the show. It’s where you can see blues jam, Joan Baez playing an anti-war song at the height of Vietnam, a young cowpunk k.d. lang being critiqued by a present-day k.d. lang, Jackie Mittoo and Oscar Peterson writing new languages for Canadian reggae and jazz. Now Magazine
2017 No Joke feature length documentary on a singer/songwriter who is saved from his traumatic past by music. Lofty Sky Media, https://loftysky.com/projects/nojoke/
No Joke doesn’t condemn bullies, rather it attempts to open up conversation. It explores how fear divides us into the powerful and the powerless.. What began as a documentary about a song becomes a compelling, thoughtful film about empathy. Millicent Thomas, FILM STORIES
2015 Satan Lives Feature length theatrical documentary on the collective hysteria that gripped North America in the 1980s, HBO Canada. Co-director with Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen. Banger Films
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/141675158 pw: satanisreal
2014 The Polar Sea 10-part series on the effects of climate change in Canada’s North, ARTE and TV Ontario. Co-director with Kevin McMahon, David New, Dylan Reibling, Thomas Wallner. Primitive Entertainment, http://www.primitive.net/the-polar-sea.html
The Polar Sea—a 10-part TV series beginning Monday on TVO—is a thrilling epic that takes us on a magical 10,000-kilometre mystery tour through the legendary Northwest Passage. Hugely entertaining and mind-bogglingly educational at the same time, it instantly stands as one of t landmarks in the long and rich history of Canadian documentary filmmaking. – Martin Knelman, Toronto Star
By personalizing the problem, the brilliant 10-hour documentary manages to make us understand the enormity of the situation. Made on a mammoth scale, the Polar Sea is instead an intimate look at the changing world of the north, beautifully photographed and crisply edited. All of which indicates to me TVO has seized the initiative from CBC in showing and celebrating where public television should be headed.” – Jim Bawden, television critic
2013 At Home/Chez Soi Interactive website about the “largest social experiment in the world” – housing the homeless. Co-director with Sarah Fortin, Darryl Nepinak, Louiselle Noel and Lynne Stopkevich. National Film Board of Canada, https://www.nfb.ca/film/at_home_evicted/
2013 The Photograph portrait of the 1942 Toronto Hurricanes football team which lost more men in WW II than any other professional sports team, as part of the CTV “Engraved on a Nation” series. Infieldfly Productions. https://www.tsn.ca/engraved
The lot of a TV critic is not a happy one. I spend my evenings in the dark relentlessly searching for something passable on my flickering TV set. And then something as evocative as The Photograph comes along. Surely, it’s one of the best Remembrance Day specials I have seen. The Photograph plays like an old-time movie…masterfully directed by Manfred Becker. – Jim Bawden, critic
We all know the adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ Well, The Photograph is worth a lot more than that—and it also serves as a timely reminder of what a poppy stands for in this country. – Stu Cowan, Montreal Gazette
2012 Dark Tourism vérité documentary on the phenomenon of tourists seeking out places of conflict and fear. Director/writer/editor. History Television, https://vimeo.com/50454616
Dark Tourism’ is made for thoughtful fans of non-fiction. This sober meta- travelogue makes you wonder if the documentary genre itself is guilty of the same voyeurism as the gawking tourists. It’s an irresistible, if repellent sight. – Bill Staments, Chicago Sun
A fascinating examination of the phenomenon revealing that there is a good deal of confusion and conflict. – John Doyle, Globe and Mail
Dark Tourism raises some unsettling questions. Have people already forgotten their history? It’s
a worthwhile, and unsettling, question. – Rick McInnis, Metro News
Manfred Becker’s eerie, thought-provoking documentary is a morality tale. Montreal Gazette
Hot Box—TV worth talking about.– Toronto Star
One of three to see. – Alex Strachan, Financial Post
Welcome to the dark side! – Lisa-Marie Brennan, TV Guide
2009 Diamond Road 3 x 1-hour HD documentary series on the global diamond industry, Discovery Times & HD, ARTE, ZDF, NHK, ABC Australia. Co-director with Nisha Pahuja.
https://kensingtontv.com/index.php/2007/09/20/diamond-road/
Fascinating with a firm point of view but no preaching. – Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail
A brilliant three-parter … a must-see of the fall season. – Jim Bawden, Starweek
2006 Fatherland feature-length personal essay documentary on history, memory and fatherhood, History Television. Director/writer/editor. https://vimeo.com/734970450/62ec480d98
Intense, substantial and satisfying. Difficult emotional moments and disturbing images. Profoundly intimate portrait of the relationships between fathers and sons. – Henrietta Walmark, Globe Television
Opens a poignant landscape. One of those few truly great films that jumps right out at you.–
Jim Bawden, StarWeek
Tough questions are asked, tough answers are given, and what emerges is a deeper understanding of personal and collective guilt. – Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Uncomfortable and raw. – Rick McGinnis, Metro News
A profoundly intimate portrait. – Lynne Fernie, HotDocs
Enlightening. A stirring look. You won’t find a better program to watch this Father’s Day weekend. – Andrew Borkowski, TV Guide 5
A lyrical drama that illustrates the illustrates the question how complicated the question ‘What did you do in the war’ can get. – Eye Weekly
Sobering and provocative. Top pick of festival. – Globe and Mail
2004 Hitler’s Children: Germany in Autumn 1977 Historical documentary on the Baader-Meinhof urban guerilla group that challenged West German democracy. Director/writer/editor. History Television. https://vimeo.com/194907995, pw:Baader
Becker manages to bring both terrorists and victims together. A fascinating blueprint for
dealing with future terrorist threats. – Bill Brioux, Toronto Sun
Becker has scored a real coup. Nothing could be more relevant. Explains where terrorism comes from and how states should react. The must-see program of the week.” – Jim Bawden, Starweek
2003 The Siege Historical documentary on the 1999 siege of a UN compound in East Timor. Director/writer/editor. History Television, https://vimeo.com/68796683
Becker has an eye for personal detail and an ear for the way people talk and think. Exceedingly well made…a living, breathing record…paced like a thriller, the result is both sobering and thought-provoking filmmaking that puts most dramatized re-creations to shame…a relentless drive that puts viewers right inside. Surprisingly clear-headed and objective. – Alex Strachan, National Post
Deftly paced and dramatic without overdoing either the heroism or the horror, a fine insight into what happened in a part of the world that was failed by journalism and the world’s most powerful countries. – John Doyle, Globe and Mail
This is one of TV’s surprises…amazing…a major work. – Jim Bawden, Starweek
The one to catch! – Toronto Star
Dramatic, with powerful lessons for today’s conflicts. – Ann Marie McQueen, Ottawa Citizen
2003 The Life of Me Vérité documentary following the workshop of a play for the “Madness in the Arts Festival,” featuring actors with mental affliction. Director/writer/editor. TV Ontario
Heartbreaking. – John Doyle, Globe and Mail
Intimate and challenging. – Henrietta Walmark, Broadcast Week
At times it is almost impossible to believe that these rehearsals will ever result in a positive outcome in the documentary. – Network Magazine
2002 Neighbours Historical documentary on the fin-de-siècle Vienna of Sigmund Freud and Adolf Hitler. Director/writer/editor. History Television
In my eyes, both Hitler and my grandfather were false prophets of the 20th century. –Sophie Freud,
granddaughter of Freud, Boston
Becker uses archival and new material with masterful editing touch. – John Goodman, Vancouver North Shore News
Freud goes up in smoke. – Judy Gerstel, Toronto Star Definite irony. – Catherine Monk, Georgia Straight Riveting. – Jewish Tribune, Pick of the week. – Now Magazine 6
2001 Death of a Warrior Documentary about the bombing of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior by French secret agents. Director/co-writer/editor. History Television
A crisply made, clear-eyed look at a tale full of intrigue and courage…gripping, full of suspense and hidden surprises. Remarkable, paced like a thriller. Proves that a well-made documentary can trump all other forms of visual storytelling. A must see. – Alex Strachan, National Post
An excellent documentaryiIn Becker’s well-crafted program all the twists and turns of the murky events are made clear. – John Doyle, Globe and Mail
Film tracks the thriller-like hunt for the saboteurs, the diplomatic skullduggery and the bittersweet outcome of the case. – Olivia Ward, Toronto Star
In the vein of a true-crime detective story, unraveling the mystery. – Taos Talking Pictures
Saga unfolds like a pulp spy novel, a fine recap of the investigation. The film makes one uneasy in a post-9/11 world. Required viewing. – Andrew Ryan, Globe and Mail
Editor/Co-Writer
2014 Before the Last Curtain Falls Theatrical documentary on experimental dance performed by aging homosexual and transsexual actors. Director: Thomas Wallner, https://vimeo.com/121639102
2013 The Defector Feature-length documentary on the odyssey of North Koreans escaping their country. TV Ontario, co-writer with director Ann Shin, http://www.thedefectormovie.com/
2011 Guantanamo Trap Theatrical feature documentary about four people’s lives that connect during the War on Terror, co-writer with director Thomas Wallner, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6lkgA9ThgE
2001 Breakaway Portrait of two brain-injury survivors, CTV, co-writer with director Mathew Welsh
A visionary piece of factual filmmaking.– Take One Magazine
I found it extremely potent and powerful and I could not take my eyes away from it for a
second. – Shelagh Rogers, CBC Radio
A fascinating portrait of power, love and psychological obsession. Strongly recommended…this is the rare sort of film that does not come around very often. – Library Journal
1999 Out of Orbit Biography of Marshall McLuhan, CBC, co-writer with director Carl Bessai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvpPb89ChM0
1996 A Place Called Chiapas Feature-length documentary about the Zapatista uprising in Mexico, co-writer with director Nettie Wild, https://www.kanopy.com/en/torontopl/video/5322086
Exquisitely shot and edited. – Jon Gralick, Boston Phoenix
Electric, alive, commendable, coincidentally surreal. A humorous, awkward, imperiled cat’s cradle of history, fury and injustice. Bold ways of showing unexpected sides of a story that sometimes has the transcendent urgency of a luscious and troubled agit-prop fable. – Wesley Morris, San Francisco Examiner 7
Wild and her crew bring out an affecting intimacy rare in documentaries with a news sensibility. Inspiring and chilling point bang glimpse leaves powerful impressions. – Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
Story Editor
2022 To Catch a Tiger Feature length documentary on masculinity in India. NFB. Director: Nisha Pahuja. National Film Board. TIFF 2022.
2022 rebel angel feature length portrait of Canadian poet and teacher Ross Woodman. Christopher Lowry, Ecotone Productions.
2022 Undeniably Young Animated Short on athlete Nora Young and the Six-Day Race. Julia Morgan, Evoke Films.
2020 Road to Roxham CBC Gem short documentary on a road travelled by refuges to escape the US and enter Canada. Consulting Producer. Director: Cristian Gomez
2015 Shadow Girl Feature-length documentary on a filmmaker’s journey into blindness. Producer/director: Maria Teresa Larrain
2014 Fractured Land A charismatic First Nations chief in British Columbia takes on the oil and gas industry and coming of age, CBC. Directors: Fiona Rayner and Damien Gillis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe591PtCfa0
2014 Lost and Found Objects swept into the ocean by a tsunami in Japan are washed up on the beaches on the Pacific West Coast. Directors: Nicolina Lanni & John Choi
2013 Chi Actress Babz Chula battling cancer, Director: Ann Wheeler https://www.nfb.ca/film/chi_en/
2013 Spring & Arnaud Two artists and their shared life. Directors: Marcia Connelly & Katherine Knight ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzXR0CUEze0&ab_channel=S1T3M3D1A
2012 Buying Sex Documentary on the legalization of versus banning the sex trade, NFB, directors: Teresa MacInnes and Kent Nason. https://www.nfb.ca/film/buying_sex/
2012 Occupy Love Part III of Velcrow Ripper’s documentary trilogy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cTBlGcZCeA
2011 A Sorry State Mitch Miyagawa’s filmic essay on the meaning of government-issued apologies, TV Ontario, https://vimeo.com/50831235
2010 Kids in Jail NFB documentary on children who kill. Director: Larry Lynn http://www.nfb.ca/film/kids_in_jail/trailer/kids_in_jail_trailer/
2008 Fierce Light Velcrow Ripper’s theatrical documentary on finding spirituality in places of darkness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh5Qvv3UIEg
2006 That’s my Time Adamm Liley’s portrait of comedian Irwin Barker’s life with terminal cancer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcIEHYDk0c8
2005 Griefwalker Tim Wilson’s portrait of Stephen Jenkinson, the palliative care counsellor at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, NFB. https://www.nfb.ca/distribution/film/griefwalker
2005 Scared Sacred Velcrow Ripper’s spiritual search for places of darkness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSx68p7ItDk
2002 Fix Nettie Wild’s feature-length documentary about drugs and resistance on Vancouver’s East Side, NFB, https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thenettiewildcollection/2880574878
Political struggle is emotionally grounded by two very different yet similarly stubborn, rabble-rousing personalities whose loyal alliance is like a quarrelsome marriage. – Variety
Editor
2014 The Polar Sea 2-D editor on the 360 VR component of the 10-part series. Producers: Irene Vandertorp & Thomas Wallner, http://deep-inc.com/portfolio/polarsea360/
2010 Prosecutor Feature-length documentary on the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, for the BBC and TVO. Director/writer: Barry Stevens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04s_Y1zCxQc
2008 Biodad Follow-up feature-length documentary on the search for the biological father of the filmmaker, CBC. Director/writer: Barry Stevens
2001-04 Blue Murder 4×13 prime-time dramatic series, Global Television. Senior picture editor. Executive producers: Laszlo Barna and Steve Lucas
2001 Offspring Documentary on the search for the filmmaker’s biological father, CBC. Director/writer: Barry Stevens, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNjaPs599Qs
This film has a wonderfully light touch resulting in an exemplary documentary. – Henry Lewes, Take One.
1999 Lola Theatrical fiction film, Invited to Sundance and Berlin, Toronto and Vancouver Film Festivals. Director: Carl Bessai, https://vimeo.com/13211692
1999 Obachan’s Garden feature-length docu-drama on the Japanese immigrant experience, NFB Pacific Centre. Supervising editor. Director/producer: Linda Ohama
https://www.nfb.ca/film/obachans_garden/
Ohama’s emotionally exhilarating with dozens of emotionally wrenching and uplifting scenes. – Louis Hobson, Canoe.ca
Obachan’s Garden is a film to be watched again and again. It reminds me once again of the impressive depth of ability in Canadian documentary filmmakers. Highly Recommended.
– Deborah Begoray, University of Victoria
1998 Thin Ice Biography of Bruce McCall, Canadian-born New Yorker magazine illustrator , NFB. Director: Laurence Green. https://vimeo.com/142279795 , pw:brucemccall
A subtle investigation of the processes of colonialization and psychology of need, Thin Ice is a film about one expatriate Canuck’s strangely desperate desire for American affirmation. – Tom McSorley, Take One
1997 Johnny Theatrical fiction, Toronto, Vancouver and Thessalonica Film Festivals. Director/producer: Carl Bessai, https://vimeo.com/4540260
Heralded as the first North American entry in the growing Dogma ’95 canon is raw, bare-boned, and bleak. – Alibris
1996 Machine Gun 3-part documentary series on the history of the 19th and 20th centuries viewed through the barrel of a machine gun, Discovery US and Canada. Supervising editor. Director: Steven Silver 9
1997 Wrestling with Shadows Feature-length study of a modern-day hero in the world of professional wrestling, BBC, ARTE, TVOntario and A&E. Director/producer: Paul Jay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wZhA5s3kI
This is one whale of a tale! – Newsday
A classic story of a modern-day hero, one of the most riveting Canadian films in years.
– Eye Magazine
Jay, along with seamless editing by Manfred Becker, tracks this progression all the way to its bitter, bitter end. Watching Wrestling With Shadows is still great entertainment. In fact, it’s a knock out. – Antonia Zerbisias, Toronto Star
Like great art, its essence lies not in the subject matter at hand, but in the universal themes that drive it—loyalty, betrayal, jealousy, revenge. You must see the great doc.- Grant McIntyre, Broadcast Week, Globe and Mail
A tale as bizarre as Kafka and tragic as Shakespeare…riveting. – T. Atherton, Ottawa Citizen
1996 Gerrie and Louise Feature-length documentary about the relationship between a South African soldier of apartheid and a journalist for the CBC. Director: Sturla Gunnarsson. https://vimeo.com/154442032, pw: niagara
That sense of the indelible presence of awful memories is heightened by the film’s use of skillfully selected archive footage heightening the sense of their subjectivity at the same time as underscoring for the viewer what exactly is meant by the euphemistic and evasive terms used by Hugo and other former apartheid agents and victims in the film. – Simon Lewis, Charleston College
1995 Whispers in the Air Biography of the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, A&E, TV Ontario. Producer/director: Tom Perlmutter
1999 Who Gets In? Documentary on Canadian immigration, NFB/CBC co-production. Director: Barry Greenwald. https://www.nfb.ca/film/who_gets_in/
1987 The Journey 14.5-hour Global Peace film. Co-editor with director/producer Peter Watkins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmFxcTIzUog
I went expecting a great movie. What I got was more information, emotion, despair and transcendent hope than I ever dreamed a mere length of celluloid could possibly convey. –
New Zealand Herald
Extraordinary, spellbinding and ultimately filled with hope. – The Raleigh Times
CONSULTANT
2014 Biology of Story, interactive website by Professor Amnon Buchbinder
CONFERENCE PAPERS PRESENTED (R = refereed)
2022 “Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas,” Oakland. R.
2019 “Ethics in the Edit rooms of Factual Television,” Visible Evidence XXVI, Los Angeles. R.
2019 “Media Ethics in a Connected World,” Media Ecology Association, Toronto. R.
2019 The European Conference on Media, Communication & Film, Brighton, UK (invited)
2019 International Association of Media & Communication Research, Madrid, Spain (invited) 10
2019 4th Intern. Conference on Communication & Media Studies, Bonn, Germany (invited)
2015 “The Frankenbite,” C.I.L.E.C.T. conference on post-production, Chicago. R.
2011 New York City Jewish Heritage Museum, Future of Holocaust Education. R.
2009 Centennial College, Culture and Heritage Institute conference. R.
2009 Canadian Psychiatric Association conference, Toronto. R.
2008 Worldviews Conference on Media and Higher Education, TIFF Lightbox. R.
2008 in flagrante depictor, New York University, Law and Film Conference Children of Perpetrators symposium, Cardozo School of Law. R.
2008 The Holocaust: Children of the Perpetrators Confront Their Parents Nazi Past symposium, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. R.
FILM/MEDIA INDUSTRY PRESENTATIONS
2014 Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) Industry breakfast on data visualization
2013 L.I.F.T. Toronto, Panel on New Media
2010 Toronto District School Board, Professional development
2008 Documentary Association of Canada conference on post-production, Innis College, U of T, keynote speaker
2008 Filmhaus Bremen, Germany
2009 Documentary Association of Canada, Masters Series
2008 Reel Diversity Program, NFB Montreal
WORKSHOPS
2018 Belleville Doc Fest, workshop leader
2013 Docs North Workshop, Thunder Bay, presenter and workshop leader
2012 Toronto International Film Festival Film Circuit, Masters Workshop, Kingston
2011 Documentary Summit, Ryerson University, panelist
2007 Docs North Workshop, Thunder Bay, presenter and workshop leader
2007 Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto, workshop leader & presenter
2007 Saskatchewan Motion Pictures Association, Regina, workshop leader
2005 Inspired Workshop Series, NFB Atlantic Studio
2001 NIFCO – Newfoundland Independent Filmmakers Cooperative, workshop leader
2002 Yorkton Film Festival, panelist and workshop leader
2001 Moving Images Group, Halifax, 3-day workshop on story editing
PANEL CHAIR
2015 Visible Evidence XXII International Conference, Toronto (invited)
PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO SERVICE
Festival Programmer
2004-2012 Rendez-Vous with Madness Festival (also panelist and presenter)
Juror
2022 Ethics Bowl Ontario High Schools
2007 – 2017 Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, also jury chair 11
2011 Hot Docs Film Festival, also workshop facilitator and panel moderator
2010-2014 Bishop Marrocco High School, Toronto
Board Member
2021 The News Analysis Org, a charitable podcast to provide unbiased news reporting, investigation and academic historical Inquiry, produced by Paul Jay
Magazine Editor
1996 DOC Magazine POV, co-editor with Geoff Bowie and Petra Valier; contributor
Professional Associations
2005 – 2017 Documentary Association of Canada presenter, panelist
1992 Canadian Film Caucus (CIFC) executive board member
MEDIA APPEARANCES
2021 News Point 3
2020 Interview York YU file
2013 CTV morning radio I/V
2007 & 2013 CBC Metro Morning I/V
2007 Capturing Reality, NFB documentary, I/V subject
2004 Edgecodes – The Art of Motion Picture Editing, documentary, I/V subject
TEACHING
York University
UNDERGRADUATE
2018-2019
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
- FA/FILM 1020 Introduction to Filmmaking
2017-2018
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
- FA/FILM 1020 Introduction to Filmmaking
2016-2017
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
- FA/FILM 1020 Introduction to Filmmaking
12
2015-2016
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
- FA/FILM 1020 Introduction to Filmmaking
2014-2015 F
- FA/FILM 3135, Postproduction
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
2013-2014
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
2012-2013
- FA/FILM 3001/4001 Documentary Production (co-instructor)
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I,
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
2011-2012
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
2010-2011
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
2009-2010
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
2008-2009
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
- FA/FILM 4135 Advanced Picture Editing III
13
2007-2008
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
2006-2007
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I
- FA/FILM 4130 Intermediate Picture Editing II
2005-2006
- FA/FILM 3130 Introduction to Picture Editing I (co-instructor)
2006-2019
- Supervisor for Independent Studies (various)
GRADUATE
2021 – 2023
- FA/FILM 5010 Production
- FA/FILM 5400 Graduate Seminar
2020 – 2021
- FA/FILM 5200 Selected Topics in Production
- FA/FILM 5400 Graduate Seminar
2019 – 2020
- FA/FILM 5400 Graduate Seminar
- FA/FILM 5600 Art of Event
Thesis Supervision
2022
Iqbal Chowdhury (Cinema and Media Studies) Rickshaw Art of Bangladesh as a Medium to Recreate Cinematic Pleasure
Beau Bridges (MFA FILM) Forgetting
2021
Kathrin Mentler (Cinema and Media Studies) Contemporary Holocaust remembrance in Austria through film-based art
2020
Lea Carlson (MFA FILM) Letter to a mother departed
Shabnam Sukhdev (MFA FILM) Unfinished
2019
Pooya Badkoobeh (MFA FILM) Based on a True Story 14
Jamie Whitecrow (MFA FILM) The First Female Pornographer
2018
Elisa Paloschi (MFA FILM) Memory of Forgetting
Thesis/MRP reader
2021
Kezia Hall (Cinema and Media Studies) Media Representation of Queerness and Black Identity
Bhaskar Chattopadhyay (MFA FILM) Aranyak
Jharol Mendoza (MFA FILM) The Sounds of the Rocks
2020
Karlie Weltman (Cinema and Media Studies) Techno-aesthetics of the Nonhuman Cinematic
2019
Federica Foglia (MFA FILM) Currents
Tamara Segura (MFA FILM) Father Figures
2018
Kristi Tethong (MFA FILM) Far from Home
2017
Alex Cortez (MFA FILM) Dr. B
Defense Chair
2019 MFA’s Amit Breuer, Josh Boles, Raghed Charabaty, and Antoine Bourges
Thesis Co-Supervisor for Ryerson Doc Media MFA
2013 Kelly Showker Etima
2014 Vivian Belik Finding Lilian
2015 Lindsay Fitzgerald Through a Blue Lens revisited
2016 William Heartha Denk ich an Sonneberg
2017 Mohammed Dawood From Egypt to Canada
OTHER TEACHING-RELATED ACTIVITIES
2020 Master Class on editing for MFA graduates
2020 Workshop Adobe Premiere
2020 Provided guidance for Web video production – Luin Goldring, Dep. of Sociology
COURSES TAUGHT AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Toronto Metropolitan University
2018 DM 8226 II Master’s Project Development (MFA) Doc Media Graduate Program
2018 RTA 957 Documentary Production, School of Media
2017 DM 8103 Documentary Studies II (MFA), Doc Media Graduate Program 15
2014 DM 8235 Master’s Project Production (MFA), Doc Media Graduate Program
2015 MPF 322 Writing for Documentary (BFA)
2013 -2018 MPF 422 Documentary Production (BFA)
2003 Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, guest lecturer
Documentary Institute Seneca@York
2010 – 2016 Editing for Documentary (Documentary Diploma)
2010 – 2017 Editing for Documentary (Documentary Summer Institute)
Humber School of Media
2011 FILM 330 Screenwriting Film (Diploma Program)
Academy for Lifelong Learning, U of T
2010-2012 Lecturer
YORK COURSE/CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
2013 FA/FILM 3135, Postproduction (developed course design)
2007 FA/FILM 4135, Advanced Picture Editing III (developed course design)
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Appointments
2019-25 Graduate Program Director, MFA in Film
2020/21 Graduate Program Director, MA in Cinema & Media Studies
Committee Service
York University
2022 Participation in the Hyflex Pilot Program for course delivery
2020 Author, Documentary Research Ethics Guidelines for Office of Research Ethics, VPRI
Faculty of Graduate Studies
2020-2021 FGS SSHRC MFA/MA Adjudication Committee
School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
2019-21 Member, Cinespace Advisory Committee
2018-19 AMPD Tenure and Promotion Review Committee
Graduate Program in Cinema & Media Studies/Film
2021/22 Susan Mann/Provost Dissertation Scholarship Program Adjudication Committee
2021/22 Program-level ranking committee for SSHRC/OGS PhD applications
2019/22 Coordinator, Depth of Field Graduate Thesis Films showcase
2020 Member, Cinema & Media Studies PhD Admissions Committee
Department of Cinema & Media Arts
2020-25 Chair, Research Ethics Delegated Review Committee 16
2022 Member, Hiring Committee, Media Arts VR Cinematography
2021 Coordinator, CINESIEGE Undergraduate showcase
2021 Member, Hiring Committee, Media Arts Markham Campus
2021 Member, Hiring Committee, Production Fiction
2020-21 Organizer, Prof. Amnon Bookbinder’s retrospective, DVD and book collection
2020 Editorial consultant, undergraduate and grad program website re-design
2019-2020 Adjudication Committee Telefilm Talent to Watch Program
2018-19 Member, Tenure and Promotion Adjudication Committee
Cinema & Media Arts
People of AMPD