WRITER . PRODUCER . DIRECTOR
Category:Woman focuses on four remarkable athletes, from the Global South, forced out of competition by these regulations, the devastation to their bodies, and their lives. Equally arresting is their passion for sport is further emboldened by their conviction to stand up for their human rights. Category: Woman is a ‘champions journey’ supported by remarkable advocates and experts who celebrate greatness in the face of oppression. Following her award-winning film Toxic Beauty, filmmaker and Olympian Phyllis Ellis exposes an industry controlled by men putting women’s lives at risk while the policing of women’s bodies in sport remains, in a more nefarious way, under the guise of fair play.
WRITER . PRODUCER . DIRECTOR
Toxic Beauty is a documentary feature film with exclusive access to scientists, lawyers, advocates, regulators, politicians, a dynamic whistle blower, survivors and women who have lost their lives. It follows the class action lawsuit against J&J and the plaintiffs, personal stories of women fighting for justice in a race against time with this deadly disease. Woven throughout the film is a human experiment. We document, as Boston University medical student, Mymy Nguyen, measures her chemical body burden from over 27 products. Scientists monitor her shocking results. In the end, the film meets the companies and people who offer solutions and optimism for safer, toxicant free cosmetics.
WRITER . CO - PRODUCER
REVIVAL69: The Concert That Rocked the World, is the remarkable, behind-the-scenes story of how a little known, but life-altering music festival came together — against all odds. Young, scrappy concert promoter John Brower puts his life on the line (literally) to turn his failing Toronto Rock n Roll Revival into a one-day event, later coined in rock mythology as “the second most important event in rock & roll history.” And it almost didn't happen.
The festival united rock legends like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, and Gene Vincent, with The Doors, who were the biggest band in the world. But it was the 11th hour arrival of John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band that ignited a truly seminal moment for the 20,000 fans at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium.
Through exclusive conversations with iconic musicians like Alice Cooper, Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Alan White (Yes), Geddy Lee (Rush), Danny Seraphine (Chicago) and Klaus Voorman (Manfred Mann, The Beatles), and over 60 minutes of remarkable archival footage and audio tapes, the documentary immerses us in the whirlwind chaos leading up to the festival — the biker gang, threat of cancellation, a mid-flight band rehearsal, and inexplicable luck that culminated in Lennon shedding the mantle of the Beatles and nervously taking the stage with Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and Alan White — an unforgettable happening that triggered Lennon's decision to leave the Beatles forever.
Forged with rare, recently discovered behind-the-scenes Super 8 verité footage, and including never-before seen 16mm film of the concert shot by D.A. Pennebaker and his crew, REVIVAL69: The Concert That Rocked the World, is an exhilarating VIP ride into a pivotal moment in music history, told through the eyes of those who were there: the musicians, the mavericks behind the scenes, and all who witnessed history in the making.
WRITER . DIRECTOR
In Girls’ Night Out young women reveal not only how they binge, but why. The film explores the glamorization of drinking through celebrity pop culture, target marketing by alcohol companies and how excessive drinking has become the go-to solution in this self-medicating, low self-esteem, anxiety-driven culture. With unprecedented access inside binge drinking culture, the film follows four university students engaged in binging, as well as women now in recovery. The film examines this prevalent and dangerous culture with the eye of a reporter, the curiosity of an anthropologist, and the sometimes-wounded heart of a teenage girl.
Girls’ Night Out was inspired and informed by Canadian journalist and author Ann Dowsett Johnston’s best-selling “Drink, The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol.”
WRITER . DIRECTOR
“The most important thing a painter can do is find a good place to sit.” – J.E.H. MacDonald
One would think The Group of Seven needs no introduction. Their iconic works are known to millions of Canadians, yet few are familiar with the lives of the artists themselves. Why did they choose locations in the remote, rugged wilderness of northern Ontario? Does anyone know precisely where they went?
Past meets present in a film that is evocative in approach, energized by breathtaking cinematography and an uplifting musical score, and offers a new and articulate voice to the artists who were the Group of Seven. PAINTED LAND weaves seamlessly the experiences of Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, Franklin Carmichael and A.J. Casson – with the adventures of three modern day sleuths. Historian Michael Burtch, and the writer and photographer team of Gary and Joanie McGuffin are determined to track down the precise locations of these famous paintings. Archival film, letters, journals and photographs of the artists – some of which have never been seen in public – take the viewers back in time. This film weaves this history with a modern day adventure, up mountains, down canyon rivers and over portages with our trio as they try to achieve their own personal quest: to actually ‘walk in the Group of Seven’s footsteps’
WRITER . DIRECTOR . PRODUCER
The Country shares the voices of a handful of compelling Newfoundland Mi’kmaq who champion a story of recognition and a community of people reviving their nation.
A backdrop to their stories is the federal enrolment process, designed to grant status under the Indian Act after nearly half a century of change-seeking by Mi’kmaw communities since being penciled out of the Terms of Union in 1949.
Kelly Anne Butler, a Mi’kmaw woman and one of the film’s producers, sees the film as a way to share very human stories that have been obscured by mainstream national coverage of the enrolment process. That coverage has put Newfoundland Mi’kmaq in an awkward position with both settler society and Indigenous groups across Canada, especially around questions of legitimacy.
The Country is a portrait of a resilient people in search of their own truth, legitimacy, and reconciliation.
WRITER . DIRECTOR .
About Her tells the intimate story of nine young women facing life in the wake of their HER2+ breast cancer diagnosis. Filled with humour and candour, each woman’s unique experience is woven together into a shared portrait of each painful and hopeful chapter of discovery, treatment and recovery, punctuated by excerpts from one woman’s acclaimed blog voiced by Kim Cattrall.