Jump to content

Studio D

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Studio D (National Film Board of Canada)
Founded1974
FounderKathleen Shannon
Defunct1996

Studio D was the women's unit of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the world's first publicly funded feminist filmmaking studio.[1] In its 22-year history, it produced over 140 films and won 3 Academy Awards. Cinema Canada once called it the "Jewel in the Crown Corporation."[2]

Many of Canada's most notable women filmmakers passed through Studio D, as employees, freelancers, or trainees, including Bonnie Sherr Klein, Lynne Fernie, and Justine Pimlott. Studio D was also instrumental in training and supporting women in key production roles such as cinematography (including Susan Trow and Zoe Dirse); sound (including Aerlyn Weissman and Jackie Newell); and editing (including Anne Henderson and Ginny Stikeman).

Decades before the #TimesUp movement, Studio D "left an important legacy: a commitment to women’s filmmaking and cultural diversity that is now deeply anchored in every studio [at the NFB]."[3][4]

Shannon leadership (1974–86)

[edit]

Founding

[edit]

Studio D was founded by Kathleen Shannon in 1974. She credits the success of her series, Working Mothers, as well as the En tant que femmes[5] series by Anne Claire Poirier for proving that there was both a market for films about women’s issues and women eager for filmmaking careers.[6] The NFB received funding from the Women’s Program of the Secretary of State in recognition of the United Nation's International Women’s Year, which was split equally between Poirier and Shannon. In the end, Poirier decided against launching a French-language women’s unit and the money was used to fund a film already in production.[2] Shannon, however, used the money to launch Studio D. The priorities for Studio D were to provide employment and training opportunities for women, meet the information needs of women, bring women's perspectives to social issues and, as Shannon phrased it, facilitate "exploring our creativity in our own way."[7]

Its first project was a training program for thirty women that resulted in a series of one-minute films woven together as one film under the name Just-a-Minute. It was the first ever “quilt film,” a unique genre of collaborative short filmmaking often used by Studio D to stretch budgets and provide training.[8]

At first, Studio D relied on freelancers and the few women already employed by the NFB. The first members were Yuki Yoshida and Margaret Pettigrew, both producers, with Shannon as Executive Producer. Great Grand Mother was the first film released by Studio D, but it had already begun production by independent filmmakers Anne Wheeler and Lorna Rasmussen through their company, Filmwest Associates. A portrayal of early women settlers on the Canadian prairies, it combined interviews, recreations, and voice-over narratives from archival letters and diaries. Shannon recalled, “When we previewed it for the branch program committee, we used some footage of an elder woman, a midwife who also dressed bodies for burial. I thought it was riveting. The head of the committee pronounced it boring.”[6]

The films produced in the beginning were very much within the cinema verité tradition of the NFB and its social documentary program Challenge for Change.[9] An emphasis on the recuperation of Canadian’s women’s history led to the re-release of NFB films from the 1940s and 50s as an educational package called How They Saw Us in 1977. The use of inter-titles to re-contextualize the films from a feminist perspective drew attention to "the evidence of the patriarchal camera eye" of the NFB.[10]

More women joined the Studio, including Challenge for Change veterans Bonnie Sherr Klein (who had left the NFB but returned for the chance to work in an all-woman environment) and Dorothy Todd Hénaut. In 1979, Beverly Shaffer was the first Studio D filmmaker to win an Academy Award for her film, I'll Find a Way, part of the Children of Canada Series.[11] Other early members included Ginny Stikeman, who later became Executive Producer of Studio D, Margaret Wescott, Gloria Demers, Susan Huyke, Margaret Wong, and Signe Johansson. Freelancers who collaborated with Studio D included Anne Henderson, Irene Angelico, Donna Read, Sharon McGowan, and Moira Simpson.

Studio success

[edit]

In 1981, Studio D released its first feature-length documentary film, Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography. Directed by Bonnie Sherr Klein and featuring Lindalee Tracey, it was a foray into various facets of the sex entertainment industry and the intensifying feminist debates about pornography. The film featured interviews with women working at Times Square's notorious Show World Sex Emporium,[12] porn star Marc Stevens ("Mr. 10½"), and Hustler photographer Suze Randall. Critics complained, however, that their voices were drowned out by a cacophony of American anti-porn feminists including Susan Griffin, Robin Morgan, Kate Millett and Kathleen Barry.[13] Many accused the film of being pro-censorship, an irony given that it was censored in both Ontario and Saskatchewan.[14] Not a Love Story was the first Studio D film to receive international theatrical release, including a benefit premiere in New York City for Ms. magazine.[15]

One year later, Studio D again courted controversy with the film If You Love this Planet, directed by Terre Nash. It featured a lecture given by Dr. Helen Caldicott about the immanent dangers of nuclear weapon proliferation. The NFB officer in charge of distribution for the United States warned that the film may harm relations with the Reagan administration, and sought support from Canada’s External Affairs office to stop the film’s release. The film won the Academy Award for best documentary short in 1982,[16] and its influences can be seen in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.[17]

In 1983, Studio D won its third and last Academy Award for Flamenco at 5:15.[18] Directed by Cynthia Scott, it was a marked departure from the controversy that had swirled around the studio. The film showcased the instructors and senior students in a master class in Flamenco at the National Ballet School of Canada. The New York Times praised it as “a small jewel of a documentary” that demonstrates the leap from studying dance to becoming an artist.[19]

Behind the Veil, a sprawling documentary “which seeks nothing more than to examine critically the history of women in the Christian church of the Western world,” provided a rare glimpse into the lives of cloistered and apostolic nuns.[20] Abortion: Stories From North and South was the first Studio D film with an all-women (instead of majority) crew. Documenting women’s stories about accessing abortion services in Canada, Columbia, Ireland, Japan, Peru, and Thailand, the film won the Grand Prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival.[21]

Despite such successes, Studio D was not without its critics - including from the wider feminist film community. Its heavy-handed social realism was seen as overly didactic and out of touch with the experimental and political advancements in feminist film theory.[22] In her review of Not a Love Story, Susan Barrowclough outlined the formulaic approach to filmmaking by Studio D: "realist narrative, cinema verité, and underlying moral didactism, claim and counter-claim all sewn up and closed with a reassuring voice-over."[23] Critics frequently referenced its "standard meta-narrative of women's oppression."[24] Janis Cole and Holly Dale recalled Shannon insisting that their film, Hookers on Davie, focus only on women forced into sex work and cut out trans workers. Their refusal to conform to Studio D's "bourgeois norms" and victim narrative resulted in them pulling the film from the studio and completing it independently.[25][26]

Studio D's training and internship programs helped build women filmmakers in all areas of production. In 1984 it brought 20 women age 18-25 for a nine-month intensive residency funded by the Secretary of State’s International Youth Year Secretariat. The films Beyond Memory (dir. Louise Lamarre), First Take Double Take (dir. Paula Fairfield), and Thin Dreams (dir. Susie Mah) were produced by this program. A year later, a new internship program made possible films such as D.E.S.: An Uncertain Legacy (dir. Sidonie Kerr), The Impossible Takes a Little Longer (dir. Anne Henderson), and Spirit of the Kata (dir. Sharon McGowan).[6]

Smaller budget films were produced within Studio D by the Federal Women’s Film Program. Launched in 1980, it was a unique partnership with various federal government departments to produce documentaries about women’s issues that were identified as government priorities.[27] These included women’s labor participation (Women and Work Series), Indigenous women’s leadership (Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief), gender-based violence (The Next Step Series), women in agriculture (Gathering Strength Series) and women and aging (When the Day Comes, The Power of Time, and Pills Unlimited). The program was the only one in the studio to require versions of the films in both official languages (English and French). In 1986, the newly formed Regards de femmes program in the NFB's French studio joined the initiative.

Budget reductions

[edit]

By the mid-eighties, Studio D was receiving a budget on par with the other studios, but it was still not enough to respond to the steady requests from women across the country for more training and financial support. It didn't help that other studios – including regional offices – sent women to Studio D to protect their own budgets.[2] Furthermore, while other studios within NFB could rely on in-house crew members, Studio D had a heavier contract budget in order to hire more women.[28] In 1980, only 30 women held full-time technical positions within the NFB. By 1986, the number shrunk to 23, compared to 130 men.[29]

Despite Shannon’s lobbying for more funds, it was the only English filmmaking studio to have its budget cut in 1984.[8] Its overall share of the NFB budget dropped to 6% in 1986.[28] The Federal Women’s Film Program was cancelled two years later. However, NFB’s five-year plan promised to “allocate increased resources to women’s filmmakers and … maintain its support of Studio D, the women’s film unit, enabling it to meet a national mandate.”[29] That, coupled with recently passed legislation enshrining employment equity, prompted a public study. Equality and Access: A New Social Contract was the first of what was to be many studies on the lack of opportunities for women at the NFB.[3] It showed that there were more than two times as many men filmmakers as women, and that slightly more than half of all women employed at the NFB were in support staff roles.[29] The newly appointed Employment Equity Director at the NFB also drew attention to the lack of racial, ethnic, and Indigenous diversity within the NFB. However, NFB's Commissioner, François Macerola claimed that he was "not ready for an employment equity program involving the disabled, natives and visible minorities" and would maintain focus on women for the foreseeable future.[30] At the same time, he criticized Studio D in his report to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Culture and Communication, and declared that he was deliberately holding back funds to them. “First of all, I think Studio D is very important. Nevertheless, it is presenting only one point of view. What I am planning to do is really to open the place to women at the NFB. I want to have more and more films produced by women for women. [What] I mean by that [is] that I will not give all the financial resources to Studio D.”[8]

The NFB created the Women's Film Development Group, originally made up of marketing managers hired into the regional studios to promote Studio D films, implement training programs, and recruit women filmmakers. The benefits of this initiative led to the launch of regional feminist film festivals such as herland Feminist Film Festival in Calgary and the St. John's International Women's Film Festival. Early programming for these festivals relied heavily on Studio D films. Bonnie Thompson, of the NorthWest Studio in Edmonton, recalls, "It was so radical for women to see themselves."[31] Despite these advances across the country, Studio D was under fire both within the NFB, which kept cutting its budget, and from independent and grassroots feminist filmmakers who demanded more resources without having to go through Studio D.[2] In October 1986, Shannon resigned as Executive Producer, although she continued with Studio D as a producer. Ginny Stikeman was appointed Interim Executive Producer until Rina Fraticelli took over the role in March 1987.

Fraticelli leadership (1987–90)

[edit]

At the time of her appointment as Executive Producer in 1987, Rina Fraticelli was not a filmmaker, but a dramaturge and community organizer. Her pan-national networks were expected to bring fresh insights to Studio D, especially "women who represent the diversity of points of view within the women's movement."[32] With a slashed budget and a slate of unfinished films by resident filmmakers, her first year proved challenging.

By the mid-1980s, Canada's women's movement was confronting its own internalized racism and homophobia.[33] Studio D was distanced from some of the more acrimonious debates because of their status and location within the NFB, on the outskirts of Montreal. Although its members were committed feminists, "we really weren't a part of anything except for our world," Klein later acknowledged.[14] Studio D's staff had remained virtually unchanged since its beginning, raising concerns by Fraticelli about "a conflict between fully employing staff filmmakers and the need to extend our accessibility in the women's community.[34]

In 1989, with the support of Kathleen Shannon, Fraticelli transferred the remaining six resident Studio D filmmakers to other NFB units: Bonnie Sherr Klein (who, at that time was on long-term disability), Dorothy Todd Hénaut, Margaret Wescott, Susan Huycke, Cynthia Scott, and Beverly Shaffer. Shannon remained in her reduced role as producer. The goal was to expand Studio D's financial reach to support women of colour and other marginalized filmmakers across the country. "Instead of working to maintain and protect the work of a privileged few, Studio D had attempted and would continue to attempt to expand the rights of all."[8] By that time, the budget had been reduced from $1 million to $795,000, much of it tied to salaries. Despite the fact that the filmmakers remained employees of the NFB, and the public message was that it was a mutual decision, many spoke off the record of being "turfed out." With the exception of Shannon, none of the original resident filmmakers directed a film for Studio D again.

In the place of resident filmmakers came a new generation of artists from across the country. While only seventeen films were released during Fraticelli's tenure, among them were Shaffer's last film for Studio D (in production prior to Fraticelli's appointment), the groundbreaking documentary on child sexual abuse, To a Safer Place, and Gail Singer's short excerpt from Abortion: Stories From North and South, A Mother and Daughter on Abortion, which renewed public criticism of Studio D by REAL Women of Canada.[8] Fraticelli had brokered an innovative partnership with renowned poet Dionne Brand to develop a series of films on Black Canadian women's experiences, called Women at the Well, and spearheaded Five Feminist Minutes, a continuation of Studio D's practice of "quilt films", which screened at most feminist film festivals across the country. Arguably her most significant contribution to Studio D was the launch of the New Initiatives in Film program, which had been initiated by Ginny Stikeman who dedicated herself to mentoring new filmmakers. Co-created with independent filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton, the program's mandate was to provide filmmaking opportunities to women of colour and First Nations women. Fraticelli had ambitions to break with the in-house style that was heavily influenced by Shannon's aversion to artistic or experimental documentary. "As far as I was concerned, we had the right to be artists, not just social workers," Fraticelli explains. "I wanted these women filmmakers to challenge the form of filmmaking, as well as the context, and I think other women at the studio had a problem with this."[35]

Despite Fraticelli's advancement of both diversity and artistry within Studio D, she faced insurmountable challenges. She was accused of "brutal behaviour,"[36] by past members of Studio D, and frustrated by the NFB's budget cutting and broken promises which ricocheted into criticism by independent filmmakers that they were not being given the opportunities she allegedly promised.[8] She left in March 1990. Two years later, Shannon retired.

Stikeman leadership (1990–96)

[edit]

Rina Fraticelli's parting words as she left Studio D was to warn that the NFB was "slowly dying away." It was left to Ginny Stikeman, one of the original members of Studio D, to oversee the long decline and eventual closure of the women's unit as the last of its Executive Producers. Fraticelli had laid the groundwork for some of the Studio's most ambitious films but it was Stikeman's experience as an editor and producer that shepherded them to completion. In particular, Stikeman played an instrumental role in seeing two controversial feature-length films completed: Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives and Studio D's only dramatic feature, Skin Deep, about a trans man's obsessive relationship with a lesbian filmmaker. Also produced under Stikeman was Singer's feature-length documentary Wisecracks, about women comedians, which was called "ahead of its time."[37] Stikeman continued to oversee New Initiatives in Film, which was frequently embroiled in interpersonal conflicts and accusations of institutional racism.

New Initiatives in Film (1990–1996)

[edit]

New Initiatives in Film was envisioned as a multi-year funded program along the lines of the Federal Women's Film Program, but the NFB would only commit to one year at a time, with increasingly limited funds.[8] Furthermore, filmmakers were hired only on short-term contracts. NIF was only supposed to represent Studio D's contribution to a NFB-wide effort to improve racial and ethnic diversity but under Macerola it became the only program, further stretching its budget. A 1997 report Diversity On and Off the Screen claimed, "year after year NIF was the only thing NFB management had to show."[38] The month before Fraticelli resigned was the first time in its history that the National Film Board recognized Black History Month. It had only two films to screen: Black Mother Black Daughter, by NIF co-creator Hamilton and NIF producer Claire Prieto, which won the 1990 NFB Kathleen Shannon Award; and Older, Stronger, Wiser, by Prieto.

NIF offered multiple services and programs: workshop institutes for aspiring but untrained filmmakers, longer in-house internships for artists to complete a film, and post-production support to established filmmakers. In addition, it developed a resource bank of filmmakers and production personnel in Canada who were either Indigenous or women of colour.[22] Unfortunately, the program was rife with interpersonal conflicts. By 1994, acrimony had spilled out into the wider film community. A brief exposé of NIF claimed it was "another example of cultural ghettoization, that instead of including marginalized groups in the mainstream, NIF represents how factionalized and segregated our society has become."[35]

Their first program coordinator, Reneé Du Plessis, herself a light-skinned woman of colour originally from South Africa, was fired and subsequently sued the NFB (the case was settled out of court). "I was accused by the advisory board and Studio D of being inflexible and insensitive to women of colour. I was also accused of contributing to systemic racism," Du Plessis says. "Apparently, I contributed to systemic racism because I didn't let them do what they wanted to do. There wasn't much time, and some of these women (who had never been to Montreal) wanted to go shopping."[35] Many NIF trainees were leaving NFB headquarters to receive support and mentoring from Montreal-based filmmakers who were more encouraging of experimental and political documentary filmmaking. In response to Du Plessis' criticism, they spoke anonymously (because Studio D "was the only game in town"), complaining that, "Studio D hasn't progressed in the last 20 years. They've been making the same damn films that carry the same message: women are victims. At first, white women made them, now they're getting women of colour to make the same thing."[35]

Despite criticisms of structural and cultural racism, the New Initiatives in Film series brought to light both emergent filmmakers and heretofore untold stories. The Women at the Well series by Dionne Brand was among the most high-profile venture by NIF. Already an internationally heralded poet, Brand co-directed Sisters in the Struggle (1992) with Stikeman, and solo directed Long Time Comin' (1993). In 1996, she made one last film with Studio D, Listening for Something: Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand in Conversation. NIF also oversaw the production of Michelle Wong's Return Home (1992) and Doris Nipp's Under the Willow Tree, both explorations of Chinese immigrant women. Loretta Todd's film Hands of History (1994) was a lush profile of four major Indigenous feminist artists, including Jane Ash Poitras. Norma Bailey's Women Under Shadows (1991) traced Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh's journey to discover her Indigenous great grandmother, Margaret Taylor, who was the consort to Hudson’s Bay Company Governor George Simpson.[39] Welsh herself directed Keepers of the Fire (1994), about Indigenous women land defenders.

Studio D's closure (1996)

[edit]

In March 1996, the NFB announced that it would be closing down Studio D. By that time, it had already released most of its filmmakers from all other studios (Shaffer was among three in-house directors left). The plan was to end the studio structure and replace it with production streams so that NFB films would no longer be made in-house but in partnership with independent artists and production companies. While a documentary production stream would continue, the NFB decided against a women's stream.[40] Production had been slowly grinding to a halt in Studio D. Skin Deep was its only release in 1995. Seven films were rushed to completion before the studio ended, with some Studio D productions like Margaret Wescott's sprawling documentary on three centuries of lesbian life, Stolen Moments and Gerry Rogers' moving portrait Kathleen Shannon: On Film, Feminism and Other Dreams, finally released one year later.

Kathleen Shannon publicly criticized the move: "This a loss of a perspective that's different from the corporate culture. Because when we never see our own perceptions validated - most of us are too afraid to speak up. It seems so, particularly right now - we're in this stranglehold that corporations have on us, and it's extremely important for us to have some validation and empowerment."[41] Gail Singer also spoke out against the decision: "This is not a wise decision, but I think it is almost inevitable in the current, careless mood of cutbacks."[42] Others warned that cutting Studio D just at the point where filmmaking equity had just been met within the NFB would send it backwards.[43] However, others in the feminist film community felt that Studio D was no longer relevant. Barbara Janes, the NFB's Director-General of English Programming, stated adamantly at the time, "Studio D had been in existence for twenty years. In that time, society changed a lot. But Studio D kept the mindset of 1975, fighting battles already won."[44] Some suggested Studio D had turned into “a kind of ghetto for women at the NFB, left behind in the 1980’s move into the production of more high-profile feature films.”[45]

Legacy

[edit]

In 2016, the NFB announced a new gender parity initiative in response to successive annual reports by Women in View[46] on inequity in Canadian film and television. While its president, Claude Joli-Coeur, insisted that director and producer credits were near parity, he acknowledged that production personnel statistics were much worse, with women representing only 24% of editors and 12% of cinematographers. The NFB claimed they were uniquely situated to meet an ambitious target of full parity in credits and funding by 2020 because they were "a Canadian film industry leader in gender equality that made history in 1974 when it established Studio D, the world’s first production unit devoted exclusively to work by women filmmakers."[47] By 2023, the NFB reported that "63% of all ongoing projects at the NFB (254) were directed by women or by teams with equal or greater representation of women than men."[48]

In a 2017 article for Time magazine, film critic Matthew Hays suggested Hollywood look north to solve its gender problem. He claimed that Studio D films "remain vital, fresh and pertinent, and in many cases were films made by first-time directors. They prove that when a space is carved out for women to pursue filmmaking, they can succeed on their own terms, and create cinema that is distinct, powerful and every bit as full of creative ideas as films made by men."[4] The 2019 Hot Docs Festival in Toronto featured a retrospective of Studio D films, and a revival of Five Feminist Minutes, called Five Feminist Minutes 2019.[49] It also hosted a Doc Summit, "Dare to Be Studio D" in which contemporary filmmakers Ann Marie Fleming, Alexandra Lazarowich, and Glace Lawrence shared the stage with Studio D alumni Zoe Dirse, Rina Fraticelli and Gail Singer, as well as NFB Executive Director Michelle Van Beusekom. It was billed as an opportunity to "revisit the studio’s monumental impact on feminist film culture and look to the future of inclusive, diverse docs that implement social change in Canada."[50]

Studio D was far from the only feminist film organization in Canada, and some contemporary assessments argue that its prominence overshadows the work of grassroots collectives like the Isis Women and Film Festival that toured eighteen cities in 1974.[51] Beginning in 1972, feminist media collectives such as Reelfeelings and Groupe Intervention Vidéo were not only screening films in community settings but also engaging in guerilla film tactics such as occupations.[52] At least seven different feminist film and video collectives and festivals launched in 1973.[53]

Many argue that its institutional foundation and Shannon's own feminist ideology prevented it from taking more aesthetic and political risks, particularly in its explorations of race and sexual identity, until very late.[54] Such criticism raises questions about the fraught dynamics between feminist activism and state funding.[55][56] Nonetheless, more Studio D films are being brought back into circulation through a dedicated NFB Channel of "these enduring gems of feminist filmmaking."[57]

Studio D filmography

[edit]
Year Film Series Duration Director
1974 It's Not Enough Working Mothers 15m57s Kathleen Shannon
1974 Like The Trees Working Mothers 14m30s Kathleen Shannon
1974 Luckily I Need Little Sleep Working Mothers 07m38s Kathleen Shannon
1974 Mothers Are People Working Mothers 07m18s Kathleen Shannon
1974 The Spring and Fall of Nina Polanski Working Mothers 05m56s Joan Hutton

Louise Roy

1974 They Appreciate You More Working Mothers 14m42s Kathleen Shannon
1974 Tiger on a Tight Leash Working Mothers 07m35s Kathleen Shannon
1974 Would I Ever Like to Work Working Mothers 08m53s Kathleen Shannon
1975 "…And They Lived Happily Ever After" Working Mothers 13m07s Kathleen Shannon

Irene Angelico

Anne Henderson

1975 Our Dear Sisters 14m40s Kathleen Shannon
1975 Great Grand Mother 28m47s Anne Wheeler

Lorna Rasmussen

1975 My Friends Call Me Tony Children of Canada 12m07s Beverly Shaffer
1975 My Name is Susan Yee Children of Canada 12m18s Beverly Shaffer
1976 Just-a-minute 07m05s Mary Aitkin

Mary Daemen

Tina Horne

Joan Hutton

Sharon Madden

Terre Nash

Margaret Pettigrew

Patricia Robertson

Candace Savage

1976 Maud Lewis: A World Without Shadows 10m01S Diane Beaudry
1977 Beautiful Lennard Island Children of Canada 23m45s Beverly Shaffer
1977 Gurdeep Singh Bains Children of Canada 11m55s Beverly Shaffer
1977 I'll Find a Way Children of Canada 25m47s Beverly Shaffer
1977 Kevin Alec Children of Canada 16m28s Beverly Shaffer
1977 Veronica Children of Canada 14m13s Beverly Shaffer
1977 Careers and Cradles How They Saw Us 11m07s Anne Pearson
1977 Is It a Woman's World? How They Saw Us 29m20s Anne Pearson
1977 Needles and Pins How They Saw Us 10m55s Anne Pearson
1977 Proudly She Marches How They Saw Us 18m27s Anne Pearson
1977 Service in the Sky How They Saw Us 9m48s Anne Pearson
1977 Wings on Her Shoulder How They Saw Us 11m07s Anne Pearson
1977 Women at War How They Saw Us 10m23s Anne Pearson
1977 The Lady from Grey County 26m13s Janice Brown
1977 Some American Feminists 55m51s Luce Guilbeault

Nicole Brossard

Margaret Wescott

1978 Benoît Children of Canada 20m23s Beverly Shaffer
1978 Eve Lambart 51m40s Margaret Wescott
1978 Patricia's Moving Picture 25m50s Bonnie Sherr Klein
1978 Sun, Wind and Wood 24m30s Dorothy Todd Hénaut
1978 An Unremarkable Birth 52m22s Diane Beaudry
1979 Prairie Album 14m47s Blake James
1979 The Right Candidate for Rosedale 32m52s Bonnie Sherr Klein

Anne Henderson

1979 Sea Dream 05m31s Ellen Besen
1980 Boys Will Be Men 29m07s Donald Rennick
1980 Just a Lady 21m20s Susan Trow
1980 Laila 10m33s Diane Beaudry
1980 Rusting World 06m17s Laurent Coderre
1980 The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse 05m25s Evelyn Lambart
1981 Julie O'Brien Children of Canada 18m52s Beverly Shaffer
1981 Louise Drouin, Veterinarian 21m37s Margaret Wescott
1981 Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography 68m40s Bonnie Sherr Klein
1982 Four Centuries: The Firearm in Canada 26m52s Joan Henson
1982 If You Love This Planet 25m50s Terre Nash
1982 It's Just Better Children of Canada 15m23s Beverly Shaffer
1982 Portrait of the Artist - As An Old Lady 27m03s Gail Singer
1982 The Way It Is 24m13s Beverly Shaffer
1983 Attention: Women at Work! 28m20s Anne Henderson
1983 Dream of a Free Country: A Message from Nicaraguan Women 59m50s Kathleen Shannon

Ginny Stikeman

1983 Flamenco at 5:15 29m22s Cynthia Scott
1983 I Want to Be An Engineer 28m34s Beverly Shaffer
1984 Abortion: Stories from North and South 54m50s Gail Singer
1984 Adele and the Ponies of Ardmore 13m48s Char Davies
1984 Behind the Veil: Nuns 130m04s Margaret Wescott
1984 Head Start: Meeting the Computer Challenge 27m25s Diane Beaudry
1984 On Our Own 26m30s Laurette Deschamps
1984 This Borrowed Land 28m49s Bonnie Kreps
1984 Too Dirty for a Woman 16m52s Diane Beaudry
1984 The Treadmill 43m02s Dagmur Teufel
1984 Turnaround: A Story of Recovery 46m42s Moira Simpson
1984 Waterwalker 86m38s Bill Mason
1985 The Best Time of My Life: Portraits of Women in Midlife 58m35s Patricia Watson
1985 Dark Lullabies 81m20s Irene Angelico

Abbey Jack Neidik

1985 DES: An Uncertain Legacy 54m47s Bonnie Andrukaitis

Sidonie Ker

1985 Speaking Our Peace Speaking Our Peace 55m19s Terre Nash

Bonnie Sherr Klein

1985 Spirit of the Kata 27m28s Sharon McGowan
1985 A Writer in the Nuclear Age Speaking Our Peace 09m10s Terre Nash
1986 Beyond Memory 14m15s Louise Lamarre
1986 Children of War 25m20s Premika Ratnam
1986 Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief 28m42s Carol Geddes
1986 Firewords: Louky Bersianik, Jovette Marchessault, Nicole Brossard 84m35s Dorothy Todd Hénaut
1986 First Take Double Take 08m47s Paula Fairfield
1986 The Impossible Takes a Little Longer 45m35s Anne Henderson
1986 Moving On The Next Step 28m02s Tina Horne
1986 No Longer Silent 56m28s Laurette Deschamps
1986 Nuclear Addiction: Dr. Rosalie Burtell on the Cost of Deterrence Speaking Our Peace 18m47s Terre Nash
1986 A Safe Distance The Next Step 27m40s Tina Horne
1986 Speaking of Nairobi 56m08s Tina Horne
1986 Sylvie's Story The Next Step 27m43s Tina Horne
1986 Thin Dreams 20m38s Susue Mah
1987 The Legacy of Mary McEwan 55m40s Patricia Watson
1987 A Love Affair with Politics: A Portrait of Marion Dewar Speaking Our Peace 26m45s Terre Nash
1987 The Man Who Stole Dreams 11m01s Joyce Borenstein
1987 A Mother and Daughter on Abortion 12m25s Gail Singer
1987 To a Safer Place 58m20s Beverly Shaffer
1987 Worth Every Minute 28m27s Catherine Macleod

Lorraine Segato

1988 Mile Zero: The SAGE Tour 48m41s Bonnie Sherr Klein
1989 15th Anniversary 57m16s Sidonie Kerr
1989 Adam's World 19m07s Donna Read
1989 Goddess Remembered Women and Spirituality 54m29s Donna Read
1989 Half the Kingdom 58m45s Francine E. Zuckerman

Roushell Goldstein

1989 Illuminated Lives 05m51s Ellen Besen
1989 In Her Chosen Field Gathering Strength 28m04s Barbara Evans
1989 Older, Stronger, Wiser Women at the Well
27m59s Claire Prieto
1989 Russian Diary Speaking Our Peace 27m17s Terre Nash

Bonnie Sherr Klein

1989 Studio D: 15 Years in the Making 04m21s Janice Brown
1989 A Time to Reap Gathering Strength 28m05s Dagmur Teufel
1989 Unnatural Causes 06m45s Maureen Judge
1989 Working Nights 19m52s Sarah Butterfield
1990 After the Montreal Massacre 27m14s Gerry Rogers
1990 The Burning Times Women and Spirituality 56m10s Donna Read
1990 Fair Trade African Market Women 26m57s Barbara Doran
1990 The Famine Within 118m30s Katherine Gilday
1990 Five Feminist Minutes 113m40s Marie Annharte Baker

Kim Blain

Lorna Boschman

Christene Browne

Alison Burns

Janis Cole

Shawna Dempsey

Ann Marie Fleming

Angèle Gagnon

Gwendolyn

Jennifer Kawaja

Frances Leeming

Sook-Yin Lee

Mary Lewis

Catherine Martin

Lorri Millan

Michelle Mohabeer

Violet McNaughton

Andrée Pelletier

Cathy Quinn

Tracy Traeger

1990 Fragments of a Conversation of a Language 19m Nora Alleyn
1990 From the Shore African Market Women 15m57s Barbara Doran
1990 Gathering Together The Faithful Women 53m07s Kathleen Shannon
1990 Harmony and Balance The Faithful Women 53m40s Kathleen Shannon
1990 I'll Never Forget You The Faithful Women 53m05s Kathleen Shannon
1990 No Time to Stop 29m05s Helene Klodawsky
1990 Pills Unlimited 28m44s Sylvie van Brabant
1990 The Power of Time 28m44s Liette Aubin
1990 Priorities and Perspectives The Faithful Women 53m15s Kathleen Shannon
1990 Texts and Contexts The Faithful Women 53m14s Kathleen Shannon
1990 Through Ignorance or Design: A Discussion of Stereotypes The Faithful Women 53m05s Kathleen Shannon
1990 Toying With Their Future 30m04s CLAIRE NADON
1990 Where Credit is Due African Market Women 27m38s Barbara Doran
1990 Working Towards Peace The Faithful Women 53m25s Kathleen Shannon
1991 Mother Earth 10m33s Terre Nash
1991 Sisters in the Struggle Women at the Well 49m20s Dionne Brand

Ginny Stikeman

1991 When the Day Comes 28m27s Sharon McGowan
1991 Wisecracks 92m58s Gail Singer
1991 Women in the Shadows 55m55s Norma Bailey
1992 A Balancing Act Women and Work 23m43s Helena Cynamon
1992 Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives 84m35s Lynne Fernie

Aerlyn Weissman

1992 Glass Ceiling Women and Work 27m30s Sophie Bisonette
1992 Making Babies On the Eighth Day: Perfecting Mother Nature 50m50s Gwynne Basen
1992 Making Perfect Babies On the Eighth Day: Perfecting Mother Nature 50m50s Gwynne Basen
1992 Return Home 29m19s Michelle Wong
1992 Toward Intimacy 61m46s Debbie McGee
1993 Careers to Discover 25m28s Ginette Pellerin
1993 Long Time Comin' Women at the Well 52m27s Dionne Brand
1993 A Web Not a Ladder Women and Work 23m55s Bonnie Dickie
1994 Hands of History 51m43s Loretta Todd
1994 Keepers of the Fire 54m42s Christine Welsh
1994 Motherland: Tales of Wonder 89m45s Helene Klodawsky
1994 Twenty Years of Feminist Filmmaking 05m05s Cheryl Sim

Janice Brown

1994 When Women Kill 47m58s Barbara Doran
1994 Widening the Circle: A Gathering of Women 25m13s Annette Clarke

Patricia Diaz

Danielle Dyson

Nicole Hubert

Barbara Hutchinson

Cheryl Sim

1995 Skin Deep 80m59s Midi Onodera
1996 Alternate Route 45m DENISE WITHERS
1996 Asking Different Questions: Women and Science 51m Gwynne Basen

Erna Buffie

1996 The Dreams of the Night Cleaners 46m30s Leila Sujir
1996 Kathleen Shannon: On Film, Feminism & Other Dreams 49m50s Gerry Rogers
1996 Listening for Something 55m58s Dionne Brand
1996 Taking Charge 25m34s Claudette Jaiko
1996 Under the Willow Tree 51m39s Dora Nipp

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Walker, Susan (October 24, 1997). "Documentary profiles feminist filmmaker". Globe and Mail.
  2. ^ a b c d Chris, Sherbarth (1987-03-20). Why not D? An historical look at the NFB's Woman's Studio. Cinema Canada. OCLC 801554443.
  3. ^ a b Government of Canada, National Film Board of Canada (2017-10-12). "National Film Board of Canada". Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  4. ^ a b "Filmmaking Has a Gender Problem. Here's What Happened When Canada Tried to Solve It". Time. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  5. ^ Hartt, Laurinda (1974). "en tant que femmes". Cinema Canada. Vol. 53. pp. 52–4.
  6. ^ a b c Shannon, Kathleen (Winter 2018). "D is for Dilemma". Herizons. pp. 24–27.
  7. ^ Sterritt, David (1989-03-30). "National Film Board of Canada's All-Women Studio D: Prize-Winning, Controversial. FILM: INTERVIEW". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Vanstone, Gail (2007). D Is for Daring. British Columbia: Sumach Press. ISBN 9781894549677.
  9. ^ Longfield, Micharl (2009). "Sounds Like Canada: A reexamination of the development of Canadian cinéma-vérité". CineAction. Vol. 77. pp. 9–17 – via ProQuest.
  10. ^ Gittings, Chris (2002). Canadian National Cinema. Routledge. p. 263.
  11. ^ "Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches - Search Results | Margaret Herrick Library | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". aaspeechesdb.oscars.org. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  12. ^ "Gritty Old Times Square: The History of Show World Center, 'The McDonalds of Sex'". Untapped Cities. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  13. ^ Rich, B. Ruby (1983). "Anti-Porn: Soft Issue, Hard World". Feminist Review (13): 56–67. doi:10.2307/1394682. ISSN 0141-7789. JSTOR 1394682.
  14. ^ a b Sullivan, Rebecca (2014-12-31), Bonnie Sherr Klein's Not a Love Story, University of Toronto Press, doi:10.3138/9781442621718-003, ISBN 9781442621718
  15. ^ "People". MacLeans. June 21, 1982.
  16. ^ "Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches - Search Results | Margaret Herrick Library | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". aaspeechesdb.oscars.org. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  17. ^ Laberge, Yves (2012). "An Inconvenient Truth". Encyclopedia of Global Warming & Climate Change (2 ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 754–756. doi:10.4135/9781452218564.n364. ISBN 9781412992619. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  18. ^ "Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches - Search Results | Margaret Herrick Library | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". aaspeechesdb.oscars.org. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  19. ^ Dunning, Jennifer (1986-07-14). "'Flamence at 5:15' on Channel 13". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  20. ^ Murray, Katherine (1987). "Review of Behind the Veil: Nuns". American Anthropologist. 89 (2): 520–522. doi:10.1525/aa.1987.89.2.02a00940. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 677849.
  21. ^ Hitch (June 12, 1985). "Abortion: Stories from North and South". Variety. Vol. 319, no. 7. p. 20.
  22. ^ a b Anderson, Elizabeth (1999-01-31), Armatage, Kay; Banning, Kass; Longfellow, Brenda (eds.), "Studio D's Imagined Community: From Development (1974) to Realignment (1986-1990)", Gendering the Nation, University of Toronto Press, doi:10.3138/9781442675223-005, ISBN 978-1-4426-7522-3
  23. ^ Barrowclough, Susan (1982). "Not a Love Story". Screen. 23 (5): 26–37. doi:10.1093/screen/23.5.26.
  24. ^ Armatage, Kay; Banning, Kass; Longfellow, Brenda; Marchessault, Janine (1999-01-31), Gendering the Nation, University of Toronto Press, pp. 1–14, doi:10.3138/9781442675223-002, ISBN 978-1-4426-7522-3
  25. ^ Hays, Matthew (2007). "Janis Cole and Holly Dale: Out from the Margins." The view from here : conversations with gay and lesbian filmmakers. Arsenal Pulp Press. pp. 54–66. ISBN 978-1-55152-220-3. OCLC 1001925253.
  26. ^ Armatage, Kay (1991). "Janis Cole and Holly Dale's Cinema of Marginality". North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980. University of Alberta Press: 122–143.
  27. ^ Toronto Women in Film and Television (Organization) (1991). Changing focus : the future for women in the Canadian film and television industry. Toronto Women in Film and Television. ISBN 0969535104. OCLC 26856536.
  28. ^ a b Anderson, Doris (1986-02-22). "Studio D's films garner few financial awards". Toronto Star.
  29. ^ a b c Diamond, Bonnie and Francine Fournier (1987). Equality and Access: A New Social Contract. National Film Board of Canada. p. 13. ISBN 0660538326.
  30. ^ Young, Kathryn (December 16, 1986). "Equality for female staff pledged in NFB program". Globe and Mail.
  31. ^ Media, Alberta (2018-06-25), AMAAS in conversation with Bonnie Thompson 2018, retrieved 2020-02-06
  32. ^ Sweet, Lois (May 4, 1987). "Studio D faces big job small budget". Toronto Star.
  33. ^ Rebick, Judy. (2005). Ten thousand roses : the making of a feminist revolution. Toronto: Penguin Canada. ISBN 0143015443. OCLC 57065161.
  34. ^ Warren, Ina (February 14, 1989). "NFB disbands women's unit to help finance freelancers". The Ottawa Citizen.
  35. ^ a b c d Yi, Sun-Kyung (Summer 1994). "Trouble in Paradise or Testing the Limits at Studio D". Take One.
  36. ^ Steed, Judy (September 9, 1989). "Reel women Filmmaking for a new generation of Canadian women directors is 'a calling, not a career'". Toronto Star.
  37. ^ MacInness, Craig (March 10, 1995). "Wasaga gets deserved boost at Women On Women series". Toronto Star.
  38. ^ Reyes, Cynthia (1997). Diversity On and Off the Screen (Report).
  39. ^ Welsh, Christine (1997). "Women in the Shadows: Reclaiming a Métis Heritage". New Contexts of Canadian Criticism. Broadview Press.
  40. ^ Conlogue, Ray (March 18, 1996). "Film board to lose women's studio Layoffs expected to be announced". Globe and Mail.
  41. ^ Hays, Matthew (August 21, 1997). "Kathleen Shannon talks about being captured on film". Montreal Mirror. Archived from the original on 2002-12-31.
  42. ^ Crew, Robert (March 13, 1996). "Film board awaits fate of renowned studios". Toronto Star.
  43. ^ "It's RIP for Studio D: NFB's feminist unit is slated to close". Montreal Gazette. March 15, 1996.
  44. ^ Jones, D. B. (1991). "Brave New Film Board". North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980. University of Alberta Press: 19–45.
  45. ^ Armatage, Kay (1991). "A Brief History of Women Filmmakers in Canada". Changing Focus: The Future for Women in the Canadian Film and Television Industry. University of Toronto Press.
  46. ^ "Reports". Women in View. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  47. ^ "A HISTORY OF WOMEN'S FILMMAKING AT THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA" (PDF). Onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  48. ^ Board, National Film (2023-03-08). "NFB reports strong results in gender parity. Coming soon: a new self-declaration questionnaire to assess progress on its commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
  49. ^ Five Feminist Minutes 2019, Blogs.nfb.ca
  50. ^ "Doc Summit: Dare to be Studio D in Hot Docs 2019 | Industry Conference". Vimeo.com. 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  51. ^ Mertens, Susan (August 15, 1974). "Isis: Our Branch of Women and Film". Vancouver Sun.
  52. ^ Bociurkiw, Marusya (2016). "Big Affect: The Ephemeral Archive of Second-Wave Feminist Video Collectives in Canada". Camera Obscura. 31 (3): 4–33. doi:10.1215/02705346-3661991.
  53. ^ Davis, Heather (2017). Desiring Change: Contemporary Feminist Art in Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 274–5.
  54. ^ Reardon, Kiva (December 17, 2017). "Unfinished Business: Against a unified history of feminist documentary filmmaking in Canada". povmagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  55. ^ Mouffe, Chantal (2007). "Artistic Activism and Agonistic Spaces". Art & Research. 1 (2).
  56. ^ Schraeder, Alicia (1990). "The State-Funded Women's Movement: A Case of Two Political Agendas". Community Organization and the Canadian State. Garamond Press: 189–95.
  57. ^ Martín-Flórez, Camilo (2024-02-28). "Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Studio D's Founding, Part 2: Award-Winning Pioneers of Feminist Filmmaking". NFB Blog. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
[edit]