Anne Wheeler

Last updated
Anne Wheeler
OC
Born
Dorothy Anne Wheeler

(1946-09-23) September 23, 1946 (age 78)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation(s)Film director
Film producer
Screenwriter,Short Story Writer
Years active1975–present

Anne Wheeler, OC, (born September 23, 1946) is a Canadian film and television writer, producer, and director. [1]

Contents

Biography

After graduating in mathematics from the University of Alberta, Wheeler was a computer programmer before traveling abroad. [1] Her years of travels inspired her to become a storyteller and when she returned she joined a group of old friends to form a film collective. From 1975 to 1985 she worked for the NFB where she made her first feature film, A War Story (1981), which was about her father, Ben Wheeler and his time as a doctor in a P.O.W. camp during World War II. The war is a common theme in her work and she revisited it later in her films Bye Bye Blues (1989) and The War Between Us (1995). Her first non-NFB film was Loyalties in 1986.

In addition to her films, Wheeler has directed episodes of Anne with an E , Private Eyes, Strange Empire , The Romeo Section , The Guard , This Is Wonderland , Da Vinci's Inquest , and Cold Squad .

Awards and honors

Wheeler has been nominated four times for the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction for her films Loyalties (1986), Cowboys Don't Cry (1988), Bye Bye Blues (1989), and Suddenly Naked (2001). Her 1998 television miniseries, The Sleep Room , won Gemini awards for best television movie and best direction. [2]

In 2017 Wheeler won a Leo Award for Best Direction (Television Film) for the Hallmark movie Stop the Wedding . [3]

Wheeler was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. [4] In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Wheeler has also been awarded seven honorary doctorates and is the first woman to be given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of Canada.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducer
1986 Loyalties YesYesNo
1988 Cowboys Don't Cry YesYesYes
1989 Bye Bye Blues YesYesYes
1991 Angel Square YesYesNo
1999 Better Than Chocolate YesNoNo
2000 Marine Life YesNoNo
2001 Suddenly Naked YesNoExecutive
2002Edge of MadnessYesYesNo
2011 Knockout YesNoNo

Documentary film

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducer
1975Great Grand MotherYesYesNo
1976AugustaYesYesNo
1981 A War Story YesYesYes
2000The Orkney Lad: The Story of Isabel GunnYesNoNo
2013 Chi YesNoNo
1977Happily UnmarriedNoNoYes
1978 Priory: The Only Home I've Got NoNoYes
1979Triangle IslandNoNoYes
Welfare MothersNoNoYes
Never a Dull MomentNoNoYes
1983Great Days in the RockiesNoNoYes
From Bears to BartokNoNoYes
1984Children Of AlcoholNoNoYes
This Is Only a TestNoNoYes

Short film

YearTitleDirectorWriter
1977Happily UnmarriedYesNo
1978Teach Me to DanceYesNo
2000 Legs Apart YesYes

Television

TV movies

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerWriter
1984Change of HeartYesNoNo For the Record series
1993 The Diviners YesNoNo3-hour special
Other Women's ChildrenYesNoNo
1995The War Between UsYesNoNo
1996Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury StoryNoYesYes
2002The InvestigationYesNoNo
2003BetrayedYesYesNo
2004 A Beachcombers Christmas YesNoNo
2006Christmas on Chestnut StreetYesNoNo
2007 Mom, Dad and Her YesNoNo
2008 Mail Order Bride YesNoNo
Living Out LoudYesNoNo
Dancing Trees (Partners in Crime)YesNoNo
2009 The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger YesNoNo
2012 The Horses of McBride YesNoNo
2014The Color of RainYesNoNo
2015 A Country Wedding YesNoNo
2016 Stop the Wedding YesNoNoBest Direction, 2017 Leo Awards
2023Friends & Family ChristmasYesNoNo

TV series

YearTitleNotes
1984-1985 Global Playhouse Episodes One's a Heifer and To Set Our House in Order (Also writer)
1985 The Ray Bradbury Theater 1 episode
1990 Mom P.I. 2 episodes
1992 North of 60 2 episodes
1995 Jake and the Kid 2 episodes
1996 The Adventures of Shirley Holmes Pilot
1998 Cold Squad 3 episodes
The Sleep Room Miniseries
1998-2003 Da Vinci's Inquest 7 episodes
2000 Mysterious Ways 1 episode
Beggars and Choosers 1 episode
2004-2005 This Is Wonderland 8 episodes
2005 Godiva's 2 episode
2006 Jozi-H 2 episodes
The Guard 2 episodes
2014 Heartland 2 episodes
2021 Firefly Lane 2 episodes

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Anne Wheeler". AnneWheeler.com. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  2. "The Sleep Room", The Canadian Historical Review, Volume 80, Number 4, December 1999 pp. 698-705
  3. "Leo Awards 2017 Winner". Leo Awards. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  4. "Anne Wheeler". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019.