This article needs to be updated.(November 2020) |
EyeSteelFilm is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company co-founded by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression. Today the studio is run by co-presidents Mila Aung-Thwin and Bob Moore.
All three of the principals in the firm have been winners of the Don Haig Award for independent documentary film production from the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, with Cross winning in 2017, [1] Moore in 2020, [2] and Aung-Thwin in 2022. [3]
Date | Film | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | The Colony | Jeff Barnaby | Short film |
2008 | Ali Shan | Yung Chang | Short film |
2010 | Mokhtar | Halima Ouardiri | Short film |
Films presently in progress include:
EyeSteelFilm has received numerous awards from international film festivals and annual television and film awards. EyeSteelFilm has collaborated with international broadcasters including Super Channel, PBS, CBC, National Geographic Channel, The History Channel, BBC, YLE, TV2 Denmark, ZDF ARTE, The Documentary Channel, SBS, etc. They have received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, SODEC, CALQ, and National Film Board of Canada.
Brett Gaylor is a Canadian documentary filmmaker living in Victoria, British Columbia. He grew up on Galiano Island, British Columbia. He was formerly the VP of Mozilla's Webmaker Program. His documentary, Do Not Track, explores privacy and the web economy.
HomelessNation.org is a not-for profit organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In order to bridge the digital divide, documentary filmmaker Daniel Cross created HomelessNation.org in 2003. A website by and for the homeless, the resource gives people on the street the opportunity to control their own voice and engage the public in a safe and supportive forum. The site's outreach workers teach computer and media skills to facilitate self-expression and community involvement. Improved knowledge and self-esteem help individuals make healthier life choices and transition off the street. The project has directly impacted thousands of individuals across Canada and is now gaining ground internationally. The project has won 4 major ICT awards, including a prestigious World Summit Award.
Daniel Cross a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.
The Street: A Film with the Homeless is a 78-minute 1997 documentary film about the homeless in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The film was directed by Daniel Cross and produced by him and Don Haig. The production houses were the National Film Board of Canada and Necessary Illusions Productions Inc.
Chairman George is a 73-minute 2005 Canadian documentary film about the Greek Canadian musician / troubadour and statistician George Sapounidis. The documentary is directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by EyeSteelFilm in association with CTV, BBC's "Storyville" series and TV2.
Yiorgos Sapounidis better known as George Sapounidis is a Greek Canadian musician, troubadour, statistician and a Sinophile living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was the subject of 2005 Canadian documentary film entitled Chairman George. The documentary, directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by EyeSteelFilm in association with CTV, BBC's "Storyville" series and TV2, tells the story of Sapounidis as a popular musician in China campaigning for approval to perform at the closing ceremonies of 2004 Athens Olympics, when the flag was to be given to Beijing for organizing the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to Greek and Mandarin Chinese, he sings in more than five other languages.
Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.
Too Colourful for the League is a 52-minutes 2001 Canadian documentary film made for CBC-TV, directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by Diversus Productions. The film was produced by Evan Beloff, Ari Cohen and Max Wallace, who were nominated for a Gemini Award for best documentary. It was written by Max Wallace and co-produced by Daniel Cross.
Eric Denis better known as Eric "Roach" Denis is a Canadian documentary film maker and activist whose films deal with social justice, and particularly homelessness.
RoachTrip is a 2003 Canadian documentary about two punks, Roach and his friend Smash down the invisible punk highway across Canada. It captures their goal to escape the streets of Montreal as they cross 5,000 km (3,107 mi) to reach the "promised land" of British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.
Music for a Blue Train is a 48-minute 2003 documentary about busker musicians in the Montreal Metro subway train system. It was written and directed by Mila Aung-Thwin of EyeSteelFilm and produced by Germaine Ying Gee Wong for the National Film Board of Canada.
Inuuvunga: I Am Inuk, I Am Alive is a joint 58-minute 2004 documentary about Inuit high school students in Inukjuak, Nunavik, Quebec, documenting their final year in the high school.
Inukjuak – Innalik School, part of the Kativik School Board, is a primary and secondary school in Inukjuak, Nunavik, Quebec with more than 400 students. The school program is divided into three sections:
Merit Motion Pictures is an independent documentary film and television production company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was founded by Merit Jensen Carr in 1988.
Mia Donovan is a Canadian photographer and filmmaker. She is best known for her documentary Inside Lara Roxx released through EyeSteelFilm about 21-year-old Canadian Lara Roxx who in the spring of 2004, left her hometown Montreal heading to Los Angeles for working in pornography and within two months contracted HIV after shooting an unprotected sex scene with two males. Donovan followed Lara Roxx through 5 years of Roxx's attempt to build a new identity and find hope in the wake of her past. Her film won "Best Documentary on Society and Humanity" at the 2011 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival and it was runner-up for "Best Feature at 2012 Boston Underground Film Festival.
Fortunate Son is an autobiographical feature documentary film by Tony Asimakopoulos, a Canadian film director of Greek origin. The film was released in 2011 and produced by Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross and Bob Moore of the Montreal-based film production company, EyeSteelFilm. The film is in English and Greek, with subtitles in English and French. As Asimakopoulos' first documentary, the film has been called "A searing documentary about family" by Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun, as well as "[...] a story of what binds families together, and what it means to be loved" by Daniel Pratt of Exclaim!.
Ed Barreveld is a Canadian documentary film producer based in Toronto who co-founded Storyline Entertainment in 2000 with Daniel Sekulich and Michael Kot. Since 2004 he has been the company's sole principal.
Manic is a 2017 Canadian documentary film directed by Kalina Bertin. The film depicts Bertin's efforts, in response to a family history of bipolar disorder, to investigate parts of her father's prior life in Montserrat that she did not know about; she ultimately uncovers the revelations that her father was a cult leader who also suffered from bipolar disorder, and who had, unbeknownst to Bertin until making the film, also fathered at least 12 other children with four other women.
Kalina Bertin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, most noted for her 2017 film Manic.
The Don Haig Award is an annual award, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival for distinguished achievement by a Canadian independent documentary film producer with a film in that year's festival program. Despite the requirement to have a film in that year's festival lineup, however, the award is not presented for that specific film, but in consideration of the recipient's overall body of work.