Virginia "Ginny" Stikeman is a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer and editor known for her documentary work. Stikeman had a 30-year career at the National Film Board of Canada, and led its women's unit, Studio D, from 1990 until its closure in 1996.
Ginny Stikeman was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Montreal, Quebec. She graduated from McGill University with a BA in English and French. After a time working in Paris and then in Montreal for Time magazine, she joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1968 as a researcher for Challenge for Change. She later trained as an editor and moved to Studio D, the women's unit, in 1975 as an editor and producer. [1]
Among her more noteworthy achievements at Studio D, Stikeman was the co-producer on the award-winning documentary Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives . She co-directed Sisters in the Struggle with Dionne Brand. [2] She was also the producer and editor of Older, Stronger, and Wiser. [3]
Stikeman was announced as acting executive producer for Studio D in 1986 and was officially appointed the position of executive producer in 1990. Stikeman worked as executive producer until Studio D's closure in 1996, officially retiring in 1998. [4]
After retirement, Stikeman has worked with the Blue Metropolis literary festival as part of the Premio Azul Programming Committee [5] in Montreal, Quebec, a non-profit organization that promotes and encourages reading, writing and creativity for people of all cultures. [6] The organization was founded in 1997 by Linda Leith. The Blue Metropolis Festival produces the annual International Literary Festival with a variety of awards and prizes. Stikeman started sponsoring the Metropolis Azul Prize in 2013, which is awarded each year to an author from any country who creates a work of fiction that treats aspects of Hispanic culture and is published in Spanish, English or French. [6]
Stikeman was the editor on I'll Find a Way , which won the Academy Award for best live action short film, and Cree Hunters of Mistassini , which won the BAFTA for best documentary.
Stikeman is credited with bringing a deep commitment to film activism and "getting more women of different ethnic backgrounds into filmmaking". [4]
1973 | The Sloane Affair | Editor |
1973 | Where Do We Go from Here | Editor |
1974 | Cree Hunters of Mistassini | Editor |
1974 | Our Land Is Our Life | Editor |
1975 | My Friends Call Me Tony | Editor |
1976 | Temiscaming Quebec | Editor |
1976 | Listen Listen Listen | Editor |
1977 | Harmonie | Editor |
1977 | I'll Find a Way | Editor |
1978 | 'round and 'round | Editor |
1980 | North China Factory | Editor |
1980 | Wuxing People's Commune | Editor |
1980 | North China Commune | Editor |
1983 | Dream of a Free Country: A Message from Nicaraguan Women | Director |
1983 | I Want to Be an Engineer | Editor |
1984 | On Our Own | Editor |
1985 | Discussions in Bioethics: A Chronic Problem | Editor |
1985 | Discussions in Bioethics: Who Should Decide? | Editor |
1985 | The World Turned Upside Down | Editor |
1985 | The Cap | Editor |
1986 | Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief | Editor |
1987 | The Legacy of Mary McEwan | Editor |
1989 | Older, Stronger, Wiser | Editor |
1991 | Sisters in the Struggle | Co-Director, Producer |
1992 | Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives | Co-Producer |
1992 | Wisecracks | Producer |
1992 | A Balancing Act | Producer |
1992 | Le plafond de verre | Producer |
1992 | Making Perfect Babies | Producer |
1992 | Women in the Shadows | Producer |
1992 | Return Home | Producer |
1993 | Long Time Comin' | Producer |
1994 | Twenty Years of Feminist Filmmaking | Producer |
1994 | Motherland: Tales of Wonder | Producer |
1996 | Asking Different Questions: Women and Science | Producer |
1996 | Listening for Something ... Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand in Conversation | Producer |
1996 | Taking Charge | Producer |
1997 | An Untidy Package | Producer |
1997 | Jeunes, beaux et entreprenants | Producer |
Filmography from IMDb [7]
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and alternative dramas. In total, the NFB has produced over 13,000 productions since its inception, which have won over 5,000 awards. The NFB reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It has bilingual production programs and branches in English and French, including multicultural-related documentaries.
William Norman McLaren, LL. D. was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation and filmmaking, including hand-drawn animation, drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound. McLaren was also an artist and printmaker, and explored his interest in dance in his films.
Dionne Brand is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017 and has won the Governor General's Award for Poetry, the Trillium Prize for Literature, the Pat Lowther Award for Poetry, the Harbourfront Writers' Prize, and the Toronto Book Award.
Roman Kroitor was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as a pioneer of Cinéma vérité, as the co-founder of IMAX, and as the creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic 3D animation system. He was also the original inspiration for The Force. His prodigious output garnered numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, three Cannes Film Festival awards, and two Oscar nominations.
Alanis Obomsawin, is an Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues. Obomsawin is a member of Film Fatales independent women filmmakers.
Robin Spry was a Canadian film director, producer and writer. He was perhaps best known for his documentary films Action: The October Crisis of 1970 and Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis about Quebec's October Crisis. His 1970 film Prologue won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Gerry Rogers is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and politician. She was leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party from 2018 until 2019. She served in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as NDP MHA for the electoral district of St. John’s Centre from 2011 to 2019. She became the party's leader after winning the April 2018 leadership election. She resigned as party leader prior to the 2019 provincial election and did not seek re-election.
Colin Archibald Low was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was known as a pioneer, one of Canada's most important filmmakers, and was regularly referred to as "the gentleman genius". His numerous honors include five BAFTA awards, eight Cannes Film Festival awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
Maureen Judge is a Canadian Screen Awards (CSA) winning filmmaker and television producer. Much of her work is documentary and explores themes of love, betrayal and acceptance in the context of the modern family, with the most recent films focusing on the dreams and challenges of contemporary youth.
Blue Metropolisis an international literary festival held annually in Montreal since 1999. Founded by Montreal writer Linda Leith, it is one of the world's first multilingual literary festivals. In early 2011, Leith departed, and a new president and a new director of programming were hired.
George Kaczender was a Hungarian-born Canadian film director. He directed 26 films between 1963 and 2001.
Christine Welsh is a Métis Canadian filmmaker, feminist and associate professor at the University of Victoria.
Thomas Cullen Daly was a Canadian film producer, film editor and film director, who was the head of Studio B at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
Tim Southam is a Canadian television and film director.
John Spotton C.S.C. was a Canadian filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada.
John Kemeny was a Hungarian-Canadian film producer whom the Toronto Star called "the forgotten giant of Canadian film history and...the most successful producer in Canadian history." His production credits include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Atlantic City, and Quest for Fire.
Kathleen Shannon was a Canadian film director and producer. She is best known as the founder and first executive producer of Studio D of the National Film Board of Canada, the first government-funded film studio in the world dedicated to women filmmakers.
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. In its 22-year history, it produced 134 films and won 3 Academy Awards. Cinema Canada once called it the "Jewel in the Crown Corporation."
Aisling Chin-Yee is a Canadian film director, writer, and producer, who works primarily in Montreal and Los Angeles. In addition to her work as a producer, Chin-Yee directed the films The Rest of Us (2019) and No Ordinary Man (2020).
Jacques Giraldeau (1927-2015) was a Canadian documentary filmmaker from Quebec. He spent most of his career at the National Film Board of Canada and became known primarily for his films about the history of Quebec as seen through the eyes of its artists. He had a fondness for the avant-garde and many of his films are considered to be experimental.