Jason Loftus is a Canadian documentary filmmaker. He is most noted as the director of the documentary film Eternal Spring , which was selected as Canada's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. [1]
The CEO of Lofty Sky Entertainment was executive producer of the 2014 documentary film Human Harvest , a Peabody Award recipient for Documentary Programming in 2015 and a Donald Brittain Award nominee at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016. [2]
Ask No Questions, his debut film as a director, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2020. [3] With film distribution in 2020 impeded primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic, the film subsequently partnered with the San Francisco DocFest to screen the film in a virtual reality environment. [4]
Eternal Spring, an animated documentary created in collaboration with Chinese animator and activist Daxiong, was released in 2022. [5] When it screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, it was named the overall winner of the Hot Docs Audience Award for most popular film in the festival, and the first-place winner of the Rogers Audience Award for the most popular Canadian film. [6]
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June 2020. In addition to the annual festival, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, administers multiple production funds, and runs year-round screening programs including Doc Soup and Hot Docs Showcase.
Tales From the Organ Trade is a 2013 Canadian documentary film written and directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ric Esther Bienstock. It was produced by Ric Esther Bienstock, Felix Golubev and Simcha Jacobovici. The film was created in association with HBO Documentary Films, Shaw Media and Canal D. The film examines the shadowy world of black market organ trafficking. The film is narrated by David Cronenberg.
Nisha Pahuja is an Indian-born Canadian filmmaker, based in Toronto, Ontario.
Prey is a 2019 Canadian documentary film, directed by Matt Gallagher. An examination of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the film centres on Rod McLeod, a man who is suing the church for restitution after having been abused in childhood by priest William Hodgson “Hod” Marshall, and includes testimonial interviews from some of Marshall's other victims.
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Tasha Hubbard and released in 2019. The film centres on the 2016 death of Colten Boushie, and depicts his family's struggle to attain justice after the controversial acquittal of Boushie's killer. Narrated by Hubbard, the film also includes a number of animated segments which contextualize the broader history of indigenous peoples of Canada.
The Walrus and the Whistleblower is a 2020 Canadian documentary film directed by Nathalie Bibeau. The film profiles Phil Demers, a former employee of Marineland who attempted to blow the whistle on allegedly inhumane treatment of animals at the institution.
The 9thannualCanadian Screen Awards were held in the week of May 17 to 20, 2021, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020.
There's No Place Like This Place, Anyplace is a 2020 Canadian documentary film, directed by Lulu Wei. The film profiles the issue of gentrification in Toronto, Ontario through the history, demolition and redevelopment of the historic Honest Ed's department store and its effects on the larger Mirvish Village neighbourhood.
Matt Gallagher is a Canadian film director, producer and cinematographer from Windsor, Ontario.
Ariel Nasr is a Canadian documentary film director. He is most noted as director of the films The Boxing Girls of Kabul, which won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary at the 1st Canadian Screen Awards in 2013, and The Forbidden Reel, which was a winner of the Audience Award at the 2020 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and as producer of Buzkashi Boys, which was an Academy Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013.
The Hot Docs Audience Awards are annual film awards, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to the most popular films as voted by festival audiences. There are currently two awards presented: the Hot Docs Audience Award, presented since 2001 to the most popular film overall regardless of nationality, and the Rogers Audience Award, presented since 2017 to the most popular Canadian film.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and released in 2021. The film centres on the opioid crisis, and its effects on Tailfeathers' home Kainai Nation community in Alberta.
Bobbi Jo Hart is an American-Canadian documentary filmmaker based in Montreal, Quebec. Hart was born in California and raised in Cottage Grove, Oregon. She is most noted for her films Rebels on Pointe, which won the award for Best Canadian Feature at the Inside Out Film and Video Festival in 2017 and received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Biography or Arts Documentary Program or Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, and Fanny: The Right to Rock, which won the Rogers Audience Award at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and the award for Best Canadian Film at Inside Out in 2021.
Shasha Nakhai is a Filipino-Iranian Canadian film director, most noted as co-director with Rich Williamson of the 2021 film Scarborough. The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture, and Nakhai and Williamson won the award for Best Director, at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.
Okay!: The ASD Band Film is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Mark Bone and released in 2022. The film profiles the ASD Band, a Toronto-based group of musicians on the autism spectrum who released their debut EP, and played their first-ever live show in a public venue, in February 2022.
Eternal Spring is a 2022 Canadian adult animated documentary film written, directed and co-produced by Jason Loftus. Based around the animation of Chinese artist Daxiong, the film centres on Falun Gong's 2002 hijacking of broadcast television stations in Changchun, and China's continued repression of ethnic and religious minority groups.
Unloved: Huronia's Forgotten Children is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Barri Cohen and released in 2022. The film documents the history of child abuse at Ontario's Huronia Regional Centre facility for developmentally disabled children, based in part on the story of her own two older brothers, Alfred and Louis, who died at the institution.
Rojek is a 2022 Canadian documentary film written, directed and produced by Zaynê Akyol. It is about the recovery of Kurdistan from the Rojava–Islamist conflict with a special emphasis on interviews with imprisoned former members of the Islamic State about their motivations. It was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Aurora's Sunrise is a 2022 adult animated documentary film directed by Inna Sahakyan. It is based on the life of Aurora Mardiganian, an Armenian Genocide survivor who after her escape became an actress in the United States. The film includes short scenes of the film Auction of Souls, a silent film from 1919 on the Armenian Genocide, in which Aurora Mardiganian had the leading role.