The Offering (1966 film)

Last updated
The Offering
Directed by David Secter
Written byIain Ewing
Martin Lager
Gillian Lennox
Michael Ondaatje
David Secter
Jan Steen
Produced by Robert Fresco
John Labow
Gillian Lennox
Wayne Lum
Clarke Mackey
Michael Ondaatje
David Secter
StarringKee Faun
Ratch Wallace
CinematographyStan Lipinski
Edited byTony Lower
Music byPaul Hoffert
Production
company
Secter Films
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • November 24, 1966 (1966-11-24)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Offering is a Canadian romantic drama film, directed by David Secter and released in 1966. [1] One of the first Canadian films ever to depict an interracial relationship, the film portrays a romance between Mei-Lin (Kee Faun), a dancer with a touring Peking opera company, and Gordon (Ratch Wallace), a stagehand at the theatre in Toronto where the troupe is performing. [2] Philip Givens, the real-life mayor of Toronto at the time the film was made, appears in the film as himself; [3] the cast also includes Ellen Yamasaki and Marvin Goldhar.

The film was shot in part at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre. [1]

The film was more poorly received than Secter's 1965 film Winter Kept Us Warm , [4] and because Secter had largely worked with non-union crew, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees intervened to prevent the film from being screened theatrically anywhere outside of Toronto. [5]

Soon after the film's release, Secter abandoned most of his new projects and moved to New York City, where he joined a bohemian artists' commune and worked as a theatre director, and did not direct another film until the low-budget sex comedy Getting Together in 1976.

Related Research Articles

<i>Festival Express</i> 2003 rockumentary

Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito Bros, Ian & Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird, Mountain and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. The film combines footage of the 1970 concerts and on the train, interspersed with contemporary recollections of the tour by its participants.

Garth Drabinsky is a Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. The sentence was reduced from 7 to 5 years in prison, on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a subsequent appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel MacIvor</span>

Daniel MacIvor is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom Twitch City.

Martha Henry American-born Canadian actress (1938–2021)

Martha Kathleen Henry was an American-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She was noted for her work at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.

Noam Gonick, is a Canadian filmmaker and artist. His films include Hey, Happy!, Stryker, Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight and To Russia with Love. His work deals with homosexuality, social exclusion, dystopia and utopia.

<i>Winter Kept Us Warm</i> 1965 Canadian film

Winter Kept Us Warm is a Canadian romantic drama film, released in 1965. The title comes from the fifth line of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land.

David Secter is a Canadian film director. He is best known for the 1965 film Winter Kept Us Warm, the first English Canadian film ever screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Widely considered a key milestone in the development of Canadian film, Winter Kept Us Warm was a gay-themed independent film written, directed and funded entirely by Secter, who is gay, while he was a student at the University of Toronto.

Jerry Ciccoritti Canadian director

Jerry Ciccoritti is a Canadian film, television and theatre director. His ability to work in a number of genres and for many mediums has made him one of the most successful directors in the country.

John Juliani was a Canadian actor, writer, producer, director and educator. His career spanned four decades in a number of different media, including radio and film. In addition to his artistic contributions, Juliani was a strong advocate of Canadian theatre and the arts. He is the father of actor Alessandro Juliani.

David Miller (Canadian politician) 63rd mayor of Toronto

David Raymond Miller is an American-Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 63rd mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010. Following his career in politics, Miller returned to law, before serving as president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada) from 2013 to 2017, after which he began working as the director of international diplomacy at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Phillips</span>

Robin Phillips OC was an English actor and film director.

<i>Storm</i> (1987 film) 1987 Canadian film

Storm is a 1987 Canadian drama film and first feature starring David Palffy and Stan Kane directed by David Winning. The film was the debut of director Winning. Two college students on a survival weekend in the wilderness cross paths with three aging criminals looking for treasure buried decades earlier. Made in 24 days on a budget of about $70,000 CDN. The original 81-minute film was filmed near Bragg Creek, west of Calgary, in the summer of 1983, with an initial cast and crew of 10 people. It was released by Warner Home Video on September 1, 1988. Director Winning appears in a small cameo as the younger villain.

Wolf Koenig was a Canadian film director, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the National Film Board of Canada.

Albert Shin is a Canadian filmmaker, best known for his critically acclaimed Canadian Screen Award-nominated films In Her Place (2014) and Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2019). He works frequently with collaborator Igor Drljaca.

David Earle is a Canadian choreographer, dancer and artistic director. In 1968 Earle was co-founder and co-artistic director of Toronto Dance Theatre alongside Patricia Beatty and Peter Randazzo, where Earle choreographed new modern dance pieces. In 1996 Earle started his own company called Dancetheatre David Earle where he continues to choreograph new works, to teach, and to create with the next generation of modern dancers. David Earle has received many accolades; a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Jean A. Chalmers Award for Distinction in Choreography, also an honorary doctorate degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Daryl Cloran is a Canadian theatre director and, currently, the artistic director of the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta. Formally the artistic director of Western Canada Theatre, in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, he took over as the artistic director of Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, AB, Canada, succeeding Bob Baker (director), in September 2016.

Jack Creley was an American-born Canadian actor. Although most prominently a stage actor, he also had film and television roles.

David Fine is a Canadian filmmaker, who works in animated film alongside his British wife Alison Snowden. The couple are best known as the creators of the Nelvana animated television series Bob and Margaret, and as the directors of several animated short films which have won or been nominated for Genie Awards and Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Maslany</span> Canadian actor

Daniel Joseph Maslany is a Canadian actor, producer and composer. He is known for playing Bondurant Smit in CBC's offbeat and absurd comedy series Four in the Morning, Llewelynn Watts in the series Murdoch Mysteries and Townes Linderman in the series Impulse on YouTube Premium.

John Avery Leon Labow was a Canadian film and television producer, most noted as a producer of documentaries for TVOntario.

References

  1. 1 2 David Secter, "Director's postscript on The Offering". The Globe and Mail , November 26, 1966.
  2. Martin Knelman, "He shoots The Offering in July". The Globe and Mail , May 19, 1966.
  3. "The Mayor? As a film star?" The Globe and Mail , July 11, 1966.
  4. Joan Fox, "Secter's latest offering contrived". The Globe and Mail , November 25, 1966.
  5. "Stagehands' union tells Secter 'you talk too much'". The Globe and Mail , December 1, 1966.