| Turning to Stone | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Judith Thompson |
| Directed by | Eric Till |
| Starring | Nicky Guadagni Anne Anglin Jackie Richardson Shirley Douglas Bernard Behrens |
| Theme music composer | John Welsman |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | John Kastner |
| Cinematography | Vic Sarin |
| Editor | Thomas Berner |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Production company | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBC Television |
| Release | February 25, 1986 |
Turning to Stone is a Canadian docudrama television film, which was broadcast by CBC Television in 1986. [1] Directed by Eric Till and written by Judith Thompson, the film stars Nicky Guadagni as Allison Campbell, a woman who is sent to Ontario's Prison for Women after being set up by her boyfriend to smuggle drugs from Mexico to Canada without her knowledge. [2]
The film was based on interviews with real women in prison, conducted by documentarian John Kastner during the creation of his documentary films The Parole Dance and The Lifer and the Lady. [3] Many of the incidents depicted in the film were real occurrences which the prisoners had not felt comfortable or safe discussing openly on camera, but which Kastner felt were valuable illustrations of the importance of prison reform, so he chose to produce his first-ever scripted fiction film to dramatize them as a companion piece to his prison documentaries. [3]
The cast also includes Anne Anglin, Jackie Richardson, Kim Renders, Maria Vacratsis and Shirley Douglas as fellow inmates in the prison, Bernard Behrens as Allison's father, [4] and Paul Gross, Lubomir Mykytiuk and Barbara Budd in small supporting roles.
The film was broadcast by the CBC on February 25, 1986. [4]
Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail wrote that the film's drama was overshadowed by its documentary aspects: "What lingers about Turning To Stone isn't the voyeuristic drama (middle-class people really aren't the biggest problem with the prison system), but the naturalistic acting, the dialogue, and the subtly oppressive atmosphere. It's these documentary elements which tell us that banality is the horror of prison life; that prison, after all, is a place where people spend most of their time doing nothing important, every day, over and over again." [5]
Mike Boone of the Montreal Gazette wrote that "Kastner, Till and Thompson don't shrink from rubbing viewers noses in the misery and despair of prison life. And given the producer's reputation as a documentarist, we can safely assume that Turning to Stone is an accurate - albeit slightly juiced up - reflection of what really goes on in Kingston pen. The movie is excellent. Don't miss it." [6]
For the Ottawa Citizen , Noel Taylor wrote that "Turning To Stone makes tough demands on the viewer that are best met head-on. Be prepared to be shocked, and to be moved. It's that rare kind of television - something to be outraged by." [4]
The film was nominated for seven Gemini Awards at the 1st Gemini Awards in 1986. [7] Kastner threatened to boycott the awards on the grounds that Donald Brittain's Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks had been ruled eligible for nominations despite having already received nominations and awards from the predecessor ACTRA Awards the previous year, although he ultimately did not do so. [8]
| Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Nominees | Result | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini Awards | December 4, 1986 | Best Actress in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries | Nicky Guadagni | Nominated | [7] |
| Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries | Bernard Behrens | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries | Anne Anglin | Nominated | |||
| Jackie Richardson | Nominated | ||||
| Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries | Judith Thompson | Nominated | |||
| Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries | Thomas Berner | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries | Joe Grimaldi, Thomas Berner, Erik Hoppe | Nominated |
The 7th Genie Awards were held on March 20, 1986, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to honour achievements in Canadian film in 1985. The ceremony was co-hosted by actors Leslie Nielsen and Catherine Mary Stewart.
The John Drainie Award was an award given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to broadcasting in Canada. Although meant to be presented annually, there have been years where it was not presented.
Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks is a Canadian docudrama film directed, written and produced by Donald Brittain.
Christopher William Martin Jr, also known as Corky Martin or Chris Martin, is a Canadian actor. He has appeared on a number of television series, including Felicity and The L Word, as well as leading the 2002 Canadian series, Tom Stone.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Music: Original Song to the best original song in a Canadian motion picture.
Race for the Bomb is a 1987 three-part television miniseries about the Manhattan Project, starting from the initial stages of scientific discovery that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, discovery of the Ulam-Teller thermonuclear weapons design and ending with the beginning of the arms race. The series was directed by Allan Eastman and Jean-François Delassus.
John Kastner was a four-time Emmy Award-winning Canadian documentary filmmaker whose later work focused on the Canadian criminal justice system. His films included the documentaries Out of Mind, Out of Sight (2014), a film about patients at the Brockville Mental Health Centre, named best Canadian feature documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival; NCR: Not Criminally Responsible (2013), exploring the personal impact of the mental disorder defence in Canada; Life with Murder (2010), The Lifer and the Lady and Parole Dance, and the 1986 made-for-television drama Turning to Stone, set in the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario.
The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards. The award may be presented to either a standalone broadcast of a documentary film, or to an individual full-length episode of a news or documentary series; documentary films which originally premiered theatrically, but were not already submitted for consideration in a CSA film category before being broadcast on television, are also considered television films for the purposes of the award.
The Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor in Comedy Series is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best leading performance by an actor in a Canadian television comedy series.
The Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in Comedy Series is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best leading performance by an actress in a Canadian television comedy series.
For the Record is a Canadian television drama anthology series that aired on CBC Television from 1976 to 1985. The series aired docudrama-style television films on contemporary social issues, typically airing between four and six films per year.
Ear to the Ground is a Canadian music television series, which was broadcast on CBC Television from 1992 to 1995. Focusing on a single Canadian musician or band each week, the series mixed interview segments and live performance clips in a documentary style. It was a spinoff of the network's daily series Video Hits, which had in its final years sometimes devoted special episodes to a single musician or band under the name Video Hits Presents. The series was produced by Faith Feingold and directed and written by Faith Feingold and Marla Digiacomo.
Global Playhouse, intermittently also known as Bell Canada Playhouse or Bell Canada Global Playhouse, is a Canadian television drama anthology series, which aired on Global Television Network in the 1980s. A coproduction of Atlantis Films and the National Film Board of Canada, the series aired film adaptations of short stories by Canadian writers.
Bernard Behrens was a British-Canadian actor. He was most noted as a two-time Gemini Award winner, winning Best Actor in a Television Film or Miniseries at the 6th Gemini Awards in 1992 for his performance in the dramatic anthology series Saying Goodbye, and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Program or Series at the 9th Gemini Awards in 1995 for the television film Coming of Age.
Marc Champion (1927–2018) was a Canadian cinematographer. He is most noted as a two-time Canadian Film Award/Genie Award nominee for Best Cinematography, receiving nominations at the 29th Canadian Film Awards in 1978 for I, Maureen and at the 7th Genie Awards in 1986 for Samuel Lount, and as a Gemini Award winner for Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series at the 3rd Gemini Awards in 1988 for Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel.
The Squamish Five is a Canadian docudrama television film, directed by Paul Donovan and broadcast by CBC Television in 1988. The film dramatizes the story of the Squamish Five, the Canadian activist group responsible for the Litton Industries bombing of 1982.
Anne Anglin is a Canadian actress and theatre director. She is most noted for her performance as Sharon in the 1986 television film Turning to Stone, for which she was a Genie Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Program or Series at the 1st Gemini Awards, and her recurring role as Mrs. Cooney, the grandmother of J.T. Yorke, in Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Sharry Flett is a Canadian actress. She is most noted for her performances in the television films War Brides, for which she was a Bijou Award nominee for Best Actress in a Non-Feature in 1981, and The Suicide Murders, for which she was a Gemini Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Program or Series at the 1st Gemini Awards in 1986.
The 15th ACTRA Awards were presented on April 2, 1986 to honour achievements in Canadian television production in 1985. They were the final ACTRA Awards presented before the responsibility for organizing and presenting Canadian television awards was transferred from ACTRA to the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television; after this, ACTRA only presented awards in radio categories, until relaunching the ACTRA Awards program in the early 2000s as a series of regional production awards in various Canadian film and television production markets.
Tramp at the Door is a Canadian television film, directed by Allan Kroeker and broadcast in 1985. Adapted from the Gabrielle Roy short story "Tramp at the Door", the film stars Ed McNamara as Gustave, a Russian vagrant who arrives at the farm of Franco-Manitoban couple Albert and Madeleine Fournier pretending to be a long-lost relative from Quebec.