Comeback kid

Vancouver: Undaunted by a disabling stroke in 1987, B.C. filmmaker Bonnie Sherr Klein wrapped the $400,000 National Film Board one-hour documentary Exposing Ourselves Sept. 22 after a year of production.

‘I haven’t made a film in 16 years,’ says Klein, whose previous credits include the NFB documentary Not A Love Story. ‘I thought, in fact, that filmmaking was all behind me. Conscious of my unique position as a formerly non-disabled person who was living everyone’s worst nightmare, I decided to share the experience with the people I’d left behind. I wanted people to know that they would also be able to cope, to survive and even to thrive in the quite likely event that they would experience some similar loss.’

The film brings Klein together with four other artists: writer, teacher and human rights activist Catherine Frazee; humorist David Roche; multimedia visual artist and writer Persimmon Blackbridge; and, dancer and artistic director of the Society for Disability Arts and Culture, Geoff McMurchy.

‘People are aware of the difficulties, which are not to be trivialized, but not the joys, the discoveries, the ingenuity, the brilliance, the community we share,’ says Klein. ‘Those of us who are lucky enough to survive – and have the financial, emotional and spiritual resources – live whole, authentic, even enviable lives.’

Tracey Friesen is the producer. Ian Edwards

Western writers focus of doc

Edmonton: Reel Girls Media started principal photography on its latest documentary Sept. 27, with plans to wrap Nov. 12. Out of the West features six of the most exciting literary talents west of Toronto and invites them to share their reflections on how where they live shapes their art and lives.

Featured in the $150,000 doc are writers David Bergen, Evelyn Lau, Aritha Van Herk, Douglas Coupland, Sharon Butala and Fred Stenson.

Producer Ava Karvonen and writer/director Scot Morison will shoot in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Eastend, SK. Delivery to principal broadcaster Bravo! is planned for February 2005, with BookTelevsion and SCN taking second window. The doc receives additional funding from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund. Laura Bracken