Same sex, different reasons

Vancouver – Why Thee Wed, a National Film Board Pacific Centre documentary on same-sex marriages, is in post-production. Written and directed by Cal Garingan, the hour-long documentary follows eight same-sex couples in B.C. over a year as they decide to marry and deal with the religious and political baggage that goes with it.

Featured couples include Jane and Joy, an interracial couple together for 11 years, who have raised two daughters, overcome cancer and managed to stay a family in spite of exclusion from their families; Peter and Murray, together for 33 years, who are known for their political involvement in various human rights issues, including their successful push to have the Adoption Act rewritten; and Lloyd and Bob, an evangelical couple of 36 years, determined to be married in – and recognized by – their church.

Produced by Selwyn Jacob, Why Thee Wed has been presold to CBC Newsworld, a partner in the NFB’s Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of color. Ian Edwards

Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson

Vancouver – Busy television producer Gabriela Schonbach of Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions is executive producing four new information programs.

Older Women/Younger Men is a one-hour documentary about ‘age-gap’ relationships for W Network in Canada and Discovery Health Channel in the U.S. Filmed in California, Virginia, New York and Vancouver, the documentary is coproduced by Katherine Di Marino, directed by Kathy Parke and edited by Bonni Devlin.

Namaste is a 25 x 30 high-definition yoga series for CHUM in Canada and HDNet in the U.S. Production wrapped in November, with Howard Dancyger as director and Kate Potter as yoga teacher, choreographer, writer and host.

Rebuilding the World, a one-hour high-definition documentary for CBC, is in post-production. The program is about the new generation of death-defying ironworkers from Canada helping to rebuild New York’s World Trade Center. Their fathers and grandfathers before them were instrumental in constructing the famous Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center and the original World Trade Center. Jerry Thompson is the writer/director and coproducers are Leigh Badgley and Brian Hamilton.

Also in post is The Disappearance of the PX-15, a documentary about the first submarine to explore the depths of the Gulf Stream, which years later ended up mysteriously in a Vancouver shipyard. The project, for History Television, Historia and The Science Channel, is written and directed by Lauren Millar and coproduced by Badgley. Ian Edwards