Beverly Shaffer is a filmmaker in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, Canada. Shaffer spent the bulk of her professional career with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB), directing short documentaries and dramas. Her documentary ''

I'll Find a Way ''I'll Find a Way'' is a 1977 Canadian short documentary film directed by Beverly Shaffer about nine-year-old Nadia DeFranco, who has spina bifida. Produced by Studio D, the women's unit of the National Film Board of Canada, the film won an O ...

'', about a young girl with

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, m ...

, won the 1977

Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...

Career

Shaffer won more than forty international awards in her thirty-two years with the National Film Board. She joined the NFB's newly created women's studio,

Studio D Studio D was the women's unit of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the world's first publicly funded feminist filmmaking studio. In its 22-year history, it produced 134 films and won 3 Academy Awards. ''Cinema Canada'' once called it th ...

, in 1975 after her proposal for a series of short documentaries about children was approved by Studio D head

Kathleen Shannon Kathleen Shannon (November 11, 1935 – January 9, 1998) was a Canadian film director and producer. She is best known as the founder and first executive producer of Studio D of the National Film Board of Canada, the first government-funded film ...

. The ten films in her ''Children of Canada'' series included the Oscar-winner ''I'll Find a Way''. ''To a Safer Place'' (1987) was an uplifting story of an incest survivor in her thirties who succeeded in building a fulfilling life after years of abuse. Shaffer directed seven episodes in the ''Children of Jerusalem'' series, featuring profiles of Arab and Jewish youth, including the titles '' Children of Jerusalem: Gesho'' and '' Children of Jerusalem: Yehuda''. She also directed ''Just a Wedding'' (1999), a docudrama sequel to ''I'll Find a Way''. Her last film for the NFB, ''Mr Mergler's Gift'', was short listed for an Academy Award in 2005. In June 2008, it was announced that she and colleague Paul Cowan would lose their positions as NFB staff filmmakers, due to budget cuts. Although the bulk of her work has been in the documentary genre, Shaffer has at times turned her talents to drama. These include the half-hour drama ''The Way It Is'' (1982), about a young girl's reaction to her parents' divorce; ''Who Should Decide?'' (1985), one of eight short dramas in the ''Discussions in Bioethics'' series.

Background

Born in Montreal in 1945, Shaffer graduated from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in 1967, with a B.A. in comparative religion and philosophy. She taught high school for two years before doing a master's degree in filmmaking at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

. Upon graduation in 1971, she worked at

WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS List of PBS member stations, member television station in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of ...

as a production assistant, researcher and associate producer on science and public affairs programs.

Awards and honours

1977 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film - ''I’ll Find a Way'' ''I’ll Find a Way'' - nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Factual Film

Filmography

* ''My Name is Susan Yee'' (1975) * ''My Friends Call Me Tony'' (1975) * ''Gurdeep Singh Bains'' (1975) * ''Kevin Alec'' (1977) * ''Beautiful Lennard Island'' (1977) * ''I’ll Find a Way'' (1977) * ''Veronica'' (1977) * ''Benoît'' (1978) * ''Julie O’Brien'' (1981) * ''It’s Just Better'' (1982) * ''The Way It Is'' (1982) * ''I want to Be an Engineer'' (1983) * ''Discussions in Bioethics: Who Should Decide?'' (1985) * ''To a Safer Place'' (1987) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Tamar'' (1991) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Asya'' (1992) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Neveen'' (1992) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Yacoub'' (1992) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Yehuda'' (1994) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Gesho'' (1996) * ''Children of Jerusalem- Ibrahim ''(1996) * ''Just a Wedding'' (1999) * ''To my birthmother…'' (2002) * ''

Mr. Mergler's Gift ''Mr. Mergler's Gift'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Beverly Shaffer and released in 2004.Bill Brownstein, "Life, love, music". '' Montreal Gazette'', September 1, 2004. The film is a portrait of Daniel Mergler, a 77-year-old music ...

'' (2004)

References

External links

*
Watch films by Beverly Shaffer at NFB.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaffer, Beverly 1945 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni Canadian documentary film directors Canadian women film directors Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners Film directors from Montreal McGill University alumni National Film Board of Canada people Canadian women documentary filmmakers