Joyce Borenstein is a Canadian film director and animator. Borenstein worked in the independent animation field in the 1970s before joining the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

in the 1980s, culminating in the short animated documentary '' The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein'' (1992) about her father, painter

Sam Borenstein Sam Borenstein (15 January 1908 – 15 December 1969) was a Canadian painter. During his forty-year career he painted numerous scenes of Montreal and Laurentian villages and Quebec landscapes. Borenstein was best known for his expressionistic ...

, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary at the

65th Academy Awards The 65th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1992 in the United States and took place on March 29, 1993, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles begi ...

Early life and education

Joyce Borenstein was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. She is the daughter of Sam and Judith Borenstein. She received a Bachelor of Arts in piano performance at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in 1971, and later received a Masters in Film Animation at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

in 1974.

Career

Borenstein's career began with her debut ''Tricycle'' in 1970. She began free-lancing at the National Film Board of Canada in 1976 when she created ''Traveller's Palm'', a visualization of the poem by P.K. Page, done in bas-relief clay animation. In 1980, Borenstein became a member of the publication board of the

International Animated Film Association The International Animated Film Association (French: ''Association Internationale du Film d'Animation'', ASIFA) is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France by well-known animation artists including Canadian an ...

(ASIFA) in Canada, a newsletter focusing mainly on the activity of Canadian members of the association. Borenstein's work has been showcased by Quickdraw Animation Studios and at the

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...

, the

Columbus International Film & Video Festival The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually ann ...

, and the Festival of Films on Art in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. She is the company officer of Illumination Animation Inc., an animation company based in Montreal and active since 1994 that has produced several of her films including ''Mother's Colours (2011),'' ''One Divided by Two: Kids and Divorce'' (1997) and ''Lida Moser Photographer'' (2018). From 1984 to 2008, Borenstein was a part-time professor in film animation at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. Borenstein's best known work is the biographical documentary '' The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein'', released in 1992. Produced by the National Film Board and Imageries Inc., the film details the life and career of her father Sam Borenstein. It includes interviews with her mother, Judith; archival material; and a combination of Borenstein's original animation, reproductions of her father's work, and time-lapse sequences taking place in Montreal and the Laurentian Mountains.

Filmography

* 1970 ''Tricylcle'' *1972 ''Opus 1'' * 1974 ''Revisited'' *1976 ''Traveller's Palm'' *1977 ''Onions and Garlic'' *1981 ''Five Billion Years'' * 1983 ''La Plante'' * 1987 ''The Man Who Stole Dreams'' *1992 '' The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein'' *1997 ''One Divided by Two: Kids and Divorce'' *2011 ''Mother's Colours'' * 2018 ''Lida Moser Photographer''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borenstein, Joyce 1950 births Living people Artists from Montreal California Institute of the Arts alumni Canadian animated film directors Women animated film directors Canadian women film directors Film directors from Montreal McGill University School of Music alumni National Film Board of Canada people Canadian women animators