Ronald Mann (born June 13, 1958) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. His work includes the films '' Imagine the Sound'' (1981); '' Comic Book Confidential'' (1988); ''

Grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

'' (1999) and '' Go Further'' (2003), both of which feature

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

; '' In the Wake of the Flood'' (2010), which features author

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

; and '' Altman'' (2014), about the life and career of film director

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

Early life

Mann stated that the first film he watched was ''

This Is Cinerama ''This Is Cinerama'' is a 1952 American documentary film directed by Mike Todd, Michael Todd Jr., Walter A. Thompson and Fred Rickey and starring Lowell Thomas.

'', a documentary. He considers '' A Hard Day's Night'' his favourite film and stated that it "really changed my life" as it made him choose to become a filmmaker rather than a musician.

Career

1970s–1980s

Mann began making films at a young age, creating Super 8mm films in the 1970s. Mann worked at

Sam the Record Man Sam the Record Man was a Canadian Record shop, record store chain that, at one time, was Canada's largest music recording retailer. In 1982, its ads proclaimed that it had "140 locations, coast to coast". Its iconic flagship store was located a ...

for three years and saved money to produce his first 16mm film, ''Flak'', in 1975. He was influenced by Robert Kramer's ''

Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

'',

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self- ...

's ''

Shadows A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensiona ...

'',

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

's '' Red Desert'', and

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

's ''

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

''. Mann began making short films while in high school and studied briefly at

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

before receiving a B.A. in film from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. His 1973 student film, ''The Strip'', documented the historic

Yonge Street Yonge Street ( ') is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...

strip. Mann met

Elia Kazan Elias Kazantzoglou (, ; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003), known as Elia Kazan ( ), was a Greek-American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most honored and inf ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

and asked if he should go to film school. Kazan told him not to study film, but to make them instead. Mann did not attend film school; instead, he learned filmmaking first-hand and using his own funds. In an interview with ''Now'', he described this process:

Every film was my last movie, I would go into debt, make another film to get myself out of debt. That's how I actually needed to keep going.

Mann and David Fine started collaborating in 1978. One of their films, '' The Only Game in Town'', received a

Genie Award 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 sculptor ...

nomination for Best Theatrical Short Film. Mann attempted to make a documentary about the

new wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop music, pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of Punk subculture, punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all fo ...

concert Heat Wave, but licensing issues prevented him. After the success of ''The Only Game in Town'' he met

Emile de Antonio Emile Francisco de Antonio (May 14, 1919 – December 15, 1989) was an American director and producer of documentary films, usually detailing political, social, and counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture events circa 1960s–1980s. He has be ...

, who agreed to become the film's executive producer. However, five days before filming started Mann was told that they did not have enough money. Mann decided to instead make a film about avant-garde jazz, '' Imagine the Sound''. The film, released in 1981, deals with the once-controversial genre of

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

. Critic and film historian

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...

has said that ''Imagine the Sound'' "may be the best documentary on free jazz that we have." '' Poetry in Motion'' (1982) was Mann's second feature film after ''Imagine the Sound''. While watching John Giorno and William S. Burroughs at a rock club, Mann discovered Giorno's Dial-A-Poem recordings during a break in the performance. The director later decided to create an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of "post-Beat" poets for a film. His idea was based on the poem anthology publication '' The New American Poetry 1945–1960'' by Donald Allen. Mann met Joe Medjuck while attending the University of Toronto and Medjuck hired him in 1984, for '' Listen to the City'', his only fiction film. Mann received a three-picture contract with Ivan Reitman Productions. Mann wrote a comedy for

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...

, ''Hoods in the Woods'', and made a behind-the-scenes documentary for '' Legal Eagles''. Mann has also made numerous short films, including ''Echoes Without Saying'' (1983), about the publishing and printing company

Coach House Press Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

and its founder

Stan Bevington Stan Bevington is a Canadian book publisher who founded Coach House Books. Life and work In 1965, Stan Bevington, a typesetter, newly transplanted to Toronto from Edmonton, rented an old coach house and installed an antique Challenge Gordon pla ...

, and ''Marcia Resnick's Bad Boys'' (1985), about the New York based photographer. Mann found success with his 1988 documentary '' Comic Book Confidential''. The film is a survey of the history of the

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

medium in the United States from the 1930s to the 1980s, as an art form and in social context. ''Confidential'' was first released theatrically in Canada in 1988, and in the United States on April 27, 1989. The film received the 1989

for Best Feature Length Documentary from the

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...

.''Comic Book Confidential'' award listing
''Canadian Awards Database'';

, 1989. Caryn James of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' found the film deft and intelligent—it "takes off when it abandons the archives and focuses on the creators," but "it plays to the converted," and its attempt to relate comics to social context is "fleeting."James, Caryn (June 14, 1989)
"Review/Film; Comic Books as Sociology and Popular Art"
''The New York Times.''

1990s–2000s

Mann continued to make documentaries throughout the 1990s and 2000s. His 1999 film was ''Grass'', a documentary about the history of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

government's war on

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

in the 20th century. Narrated by actor

, it premiered at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival and won the Genie Award for Best Feature Length Documentary. His 2003 film, '' Go Further'', saw him re-team with Harrelson on a film that followed a group of environmental activists riding around in a large, bio-fueled bus. The film debuted at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Film Festival in March 2003, and at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in September 2003, where it was first runner-up for the

People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the Fan (person), fans and Public, general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined us ...

. It was also nominated for a

for Best Documentary. In 2003, Mann co-founded a film distribution company called FilmsWeLike with Gary Topp. FilmWeLike's curation has been described by ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' as a "veritable auteur smorgasbord." In 2009, he released a documentary on mushrooms and mushroom hunting called '' Know Your Mushrooms''.

2010s–present

In 2014, Mann directed the

-based documentary '' Altman''.

Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' praised the film. His latest film is '' Carmine Street Guitars'' (2018). The film depicts Carmine Street Guitars, a long-running guitar store in New York City. It premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, and had its Canadian premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. It went into general theatrical release in April 2019.

Impact

Mann has served as mentor to and worked with many filmmakers from the Toronto New Wave of the 1980s, including

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...

, Bruce McDonald, Jeremy Podeswa, and Peter Mettler.

Filmography

*'' The Only Game in Town'' (1979) *'' Imagine the Sound'' (1981) *'' Poetry in Motion'' (1982) *'' Comic Book Confidential'' (1988) *'' The Twist'' (1992) *'' Dream Tower'' (1994) *''

'' (1999) *'' Go Further'' (2003) *'' Tales of the Rat Fink'' (2006) *'' Know Your Mushrooms'' (2008) *'' In the Wake of the Flood'' (2010) featuring author

*'' Altman'' (2014) *'' Carmine Street Guitars'' (2018)

References

Works cited

External links

*
Ron Mann's websiteRon Mann archives
at the University of Toronto Media Commons {{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Ron 1959 births Living people Canadian documentary film directors University of Toronto alumni Film directors from Toronto Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film Collage filmmakers