Saverio "Sam" Grana is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

Academy Award-nominated television and film producer and screenwriter,"Producer finds a new act in front of the cameras". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'', October 8, 1987. most noted for the film ''

Train of Dreams ''Train of Dreams'' is a 1987 Canadian film directed by John N. Smith and starring Jason St. Amour, Christopher Neil and Frederick Eugene Ward as a popular teacher. In this documentary-style drama, a delinquent teenager tries to put his life on ...

'' and the television miniseries ''

The Boys of St. Vincent ''The Boys of St. Vincent'' is a 1992 Canadian television miniseries directed by John N. Smith for the National Film Board of Canada. It is a two-part docudrama inspired by real events that took place at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, ...

''.

Career

For much of his career he was associated 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 ...

, for whom he was one of the originators alongside directors

Giles Walker Giles Walker (January 17, 1946 - March 23, 2020) was a Scottish-born Canadian film director. Biography Giles Walker, born in 1946 in Dundee, Scotland, received a B.A. from the University of New Brunswick and an M.A. from Stanford University ...

and

John N. Smith John N. Smith OC (born July 31, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Career Smith graduated with a B.A. in political science from McGill University in 1964. He joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ...

of the studio's 1980s foray into "alternative drama"

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) an ...

filmmaking. He left the NFB in the 1990s and was briefly executive director of Film NB, the provincial filmmaking agency in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

, from March 1997 until resigning in August 1998. He then formed his own production firm, Grana Productions, for which his projects included the documentary television series ''Eastern Tide'', and the films ''

Geraldine's Fortune ''Geraldine's Fortune'' is a 2004 Canadian comedy-drama film. It was directed by John N. Smith, written by Tim Burns and based on the play ''Les Belles-sœurs'' by Michel Tremblay. Plot Geraldine Liddle (Curtin) is a small town woman from New ...

'' and ''Black Eyed Dog''. At the

9th Genie Awards The 9th annual Genie Awards were held March 22, 1988, and honoured Canadian films released in 1987.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. . The ceremony was held ...

in 1988, ''Train of Dreams'' was a nominee for

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, and Grana was a nominee alongside Smith and

Sally Bochner Sally may refer to: People *Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military * Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, the Allied reporting n ...

for

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

. At the 8th Gemini Awards in 1994, Grana, Smith and

Des Walsh Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

won the Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries for ''The Boys of St. Vincent''. Sam Grana was nominated for an Academy Award in 1981 for "Short Winter",a short film about an Irish family immigrating to North America in the 1890's. He has also had a small number of acting roles, most notably as Alex Rossi in Walker's docufiction trilogy ''

The Masculine Mystique ''The Masculine Mystique'' is a Canadian docufiction film directed by Giles Walker and John N. Smith and released in 1984. The film centres on Alex ( Sam Grana), Blue (Stefan Wodoslawsky), Mort (Mort Ransen) and Ashley (Ashley Murray), four men w ...

'', ''

90 Days ''90 Days'' is a video news magazine produced by McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, MO and distributed at the end of every business quarter (hence the show's title) through the mail to employees and shareholders of the company in VHS format. From i ...

'' and '' The Last Straw''."90 Days sequel set for Cannes". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...

'', July 12, 1986. He also appeared in ''

'', in the minor role of Monsignor Forucco.

Nominations

Grana was nominated for an academy award in 1981 for "Short Winter". He was a Genie Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor at the

7th Genie Awards The 7th Genie Awards were held March 20, 1986, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to honour achievements in Canadian film in 1985. The ceremony was co-hosted by Leslie Nielsen and Catherine Mary Stewart."Genie hosts announced". ''Toronto Star'' ...

in 1986 for ''90 Days''."Genie films are coming on strong". ''

'', February 14, 1986.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grana, Sam Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian film producers Canadian television producers Canadian male screenwriters Canadian people of Italian descent Living people National Film Board of Canada people Cinema of New Brunswick Canadian male television writers Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century Canadian male writers