Virginia "Ginny" Stikeman is a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer and editor known for her documentary work. Stikeman had a 30-year career at 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 ...

, and led its women's unit, Studio D, from 1990 until its closure in 1996.

Biography

Ginny Stikeman was born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, and grew up in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the 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 one of the thirtee ...

. She 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 ...

with a BA in English and French. After a time working in Paris and then in Montreal for ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine, she joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1968 as a researcher for

Challenge for Change Challenge for Change (French: ''Societé Nouvelle'') was a participatory film and video project created by the National Film Board of Canada in 1967, the Canadian Centennial. Active until 1980, Challenge for Change used film and video production t ...

. She later trained as an editor and moved to Studio D, the women's unit, in 1975 as an editor and producer.

Career

Among her more noteworthy achievements at Studio D, Stikeman was the co-producer on the award-winning documentary '' Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives''. She co-directed ''Sisters in the Struggle'' with

Dionne Brand Dionne Brand (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017

. She was also the producer and editor of ''Older, Stronger, and Wiser''. Stikeman was announced as acting executive producer for Studio D in 1986 and was officially appointed the position of executive producer in 1990. Stikeman worked as executive producer until Studio D's closure in 1996, officially retiring in 1998. After retirement, Stikeman has worked with the Blue Metropolis literary festival as part of the Premio Azul Programming Committee in Montreal, Quebec, a non-profit organization that promotes and encourages reading, writing and creativity for people of all cultures. The organization was founded in 1997 by

Linda Leith Linda Jane Leith is a Montreal-based writer, translator, and publisher. Biography Leith was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, when her family was living in the linen town of Lisburn. After elementary and secondary schooling in London and Basel, ...

. The Blue Metropolis Festival produces the annual International Literary Festival with a variety of awards and prizes. Stikeman started sponsoring the Metropolis Azul Prize in 2013, which is awarded each year to an author from any country who creates a work of fiction that treats aspects of Hispanic culture and is published in Spanish, English or French.

Awards and nominations

Stikeman was the editor on ''

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 Os ...

'', which won the Academy Award for best live action short film, and ''

Cree Hunters of Mistassini ''Cree Hunters of Mistassini'' is a 1974 documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada and co-directed by Boyce Richardson and Tony Ianzelo. It chronicles a group of three Cree families from the Mistassini region of Quebec as th ...

'', which won the BAFTA for best documentary.

Legacy

Stikeman is credited with bringing a deep commitment to film activism and "getting more women of different ethnic backgrounds into filmmaking".

Filmography

Filmography from IMDb

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stikeman, Ginny 1941 births Living people Canadian documentary film directors Canadian women film directors Film directors from Montreal Film directors from Ottawa LGBT film directors 20th-century Canadian LGBT people National Film Board of Canada people Canadian women documentary filmmakers McGill University alumni