Kensington Communications is a Toronto-based
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...
that specializes in
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
s and documentary/factual television series. Founded in 1980 by president
Robert Lang, Kensington Communications Inc. has produced over 250 productions from documentary series and films to
performing arts and children's specials. Since 1998, Kensington has also been involved in
multi-platform
In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software ...
interactive projects for the web and mobile devices.
The company's recent productions include two one-hour science documentaries
Why We Dance a bold exploration of dance as an emergent phenomenon in evolution an
Nature's Cleanup Crew about the busy urban scavengers who clean up the mountains of waste humans leave behind, both fo
CBC's The Nature of Thingsand Arte
The Shadow of Goldfo
TVOArte Francean
SVT co-produced wit
Films å Çinqan
CAPAin Paris, a feature documentary world-wide examination of the gold industry from raw material to market;
The Equalizer''an
Champions vs. Legends two one-hour international co-productions which examine improvements in high performance sports technologies for CBC Nature of Things, ZDF, Arte
Risk Factor a one-hour POV documentary that demystifies personal and societal risk; ''
Museum Secrets
''Museum Secrets'' is a TV series on History Television in Canada and a website with videos and games exploring the world's renowned museums and their most enigmatic objects. Narrated by Canadian actor Colm Feore, the TV series ran for three seas ...
'', a television series that explores museums across the globe; and ''Shameless Idealists'', a five-part series that features interviews with changemakers and social activists like
Richard Branson,
Magic Johnson, and
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado (; ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists.
She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired deb ...
. Kensington has won a number of awards for these and other programs (see
Awards section for details). Among Kensington's recent interactive projects are: the mobile app, Risk Navigator, which personalizes the users' risk reward balance
Scopify a mobile app which allows visitors to the
Royal Ontario Museum to get an augmented experience of some of the museum's artifacts; an
Museum Secrets Interactive with web videos, games and information.
Filmography
Television Series
*
Museum Secrets
''Museum Secrets'' is a TV series on History Television in Canada and a website with videos and games exploring the world's renowned museums and their most enigmatic objects. Narrated by Canadian actor Colm Feore, the TV series ran for three seas ...
(History TV, UKTV, Historia, BBC) - A 22-episode series that goes into museums all over the world (e.g. the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, the
American Museum of Natural History, the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
) and looks at the stories behind the museums' artifacts. Awarded Best Factual Series at the 2014
Canadian Screen Awards
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
.
Shameless Idealists(CTV) - a five-part series that profiles celebrity changemakers and social activists. Produced in collaboration with
Free the Children
WE Charity (french: Organisme UNIS), formerly known as Free the Children (French: ''Enfants Entraide''), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger ...
*Diamond Road, 3-part documentary series produced for
TVOntario
TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...
,
History Television
The History Channel (also known as History) is a Canadian English language specialty channel that primarily broadcast programming related to history and historical fiction. It is owned by Corus Entertainment, with the History branding used under ...
,
Discovery Times
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...
,
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
,
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...
and
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...
Australia; awarded best documentary series,
Gemini Award.
*
City Sonic (co-produced with White Pine Pictures), 4 x 30 minutes and 20 5-minute episodes, 2009
*
72 Hours: True Crime, 3 seasons from 2005-2007 (CBC/TLC).
*Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science, 5 seasons from 1997-2003 (Discovery/CTV/TLC).
*The Sacred Balance (CBC/PBS), with broadcaster-environmentalist
David Suzuki which is also accompanied by an interactive media site
Sacred Balance.com awarded best science environment program, Houston Worldfest, Yorkton Short Film festival and many others.
One-off Documentaries:
*Why We Dance (CBC, ARTV, Explora, SWR and Arte)
*Nature's Cleanup Crew (CBC, ZDF, Arte)
*The Shadow of Gold (TVO, Canal D, Arte France, SVT) - co-production with Films à Cinq, Paris
*Champions vs. Legends (CBC, SRC, Arte, ARD, ORF) - co-production with Berlin Producers (Germany) and PreTV (Austria)
*Risk Factor (TVO, Canal D, Knowledge Network)
*The Equalizer (CBC, SRC, Arte, ZDF) - co-production with Berlin Producers
*Raw Opium: Pain, Pleasure, Profits (TVO, ZDF Arte, Canal D, SBS)
*Return to Nepal with
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, p ...
(documentary channel)
*Almost Home: A Sayisi Dene Journey (CBC); awarded best Social Political documentary and Kathleen Shannon Award at
Yorkton Film Festival
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...
.
*My Beat: The Life and Times of
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, p ...
(CBC)
*River of Sand (TVO/Vision); awarded best Canadian film at Vues d'Afrique film festival
*Separate Lives (Discovery/TLC/BBC), awarded best science, environment or nature documentary,
Gemini Award
*A Place in the World (Vision/SCN); awarded Vision Humanitarian Award,
Hot Docs
*Mariposa: Under a Stormy Sky—an examination of 1960s folk music and the
Mariposa Folk Festival
Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a f ...
(CTV)
*One Warm Line—a portrait of the legendary Canadian folk singer,
Stan Rogers (CBC)
*Pacific Rim: A Park and its People (Discovery Channel's Parks Series)
*On the Run: Growing up with Alcohol; Awarded Best Film from the National Foundation for Alcoholism Communications Awards
*Out of the Past (
TVOntario
TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...
,
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
,
Access Alberta
CTV 2 Alberta is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the provinces and territories of Canada, province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it oper ...
)
*Stepdancing: Portrait of a Remarried Family (
CBC); Awarded 1987 Blue Ribbon in the American Film and Video Festival
*Seeds
*Fragile Harvest(
CBC's
The Nature of Things
''The Nature of Things'' (also, ''The Nature of Things with David Suzuki'') is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on 6 November 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that hu ...
,
NFB)
*Joe David/Spirit of the Mask half-hour documentary for
CBC)
*Childhood's End (for
TVO
TVO (stylized as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station CICA-DT (channel 19) in To ...
)
Interactive & Digital Projects:
Risk Navigator- A popular and useful app that helps you make informed decisions about all the risks in your life.
Scopify- An augmented reality mobile app that allows museum visitors to interact with artifacts.
Raw Opium OnlineMuseum Secrets Interactive a
rich-media
Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various fo ...
website for the series Museum Secrets.
City Sonic a multi platform music documentary series (
Gemini
Gemini may refer to:
Space
* Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
** Gemini in Chinese astronomy
* Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program
* Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...
-nominated).
Diamond Road OnlineSacredBalance.comRiver of Sand Interactive
Children's Variety Programming
*Biggest Little Ticket (CTV/YTV)
Public Service Media
*50 Television Public Service Announcements for
USC Canada
SeedChange (Sème l'avenir in French), formerly known as USC Canada, is a non-profit organization that works with farmers around the world, including in Canada, to strengthen their ability to grow food sustainably with locally adapted seeds. The or ...
*Public Service Announcement for
Climate Action Network
Climate Action Network - International (CAN) is a global network of over 1,300 environmental non-governmental organisations in over 130 countries working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecolo ...
*Moving the Banyan Tree, half hour documentary (for
USC Canada
SeedChange (Sème l'avenir in French), formerly known as USC Canada, is a non-profit organization that works with farmers around the world, including in Canada, to strengthen their ability to grow food sustainably with locally adapted seeds. The or ...
and
CIDA)
*Path to Nepal with Bruce Cockburn (for
USC Canada
SeedChange (Sème l'avenir in French), formerly known as USC Canada, is a non-profit organization that works with farmers around the world, including in Canada, to strengthen their ability to grow food sustainably with locally adapted seeds. The or ...
)
Recognitions
Awards
;2016/17
Remi Platinum Award Best Sports Documentary
The Equalizer(Houston International Film Festival)
: Finalist, Sports Documentary, The Equalizer, International Sport Film Festival Palermo
: Nominated, Best Sports Program, Canadian Screen Awards, 2016
;2014
:
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...
, Best Factual Series,
Museum Secrets
''Museum Secrets'' is a TV series on History Television in Canada and a website with videos and games exploring the world's renowned museums and their most enigmatic objects. Narrated by Canadian actor Colm Feore, the TV series ran for three seas ...
(Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television)
:
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...
, Best Picture Editing in an Information Program or Series,
Museum Secrets
''Museum Secrets'' is a TV series on History Television in Canada and a website with videos and games exploring the world's renowned museums and their most enigmatic objects. Narrated by Canadian actor Colm Feore, the TV series ran for three seas ...
(Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television)
;2013:
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...
, Best Sound in an Information/Documentary Program or Series,
Museum Secrets
''Museum Secrets'' is a TV series on History Television in Canada and a website with videos and games exploring the world's renowned museums and their most enigmatic objects. Narrated by Canadian actor Colm Feore, the TV series ran for three seas ...
(Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television)
: Digi Awards, (Nomination) Best in Mobility, ScopifyROM
;2008: Canadian New Media Awards, Best News Information, Diamond Road Online
:
Gemini Award – Best Documentary Series, Diamond Road
: Platinum Award – Best Feature Documentary, Diamond Road (Houston Worldfest)
;2005 & 2007: Worldmedal – Docudrama, 72 Hours: True Crime (New York Festivals)
;2004: Golden Sheaf Award – Best Documentary, Social/Political Almost Home (Yorkton Festival)
;2004: NFB Kathleen Shannon Award, Almost Home (Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival)
;2004: Platinum Award – Ecology/Environment/Conservation, Sacred Balance Show 3 Fire of Creation (Houston Worldfest)
;1998:
Gemini Award – Science, Technology, Nature, Separate Lives (Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television)
;1997:
HotDocs – Vision TV Humanitarian Award, A Place in the World
;1995: Award of Excellence – Best Variety, The Biggest Little Ticket (
Alliance for Children and Television Quality television (also quality TV or quality artistic television) is a term used by Television studies, television scholars, Television criticism, television critics, and broadcasting advocacy groups to describe a genre or style of television prog ...
)
Other notable nominations and selections
Notable recognitions include:
:
Gemini Awards,
BANFF, HistoryMakers, DOXA, ReFrame Festival, Himalayas Film Festival,
Planet in Focus,
International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, Prix Science & Societé, Paris
References
External links
Kensington Communications Inc.official siteKensington on the Internet Movie DatabaseOfficial Museum Secrets websiteRaw Opium Official Site
{{Authority control
Film production companies of Canada
Television production companies of Canada
Companies based in Toronto
Documentary film production companies