Manfred Becker (born March 10, 1960) is a German-Canadian documentary independent

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

. His work often explores personal stories behind current or historical issues. Born and raised in

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

, Germany, Becker moved to Canada in 1983. Since 2001, Becker has been writing and directing documentaries for television, his latest, a look at the phenomenon of tourists seeking out places of conflict and fear entitled ''Dark Tourism'', being the eighth. In the past decade Becker has written and directed eight documentaries for television, earning him numerous nominations and awards. His film ''Fatherland'' won the Donald Brittain

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

in 2006 for Best Documentary and was screened at

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

and several other festivals internationally.

Awards

Becker has edited feature-length documentaries for Canadian filmmakers

Sturla Gunnarsson Sturla Gunnarsson (born August 30, 1951) is an Icelandic-Canadian film and television director and producer. Gunnarsson was born in Reykjavík in 1951. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his parents when he was seven years old. As he ...

, Nettie Wild and

Paul Jay Paul Jay (born 1951) is a journalist, filmmaker, is the founder, editor-in-chief, and host of theAnalysis.news, a news analysis service. He was the founder, CEO and senior editor of The Real News Network (TRNN). Jay was born and raised in Toronto ...

that have won Gemini,

Genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

and Chalmers awards and an

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

among others. In addition to a Gemini award for Best Editing on ''Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows'' (1999), Becker's work on ''Thin Ice'' (2000) was nominated for the same category. Becker's work on ''A Place Called Chiapas'' led to a Hot Docs award.

Personal life

Becker is married to Susan Meggs, whom he met at a screening in Toronto, where the couple currently reside. They have two children, Jonas and Sebastian, aged 21 and 19.

Filmography

* ''Death of a Warrior'' (2001). A documentary about the bombing of the

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

vessel "Rainbow Warrior". For

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 ...

* ''Neighbours'' (2003) A Historical documentary about the crossing paths of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

and

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

in a fin-de-siecle Vienna. For History Television * ''The Life of Me'' (2003) A vérité documentary following the workshop of a play for the "Madness in the Arts Festival" featuring actors with mental illness. 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 ...

* ''The Siege'' (2004) Historical documentary on the 1999 siege of a UN compound in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

. For History Television * ''Fatherland'' (2004) Feature-length personal essay documentary on history, memory and fatherhood. For History Television * ''Hitler's Children: Germany in Autumn 1977'' (2006). For History Television * ''Diamond Road'' (2007) 3x one-hour HD documentary series on the global diamond industry. For Discovery Times & DISCOVERY HD, ARTE, ZDF, NHK, Australian and French TV * ''Dark Tourism'' (2008) Vérité documentary on the phenomenon of tourists seeking out places of conflict and fear. For History Television * ''Here At Home'' (2012) Becker is the Toronto director for 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 ...

web documentary A web documentary, interactive documentary, or multimedia documentary is a documentary production that differs from the more traditional forms—video, audio, photographic—by applying a full complement of multimedia tools. The interactive multim ...

''Here At Home'', exploring the

Mental Health Commission of Canada The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) is a national non-profit organization created by the Canadian government in 2007 in response to a senate committee tasked to study mental health, mental illness, and addiction. The committee appointed ...

's efforts to end homelessness for people with mental illness via its At Home initiative.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Manfred 1960 births Living people Canadian documentary film directors People from Wilhelmshaven Film directors from Toronto German emigrants to Canada Canadian Screen Award winners