Nik Sheehan (born 17 March 1960) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, who established an international reputation with ''No Sad Songs'' (1985), the first major documentary on

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. The film cited by world-renowned specialist Dr.

Balfour Mount Balfour M. Mount, (born 14 April 1939) is a Canadian physician, surgeon, and academic. He is considered the father of palliative care in North America. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he received his medical degree from Queen's University in 1963 and ...

as "the best film on the planet this year". In 1995, he produced and directed ''Symposium'', inspired by Plato’s classic and featuring multiple views of gay love as performed by Canadian artists and writers including Brad Fraser, Stan Persky, Patricia Rozema, Tomson Highway, Daniel MacIvor and others. Premiering at the Montreal World Film Festival, it was broadcast extensively by the CBC, and created national headlines. ''God’s Fool'' (1997), shot in Morocco, tells the story of

Scott Symons Hugh Brennan Scott Symons (July 13, 1933 – February 23, 2009), known professionally as Scott Symons, was a Canadian writer.Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...

. It premiered at the

Toronto International Festival of Authors The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA), previously known as the International Festival of Authors (IFOA), is an annual festival presented in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Since 1974, the mission of TIFA programming has bee ...

, where artistic director Greg Gatenby judged it "the best film biography of a writer I have ever seen". God’s Fool was broadcast nationally in primetime on Bravo TV. In 2002, the film opened "Freedom to Read Week" on the BookTelevision digital channel, where it remains in the rotation. Following Symons' death in February 2009, Sheehan wrote and published an obituary in ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

'' '' FLicKeR'' (2008), written and directed by Sheehan, is based on the book

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by John G. Geiger about the work of artist

Brion Gysin Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices. He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...

and his Dreamachine. The film features interviews with Marianne Faithfull, DJ Spooky,

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

, Lee Ranaldo,

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions arti ...

John Giorno John Giorno (December 4, 1936 – October 11, 2019) was an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, i ...

Floria Sigismondi Floria Sigismondi (, born 1965) is an Italian-Canadian film director, screenwriter, music video director, artist, and photographer. She is best known for writing and directing ''The Runaways'', for directing music videos for performers includin ...

, and Kenneth Anger. ''FLicKeR'' premiered in Toronto in 2008 at the international documentary film festival

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 received the festival's Special Jury Prize for the best Canadian Feature Length Documentary. It then went on to win in the Best Film on International Art category at the 2009 Era New Horizons Film Festival in Poland, and was also nominated for a 2009

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 the category of Best Performing Arts Program or Series or Arts Documentary Program or Series, and best original score by composer Edmund Eagan. Sheehan was also nominated for a Canadian screenwriting award by the Writers Guild of Canada. His essay on the Toronto art group General Idea in the collection '' Queers Were Here'' ( Biblioasis 2016) was acclaimed in the '' Literary Review of Canada''. In 2017, he made a series of video shorts documenting LGBTQ creators for national ''Xtra!'' After moving from Toronto to Vancouver in 2013, Sheehan produced, co-wrote and directed (with Albert Nerenberg), the climate change documentary feature '' Who Farted?'' for documentary Channel (CBC). It was broadcast June 2020 and began streaming on CBC GEM starting September 2020 in Canada. World distribution rights were sold to Syndicado. Sheehan has worked as a literary critic, essayist, and biographer, publishing in ''Montage'', '' POV'', the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with M ...

'', '' Now'', '' Toronto Life'', '' Quill & Quire'', ''Masthead'' and ''

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''.

Films (selection)

* '' No Sad Songs'' (1985) * ''Symposium: Ladder of Love'' (1995) * ''God's Fool'' (1997) * ''The Drawing Master'' (2004) * '' FLicKeR'' (2008) * ''Who Farted? (film)'' (2019)

Awards (selection)

* 2008

, Special Jury Prize – Best Canadian Feature Documentary (''FLicKeR'') * 2009 Era New Horizons Film Festival ( Wroclaw, Poland) – Best Film in the International Films on Art Competition (''FLicKeR'')

References

External links

*
''FLicKeR'' film site

Brion Gysin Tribute

''Who Farted?'' film site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Nik Canadian documentary film directors LGBT writers from Canada LGBT film directors Living people Writers from Toronto Film directors from Toronto 1960 births