Paul Jay (born 1951) is a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
,
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 ...
, 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
The Real News Network (TRNN) is an independent, nonprofit news organization based in Baltimore, MD that covers both national and international news.
History
TRNN was founded by documentary producer Paul Jay and Mishuk Munier in September 2 ...
(TRNN). Jay was born and raised in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, Ontario
[jfilm bio cover page](_blank)
and holds dual-citizenship with the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Jay is the nephew of screenwriter
Ted Allan. A past chair of the
Canadian Independent Film Caucus
The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) is a non-profit organization representing the interests of independent documentary filmmakers in Canada. Founded as the Canadian Independent Film Caucus (CIFC) in the 1980s Canada.
DOC advocates for ...
(now called
DOC
DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to:
In film and television
* ''Doc'' (2001 TV series), a 2001–2004 PAX series
* ''Doc'' (1975 TV series), a 1975–1976 CBS sitcom
* "D.O.C." (''Lost''), a television episode
* ''Doc'' (film), a 1971 Wester ...
), the main organization of documentary filmmakers in Canada, Jay is the founding chair of the
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. He chaired the Hot Docs! board for its first five years.
Early life
Jay dropped out of high school at sixteen years of age and never received any formal training in filmmaking. He became interested in the subject after attending an experimental free school, where he had the opportunity to create a short film. He gained experience by shooting sports footage for Canadian broadcast television before going on to produce his own content.
Film and television work
''Never-Endum Referendum'' (CTV, SRC, Arte, 1997), is a feature-length documentary, on the
1995 Quebec referendum over the question of seceding from Canada. It was called "a moving, masterful piece of film-making about a tough subject" by Tony Atherton of the ''Ottawa Citizen''.
Jay's ''
Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows'' (1998), a feature-length documentary about pro wrestler
Bret Hart
Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling back ...
, was screened in 25 major
festivals
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
and won more than a dozen awards. It has been called "one of the most acclaimed Canadian films in years" by ''
eye magazine
''Eye'' magazine is a quarterly print magazine on graphic design and visual culture.
History
First published in London in 1990, ''Eye'' was founded by Rick Poynor, a prolific writer on graphic design and visual communication. Poynor edited ...
'', "A tale as bizarre as Kafka and as tragic as Shakespeare" (''
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 new ...
'') and "one of the best films of 1998" (
Peter Plagens
Peter Plagens (born 1941) is an American artist, art critic, and novelist based in New York City.Online Archive of CaliforniaPeter Plagens papers, 1938-2014 Retrieved January 18, 2018.Smith, Roberta''The New York Times'', February 7, 2018. Retrie ...
, art critic for ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
''). ''Hitman'' was produced in cooperation with the National Film Board of Canada, TVOntario, The 'A' Channel, CTV, A&E, BBC's ''
Storyville'' series, and ''La Sept/Arte''.
Jay also appeared in interview segments in another
Bret Hart
Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling back ...
documentary which came out in 2010, ''
Bret Hart: Survival of the Hitman''.
''Lost in Las Vegas'' (2001) is a feature-length documentary for
A&E. "Equal parts hilarious, heroic and heartfelt... often surprising, occasionally inspiring, frequently hilarious... You've got to see this thing to believe it. It's so good", wrote Rob Salem of ''
The 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 part ...
''.
''Return to Kandahar'' (2003), a feature-length
documentary, was co-directed with
Nelofer Pazira, star of the movie ''
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
'' (2001). Although ''Kandahar'' was fictional, ''Return to Kandahar'' follows Pazira's return to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in search of her childhood friend; her first attempt inspired the fictional movie. ''RTK'' won the Donald Brittain Gemini award for best social political documentary.
Jay was the creator and executive producer of
CBC Newsworld's flagship debate program ''
counterSpin'' (broadcast from 1998 to 2004) for six seasons. CounterSpin was a prime time debate show about the news of the day.
Other work includes ''
Justice Denied'' (Turner), ''
The Life and Death of Owen Hart'' (TVO, A&E), ''Albanian Journey: End of an Era'' (TVOntario, CBC Witness), ''The Birth of Language'' (TVOntario and Discovery U.S.), ''Here's to the Cowboy'' (CBC, Disney, London Weekend, Central TV). Jay exec-produced ''
Through Thick and Thin'' (CBCNewsworld), ''Machine Gun'' (3x1 Discovery Canada&US), and ''The Famine Within'' (TVO). Jay was the co-creator and co-executive producer of ''Face Off'', a nightly prime time debate program that ran four years on
CBC Newsworld.
He worked with
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...
, among others, for the launch of TRNN, which included the documentary: ''History of the National Security State''. In this, Jay interviews Vidal, as well as
Lawrence Wilkerson
Lawrence B. Wilkerson (born June 15, 1945) is a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Since the end of his military career, Wilkerson has criticized many aspects of the Iraq ...
,
Ray McGovern, and
Antonia Juhasz. The Real News went on to launch several internet video/television
news magazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or n ...
s, including ''
The Empire Files'', created in 2015 with
teleSUR and for which Jay is an executive producer. Jay is the executive producer of the 2017 ''Donald Trump, The Koch Brothers and Their War on Climate Science'' documentary.
Jay is the founder and host of theAnalysis.news, a video and audio current affairs interview and commentary show and website.
References
External links
Paul Jay on The Real News*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Paul
1951 births
Jewish Canadian journalists
Canadian television journalists
Living people
Journalists from Toronto
Canadian documentary film directors
Film directors from Toronto
Canadian documentary film producers
Jewish Canadian filmmakers