Patricia Rozema (born 20 August 1958) is a Canadian film director, writer and producer. She was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in 1980s from Toronto known as the

Toronto New Wave The Toronto New Wave refers to a loose-knit group of filmmakers from Toronto who came of age during the 1980s and early 1990s. History Atom Egoyan, John Greyson, Ron Mann, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, Peter Mettler, Jeremy Podeswa and Patricia ...

Early life

Rozema was born in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

and raised in

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes where Lake Huron fl ...

, Ontario. Her parents, Jacoba Berandina (née Vos) and Jan Rozema, were Dutch

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

s. Television was severely restricted and she did not go to a movie theatre until she was 16 years old. Rozema studied philosophy and

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

Calvin College Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed (Calvinist) ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Film career

After a brief stint as a print and then television journalist (

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's '' The Journal''), Rozema directed her first feature, ''

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing ''I've Heard the Mermaids Singing'' is a 1987 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, and Ann-Marie MacDonald. It was the first English-language Canadian feature film to win an a ...

'' (1987), a serious comedy starring

Sheila McCarthy Sheila McCarthy (born January 1, 1956) is a Canadian actress and singer. She has worked in film, television, and on stage. McCarthy is one of Canada's most honoured actors, having won two Genie Awards (film), two Gemini Awards (television), an AC ...

about a loner named Polly who is an art gallery secretary and aspiring photographer. At the

1987 Cannes Film Festival The 40th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 19 May 1987 in film, 1987. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Under the Sun of Satan (film), Sous le soleil de Satan'' by Maurice Pialat, a choice which was considered "highly controversial" and the prize ...

, ''I've Heard the Mermaids Singing'' won the ''Prix de la Jeunesse''. In 1993, the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

ranked it ninth in the

Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time The Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time is a list compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival ranking what are the considered the best Canadian films. The list has been compiled once roughly every 10 years starting in 1984, typically assembl ...

, with Rozema becoming the first female director to have a film on the list. The film did not appear on the updated 2004 version. Rozema also directed the ''Six Gestures'' (part of the

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

Inspired by Bach Inspired by Bach, a part of ''Sony Classical celebrates Bach'', presented the contemporary cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, in a series of six films, each showing a collaboration with ...

'' television series), which combined images of Yo-Yo Ma performing with skating sequences by Jane Torvill and

Christopher Dean Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July 1958) is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Early life Dean grew u ...

, interwoven with

J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...

's first-person narrative. ''Six Gestures'' was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

and won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program, as well as a

Golden Rose The Golden Rose is a gold ornament, which popes of the Catholic Church have traditionally blessed annually. It is occasionally conferred as a token of reverence or affection. Recipients have included churches and sanctuaries, royalty, military ...

, the top television award in Europe. She then directed the romance film ''

When Night Is Falling ''When Night is Falling'' is a 1995 Canadian drama film directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Pascale Bussières and Rachael Crawford. It was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival. Plot Camille Baker ( Pascale Bussières) i ...

'' in 1995 starring

Pascale Bussières Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a French Canadian actress. Life and work Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Pascale Bussières first attracted attention as a suicidal teenager in Micheline Lanctôt’s 1984 film '' Sonatine''; however ...

and Rachael Crawford, and featuring

Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing the ...

and

Tracy Wright Tracy Wright (December 7, 1959 – June 22, 2010) was a Canadian actress who was known for her stage and film performances, as well as her presence in Canada's avant-garde for over 20 years. Career In 1989, she was a founding member of the Toron ...

. Rozema's next two feature films were made outside Canada; ''

Mansfield Park ''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews unt ...

'' (1999) is a revisionist adaptation of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

's novel of that name. ''Happy Days'' (2000), an Irish production, is a film version of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's humorously despairing play in which a woman lives partially buried in a mound of sand. She later directed and ghost-wrote '' Kit Kittredge: An American Girl'' (2008), which was based on the ''American Girl'' book series. The film earned Rozema a Directors Guild of Canada Award nomination for Best Director. Rozema's television credits include the pilot and two subsequent episodes of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series '' Tell Me You Love Me'' (2008), an episode of the HBO series ''

In Treatment ''In Treatment'' is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series ''BeTipul'' ( he, בטיפול), created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman. The series is about a ps ...

'' (2010), and episodes of the Canadian television sitcom '' Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays'', which premiered on

in fall 2011."Camelot & cover songs: Inside CBC's new fall lineup"
. ''

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 ...

'', 8 June 2011. She most recently worked as a director on the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

series ''

Mozart in the Jungle ''Mozart in the Jungle'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz for the video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video. It received a production order in M ...

''. Rozema and co-writer Michael Suscy received an Emmy Award nomination (Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special), a Writers Guild of America Award nomination (Long Form – Original) and a PEN USA Award nomination in Screenplay for the HBO movie ''

Grey Gardens ''Grey Gardens'' is a 1975 American documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. The film depicts the everyday lives of two reclusive, upper-class women, a mother and daughter both named Edith Beale, who lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, a der ...

'' (2009). Her feature film ''

Into the Forest ''Into the Forest'' is a 2015 Canadian apocalyptic independent drama film, written and directed by Patricia Rozema, based on the 1996 Jean Hegland book and starring Elliot Page and Evan Rachel Wood as orphaned survivalist sisters in a forest wi ...

'', starring

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Elliot Page, various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination, tw ...

and

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in ...

, premiered at the

in September 2015. Her most recent feature, ''Mouthpiece'' (2018), premiering at

TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...

, is an adaptation of a two-woman play created and performed by

North Sadava North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

and

Amy Nostbakken Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''. People A–E * Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress * Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886–1 ...

, who also star in the film. Sadava and Nostbakken play dual versions of the same female protagonist, who struggles to find her voice while writing her mother's eulogy. A profile of Rozema in the Globe & Mail called it "her most directly political film" and added that "it also may be her most heartfelt and emotionally mature." In 2017, Rozema founded her own production company, Crucial Things, to co-produce ''Mouthpiece.''

Personal life

Rozema is openly lesbian and has two children with her former partner, film composer

Lesley Barber Lesley Barber (born 1962) is a Canadian composer of music for film, theatre, chamber and orchestral ensembles and she is also a conductor, pianist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Barber is best known for composing the film scores for '' Ma ...

Filmography

Awards

* Second prize at the Chicago International Film Festival for her short ''Passion: A Letter in 16 mm''. * ''

'' won the

Prix de la Jeunesse Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who a ...

Director's Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festi ...

in Cannes and was nominated for Best Picture – with Rozema garnering nominations Best Director and Best Screenplay – at the

9th Genie Awards The 9th annual Genie Awards were held March 22, 1988, and honoured Canadian films released in 1987.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. . The ceremony was hel ...

in 1988. The film received 17 further awards. It is listed as one of the Best Canadian Films of All Time by the International Film Critics association. * '' White Room'' earned 4 prizes, and 3 Genie nominations. * ''

'' premiered in competition in the

45th Berlin International Film Festival The 45th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 22 February 1995. The Golden Bear was awarded to French film '' The Bait'' directed by Bertrand Tavernier. The retrospective dedicated to American actor Buster Keaton was show ...

and went on to win over 30 awards from different countries and at various gay and lesbian film festivals. * ''

Yo-Yo Ma, Inspired by Bach Inspired by Bach, a part of ''Sony Classical celebrates Bach'', presented the contemporary cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Cello Suites (Bach), Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, in a series of six films, each showing a ...

'' Rozema's episode "Six Gestures" won a Prime Time Emmy Award and was nominated for a Grammy. (other contributors included Atom Egoyan)

References

External links

*
Patricia Rozema – femfilm.ca: Canadian Women Film Directors Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozema, Patricia 1958 births Living people Canadian agnostics Canadian film editors Canadian film producers Canadian screenwriters Canadian women film directors Lesbian artists Canadian lesbian writers LGBT film directors LGBT producers LGBT screenwriters Canadian women film editors Canadian people of Dutch descent Film directors from Ontario People from Sarnia Writers from Kingston, Ontario Calvin University alumni Emmy Award winners