Geoff has been directing and producing short films and documentaries for as long he can remember. By the time he was twenty-one, 1992 Geoff turned his passion into a career. His first film was a 35mm visual exploration of the people and culture of Belize. Next Geoff was hired by - at the time by the World’s Most traveled man, to document a journey aboard a Russian freighter that sailed the Antarctic convergence from Argentina to South Africa, later Geoff directed a video explorations of the North Arctic filming on Ellesmere ills. Other countries include Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Tibet, China, India and Nepal.
Geoff also directed a 35mm black and white dramatic short film called, Smoke Screen. Which played in a number of film festivals including Norman Jewisons international World Wide Short Film Festival, The Vancouver International Film Festival and was sold to CBC’s Zed TV.
Further developing his other talents such as writing and photography, Geoff's work became published on the cover of the Globe and Mail travel section, Vancouver Newspaper dailies, and magazines. Geoff's work as a director, producer, journalist and photographer has taken him all over the world. Geoff has also worked as a director of photography for Star TV/ A&E and local commercial spots, which include CKNW, Future Shop, Kirmac Collision, Molson Canadian and Fox World Sports, As well his photos have been used in a variety of advertising campaigns, (Glennie Stamnes, Earls Restaurants.)’
During his film career, Geoff has mastered the art of producing and directing in sometimes dangerous and extremely difficult situations, planes, helicopters, jungle fires, river boats, African deserts and Sub Antarctic Volcanic islands.
Currently Geoff has been hired to direct another documentary film called, ‘Catching the Chameleon.’ The true story about a RCMP officer who dedicated four years of his life to track down and put away for life - ‘The Chameleon,’ a serial pedophile that ran free for over fifteen years.
Ron Ireland has twenty-three years experience in post production with CBC. In 1999 he went out on his own and has been working as an editor on a contract basis. Projects in the last five years include: Mysterious Ways, DREAM Team and First Wave. In 2003 Ron worked with Geoff Browne and Michael Parker on the enlightening documentary Call It Karma. 2004 finds him busy working with Peter Chrzanowski editing and co-producing Golden Rush the story of Golden, B.C. and its economic transition.
MICHAEL PARKER, Producer, Writer
Michael Parker is a Vancouver-based writer/director/producer. President of Holiday Pictures Ltd., he was a writer and associate producer for the company’s first dramatic feature Young Offenders and executive producer for the Gemini Award winning documentary Made in China.
In 2000, Michael wrote and co-produced his feature directorial debut, Lunch with Charles. Nominated for a Genie Award and seven Leo Awards, Michael took home two of the film’s three winning Leos (Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Music). Starring Hong Kong star Lau Ching-wan, the X-Files’ Nicholas Lea and Canadian rocker Bif Naked, the crowd-pleasing film has been invited to film festivals around the world including the Shanghai International Film Festival where it was voted one of the top must-see films by the Shanghai Daily.
Michael has received support from Telefilm Canada’s juried Screenwriter Assistance Program to develop scripts for the comic feature Heaven and Hell; the true-life drama Watermark; and the treatment for his drama, Moving into Colour.
Michael is recently a producer and writer of Call it Karma, filmmaker Geoff Browne’s compelling documentary about a Tibetan monk, scheduled for national broadcast in the Spring of 2004, licensed for Vision TV, Bravo!, Knowledge Network and Fairchild Television.
Michael is currently producing the feature Paper Moon Affair for media mogul Thomas Fung, scheduled to commence production in May, 2004. In addition, he is producing the romantic comedy Hot for Nirvana, developed with the support of Telefilm Canada, CHUM Television, BC Film, The Harold Greenberg Fund and Praxis; and is writer/director of Stars Exported a one-hour documentary about the phenomenon of Canadian-born ethnically Chinese women winning international Chinese beauty pageants and their subsequent meteoric rise to fame in the Asian entertainment world, for OMNI Television.
Together with partner Shan Tam, their company Maple Ridge Films has line-produced several Asian feature films and television series over the past 14 years including the Jackie Chan blockbuster Rumble in the Bronx. Throughout his career, Michael has been invited to be a guest lecturer, mentor and panelist at international film festivals around the world.
Born in Ottawa, Canada in 1965, Luc St.Pierre began composing music at the age of 6. For many years he studied piano while performing in a variety of musical ensembles before entering the Universite de Montreal to pursue his interests in orchestral and electroacoustic composition with Allan Belkin and Marcelles Deschesnes. He subsequently worked in both the U.K. and Belgium collaborating with several world-renowned producers to develop his eclectic and highly original style.
Today, Mr. St.Pierre's work continues to draw on a very broad range of musical influences, allowing him to create masterful compositions in genres as diverse as 'trip-hop' and electronic soundscape, to sophisticated classical orchestral scores of great sophistication and beauty.
Recently Luc composed the music for Malcolm Clarke’s Academy Nominated documentary film, ‘Prisoner of Paradise.’
Jack Silberman was educated at Middlebury College (Vermont), studied documentary film production at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and earned a Masters degree from Harvard University, where his studies focused on educational television.
He has been producing, directing, and writing documentaries for 24 years and has extensive international experience, having worked on location in Laos, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Japan, Kenya, Tanzania, Borneo, Bangladesh, the Bahamas, France, Brazil, the Virgin Islands, and England, as well as the United States and Canada.
His films have won more than 60 national and international awards.
‘Island of Whales’ was narrated by Gregory Peck, broadcast on PBS (Nova), and won 17 international awards, including the Gemini Award for best Canadian documentary (1992).
‘Battle For The Trees’, which was a Canada -United Kingdom co-production, won first place at the International Nature Film and Television Festival (1994) where it was in competition with 126 of the best nature films from around the world.
‘Bombies’ won the Golden Gate Award (first place) for Best Current Events Television Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Japan Prize (one of the world’s leading awards for educational television programs), the Gold Award (first place for best social / political documentary) at the Chicago International Film Festival, Best of Festival at The Vermont International Film Festival, the Special Prize at Okomedia, and the Swiss Prize (first place) at the Basel - Karlsruhe Film Festival.
He has made documentaries for Canadian, American (PBS), and British (Channel 4) television networks, as well as for National Geographic Channels International, the National Film Board of Canada, and for international organizations such as Unicef, the United Nations Development Program, the Canadian International Development Agency, and The Aga Khan Development Network.
During the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro he organized and co-managed the Mostra Vida (‘Festival of Life’), an environmental film festival of over 100 documentaries from around the world which were screened at various locations around Rio de Janeiro - from nightclubs in Ipanema to the grounds of the Global Forum to the slums of Rochina.
Selected credits:
The Vanishing Tattoo: one hour documentary about the disappearing tattoo traditions of the Iban people of Borneo. Produced for the Aboriginal People’s Television Network and National Geographic Channels International. (Producer / Director). 2003.
Bombies: one hour documentary about the U.S. secret war in Laos and its legacy of unexploded cluster bombs . (Producer / Director / Writer). Produced for ITVS (US Plublic Television), Canadian television networks, CIDA, The Rogers Documentary Fund, and the MacArthur Foundation. 2001.
Champions of The Wild: Director of 3 half-hour films about sharks, orangutans, and dolphins and the wildlife biologists who are working to protect them. (Director). 1997-98.
Island of Whales: one hour documentary about the whales of Vancouver Island. (Producer). Produced for the National Film Board of Canada, Canadian television networks, and PBS (Nova). Winner of 17 national and international awards, including ‘Best Nature Film’ - Houston; ‘Best of Festival’ - Yorkton; ‘Best Independent Film’ - International Wildlfe Film Festival; ‘Gemini Award’ (Best Documentary)- Canada. 1992.
Bowl of Bone: feature-length documentary about the relationship between a troubled young woman and a Native healer. (Executive Producer). Produced for the National Film Board of Canada. ‘Best of Festival’ - Atlantic Film Festival; ‘Best of Festival’ - Northwest Film and Video Festival (Portland). 1992.
Battle For The Trees: one hour documentary about the struggle to protect British Columbia’s disappearing rainforest. (Producer). Produced for the National Film Board of Canada, Channel 4 (U.K.), and Canadian television networks. Winner of 7 national and international awards, including ‘Best of Festival’ - International Nature Film and Television Festival.1994.
Harvest of Age: 3 half-hour documentaries comparing the experience of growing old within different cultures - Italian, Dukhobour, and Native Canadian. Produced for Vision TV and Knowledge Network. ‘First Place - Golden Apple’ - U.S. Educational Film Festival. (Executive Producer). 1995.
Hi-Tech Culture, Etc.: Director of more than 2 dozen segments for various magazine format television programs on subjects as diverse how computers are helping the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation preserve their disappearing language, to raising racing pigeons, to meditation. 1994 - 97.
International Development: 13 educational documentaries on a variety of topics - primary health care, the situation of female labourers on tea plantations, etc. Shot on location throughout Sri Lanka. (Producer / Director / Writer). Produced for UNICEF, UNDP, and other international organizations. 1979 - 83.
Naturewalk: Director of 10 half-hour espisodes of a series about the animals and plants in national parks in Canada, the U.S., and Central America. (Director). Produced for the Life Network. 1995-97.
Aga Khan Series: 5 half-hour documentaries about rural development, health, education, culture, and economic development in the developing world. (Producer / Writer). Produced for the Secretariat of His Highness the Aga Khan. 1985 - 89.
Valleys in Transition: one hour documentary about rural development in the remote high mountain valleys of northern Pakistan. (Producer / Director / Writer). Produced for the Aga Khan Foundation. 1983.
First Harvest: one hour documentary re-visits Northern Pakistan. (Producer / Director / Writer). Produced for the Canadian International Development Agency and the Aga Khan Foundation. 1987.
The Adventures of Mowgli: English language version of an animated feature length production of “The Jungle Book”, originally produced by Soyuzmiltfilm - Russia’s leading animation studio. Voices by Charlton Heston, Sam Elliott, and Dana Delaney. (Producer). Licensed to HBO. 1996.
Born in Hong Kong and living in Canada, Shan Tam has been active in the film and TV industry on both sides of the Pacific Ocean for nearly two decades. Her produced work has earned her multiple awards and numerous nominations.
With her solid working relationship with Asian producers, Ms. Tam produced the first Canada-Hong Kong feature co-production, “Young Offenders” in 1993. She has recently produced a second HK-Canada co-production, “Lunch With Charles”. The Genie Award nominated film has won 3 Leo Awards (Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Music Score) out of 7 nominations. It has been commercially released in several countries and was well received at festivals around the world including the US, UK, China, India and within Canada.
Over the years, Ms. Tam has line produced for a number of international film productions including Jackie Chan's blockbuster movie “Rumble in the Bronx” and Andy Lau's “Saviour of the Soul II”. She has worked with acclaimed filmmakers such as Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Chow Yun-Fat (“Anna and the King”), Yuen Wo-Ping (“Matrix”) and Cory Yuen (“Romeo Must Die”). Her work has brought her to numerous countries including Russia, Europe, Japan, China, Korea, North and Central America.
Besides feature films, Ms. Tam has produced the one-hour documentary “Made In China”. The documentary has been honoured with the "Canada Award" at the 16th Gemini Awards. It has also won Best Feature Documentary at the San Diego Film Festival along with a Best Documentary nomination at the Hawaii International Film Festival and a Golden Sheaf Award nomination at Yorkton. Her other documentary “Call It Karma” will be broadcast nationally in April 2004 and will host a Benefit Screening in honour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama‘s visit in Canada.
Recognizing the importance of international markets, Ms Tam has been attending markets at Cannes, AFM, MIFED, Berlin, Banff, Hong Kong and China. She has been a panelist on co-production forums in Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Canada. Through various programs sponsored by CFTPA, National Film Board and BC Film, Ms Tam takes an active role in providing mentorship to emerging talents.
Throughout her career, Ms. Tam continues to promote film cultures across the Pacific. She has co-organized two national tours of the Chinese Film Festival and serves as a committee member for the Chinese Cultural Centre organizing their annual film festival. In 1999, Ms. Tam organized a Canadian Film Showcase which sold-out at the Shanghai International Film Festival. She is recently the honorary adviser for the Hong Kong Ku Fu Film Series and the John Woo Film Series organized by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Canada.