Bio
Halya Kuchmij has a Honours B.A. in English Literature (University of Toronto), B.F.A. in Film and Television (York University) and is certified as a "Director Fellow" (American Film Institute). She is also the recipient of the Asia Pacific Media Fellowship (1988-89). Halya has worked in film and television as a producer/director for twenty years, initially as independent filmmaker, then with the National Film Board of Canada and finally with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During her sixteen years with the CBC, she's worked for the programs THE JOURNAL, MAN ALIVE, LIFE & TIMES and WITNESS, producing and directing six one-hour network specials, thirty-five half-hour network documentaries and over forty current affairs magazine items. Halya has filmed in the Canadian Arctic, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Germany, Cuba, France and all throughout Canada and the United States. Her films have won over thirty national and international awards among them the GENIE, the GEMINI, the GABRIEL award, six CHRIS awards, a SILVER MEDAL (New York Film Festival), a GOLDEN SHEAF (Yorkton International Film Festival) and the ANIK award from the CBC. She has also been nominated for a GEMINI four times for "Best Documentary".