Bio
Documentary filmmaker and photographer John Paskievich, over the course of some thirty years, has produced a remarkable body of work which Maclean’s magazine has described as “poignant, funny, angry by turns, it brims with rare compassion”. Paskievich’s films have focused on a diverse range of humanity that includes Inuit carvers in Baffin Island, Roma in Slovakia, Orthodox Russians living in Northern
Alberta, a baby photographer who dreams of being an actor, a third generation Canadian farmer facing bankruptcy, and persons who cope with the challenges of stuttering. Paskievich’s last documentary, Special Ed, premiered to critical success at Hot Docs in Toronto in 2013. Shot over three years, the film follows Winnipeg animator Ed Ackerman as he goes to astonishing lengths to prevent the City from demolishing his three houses which he hopes to turn into a film studio. Paskievich’s first film, Ted Baryluk’s Grocery, done with Michael Mirus in 1983, garnered several awards, including a Genie and a Palme d’Or nomination at Cannes for best short film. Since then his films have won numerous other awards and have been screened at festivals and on television in Canada and across the world. An accomplished still photographer, Paskievich’s work has been exhibited widely and published in several books including his latest, The North End.