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John Curtin
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A Song for Africa. | Gemini | cbc 2008from Wed1366
DANGEROUS WHEN PROVOKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TERRY MOSHER 2006
John Curtin wins Gemini CONGRATULATIONS!A Song for Africa John Curtin’s “A Song for Africa” screening October 4
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| KATHRYN GREENAWAY | |
| The Gazette |
![]() Harrington and Dale. Photo: Cylla Von Tiedemann. |
John Curtin's timing is brilliant. Four years ago, the documentary filmmaker ventured out on a financial limb to invest $250,000 in top-of-the-line high-definition television equipment.
Winning the NHK HDTV Development Prize at the Banff Television Festival in 1999 for his HD documentary Ten Seconds of Eternity: The Sprint for Olympic Gold got him thinking this HD thing might be worth the investment.
His gamble paid off. The technology - which produces 35 mm-film quality pictures - is quickly becoming the "must-have" in the television industry.
John Curtin is one of the first directors in Canada to shoot in HD and his documentary film company, Kaos Films, is the only production company in Quebec to own its own HD gear.
"I'd say within the next year or two (networks) will be telling producers that (all shows) must be shot in (HD)," Curtin said.
![]() John Curtin & www.kaosfilms.com |
Curtin's latest HD documentary - Last Dance: Rex Harrington's Story - airs on CBC-TV's Life and Times tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Curtin followed the 41-year-old star dancer during his final, emotional season with the National Ballet of Canada. Even though CBC doesn't broadcast in HD, the superior picture quality of the documentary is evident.
What is also evident is Curtin's lucky timing.
Harrington, an openly gay man, was living the life of a confirmed bachelor when Curtin began filming. Six weeks into the shoot, Harrington met the partner of his dreams.
"You can't believe how romantic it all is," Curtin said, adding he watched the romance unfold.
It's not the first time Curtin has been at the right place at the right time. In 1997, he was making a documentary about sprinter Donovan Bailey and caught Bailey's career-crippling fall during a race in Zurich.
Luck has something, but not everything, to do with capturing the images that compel people to keep on watching.
Creating a rapport with the documentary subject is crucial.
"They mustn't feel as if you would take advantage of them if they tell you something intimate," Curtin said.
During the filming of his documentary Passion Before Reason: Margaret Trudeau's Story, Curtin was invited to film
![]() Harrington and Cynthia Dale. Photo: Cylla Von Tiedemann. |
Margaret Kemper and Pierre Elliott Trudeau having lunch together. It was one of the only times the two were filmed sharing a private moment in the years following their divorce.
And Harrington called Curtin after Last Dance was already completed to tell him he was about to reunite with his estranged mother in England. The dancer had not seen his mother in 17 years. Curtin hopped on a plane and filmed the reunion.
Curtin worked as a journalist for 12 years before founding Kaos Films in 1995. He has produced 12 documentaries, including five for Life and Times.
The Kaos team consists of cameraman Glenn Weston, Splice Postproduction online editor Eric Ruel and composer Robert Marcel Lepage. Curtin produces, directs, and helps edit all Kaos productions.
Last Dance: Rex Harrington's Story airs on CBMT-6 tomorrow at 7 p.m.
kgreenaway@
thegazette.canwest.com
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John Curtin: Producer/DirectorJohn Curtin is a Montreal filmmaker and journalist with 20 years of experience in television, radio and print. He has freelanced for The New York Times and reported from abroad for CBC and National Public Radio. Curtin has produced and directed eight full-length documentaries which have been broadcast on the BBC, CBC, ARD (Germany) NHK (Japan), SBS (Australia), National Geographic, Discovery Channel and others. Curtin recently completed Ten Seconds of Eternity: The Sprint for Olympic Gold, a project which won NHK's HDTV Development Award at the Banff Film Festival. Made for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation and CBC this is one of the first documentaries in Canada to be shot in high definition format. Curtin produced and directed two critically acclaimed biographies for CBC & SRC: Olympic Warrior: Donovan Bailey's Story which was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Sports Program and Passion before Reason: Margaret Trudeau's Story. Curtin's production, My Russian Campaign: From Montreal to Moscow, received a Gemini Nomination for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Documentary Program. The Globe & Mail called the piece on Moscow-based photographer Heidi Hollinger "a provocative thoroughly entrancing film." Curtin also made Back to Alaska, King of the Arctic and Resolute Bay Stories, which scored the second highest ratings in the history of the popular German adventure series Länder Menschen Abenteuer. Curtin's portrait of his father, Light and Shadow: A Photographer in the 20th Century was screened at the Kunsthalle Museum in Vienna. Curtin freelanced for CBC Radio in Paris and West Berlin for five years and was a staff reporter at CBC TV in Montreal for seven years. He has a Masters degree in English from the University of Toronto and also speaks French and German. Find
out more about the director at Kaos
Films.
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Friday Aug 20, 2004 ts ts Former principal dancer Rex Harrington is parting with National Ballet to pursue other dancing and acting opportunities. “I just realized there are certain things I’d like to try if I’m not going to dance.” Rex breaks from National Ballet Three months ago Rex Harrington (41) waved goodbye to his cheering fans as the curtain came down on his final performance of The Four Seasons — marking the end of his 20-year-career as a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada. At that moment, Harrington, clutching a stuffed teddy bear and giving the audience a thumbs-up sign, had tears in his eyes. click for Greta Hodgkinson & Rex Harrington John Curtin is a Montreal filmmaker and journalist with 25 years of experience in television, radio and print. He has freelanced for The New York Times and reported from abroad for CBC and National Public Radio.
Curtin has produced and directed eleven one-hour documentaries which have been broadcast on the BBC, CBC, ARD, NHK, National Geographic, ARTE, Discovery Channel and others.
Curtin recently completed Our Grieving Hearts for CBC Witness and Being Red Green: Steve Smith’s Story for CBC Life & Times.
The director’s film Ten Seconds of Eternity: The Sprint for Olympic Gold won NHK’s HDTV Development Award at the Banff Television Festival in 1999 and was one of the first documentaries in Canada to be shot in high definition.
Curtin also made two critically acclaimed biographies for CBC & Radio-Canada: Olympic Warrior: Donovan Bailey’s Story which was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Sports Program and Passion before Reason: Margaret Trudeau’s Story, one of the highest rated documentaries in Canada in 1998.
Curtin’s production, My Russian Campaign: From Montreal to Moscow, received a Gemini Nomination for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Documentary Program. The Globe & Mail called the piece on Moscow-based photographer Heidi Hollinger “a provocative… thoroughly entrancing film.
Jul 08, 2001 Ten Seconds of Eternity: The Sprint for Olympic Gold is produced and directed by John Curtin for Kaos Films Worldwide Inc. in association with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.), CBC and Radio-Canada.
Aug. 21, 1991 RCI reacts to Soviet coup Reporter: John Curtin
Guest(s): Yuri Bogolepoff, Elizabeth Olechowska
Duration: 1:36
Nov. 4, 1988 TV Reporter on 'Comrade' Bethune: A Controversial Hero with Guest(s): Ted Allan, Nicholas Clermont, Donald Sutherland
![]() Movie by John Curtin Thursday May 21, 2004 CBC |
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An unorthodox bridge designed by Joseph Curtin. November 28, 2006 JC pages |