BELOW IS A SAMPLER OF COMPLETED PROJECTS.
In most instances, Mike was music engineer as well as the final show mixer.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE BY JAMIE KASTNER
From award-winning Canadian filmmaker Jamie Kastner comes THE SKYJACKER’S TALE, which gives unprecedented access to one of the top five most wanted US fugitives in Cuba.
Ishmael Muslim Ali (formerly LaBeet) is the American convicted of murdering eight people on a Rockefeller-owned golf course in the US Virgin Islands. After years of trying to get his conviction overturned, he took matters into his own hands and hijacked an American Airlines plane full of passengers to Cuba on New Years Eve 1984, and got away with it. Until now.
Thirty years on the FBI’s most wanted list and against the backdrop of his looming extradition to serve eight consecutive life sentences in the US, the film recounts the hijacking that got him here, re-examines his original trial and reveals a gross miscarriage of justice. In a story that is more relevant than ever with racially charged police brutality and injustice constantly in the headlines, THE SKYJACKER’S TALE captures LaBeet / Ali’s first interview since the hijacking and includes never before seen footage.
Is he a heartless criminal or a victim? The audience must decide. But what emerges is a picture of American government and law enforcement attitudes and actions toward their own population that are shockingly similar to the headlines of today.
MLK: THE HUNT FOR JAMES EARL RAY
(Silver Spring, Md.)—The death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an event that shook the world, changed the face of America, and sparked one of the largest manhunts in the history of the FBI. This Martin Luther King weekend, American Heroes Channel (AHC) honors the life and death of Dr. King with a two-hour landmark television event, JUSTICE FOR MLK: THE HUNT FOR JAMES EARL RAY.
JUSTICE FOR MLK: THE HUNT FOR JAMES EARL RAY is produced for AHC by Cream Productions, in association with absinthe Film Entertainment.
IMAGINING CANADA
Throughout the 20th century, New York Times photographers took more than 20,000 pictures of Canada from coast to coast to coast. Most of these photos have never been seen by the public. Imagining Canada will take this photographic record and use it as a lens to see how Americans look at Canada. We also seek the point of view of notable Canadians who have been living and working in the United States. Directed by Andrew Gregg. Edited by Geoff Matheson. For documentary channel.
Congratulation to the team for the Platinum Remi-Award from WorldFest Houston 2016
TERIANO
The promise was made the moment she was born: Teriano would marry the midwife’s son. But this Maasai girl’s fate was far from sealed. Teriano follows her unlikely journey from a dusty hut in Kenya to a high tech hub in Toronto. The story, like Teriano herself, is filled with courage, humour, and hope. When her parents arrive, culture shock hits them like the cold winter wind. But Teriano is more than a fish out of water tale. The documentary explores a dilemma facing many in today’s global village. How can you improve your life without losing the culture you love?
Directed by Leora Eison
THE BRAIN’S WAY OF HEALING
From the man who introduced the concept of neuroplasticity to many of us in THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF, this film adaptation of Dr. Norman Doidge’s latest book, THE BRAIN’S WAY OF HEALING,explains how new treatments, techniques and scientific advancements are changing the way we think about our brain. From a Parkinson’s patient who learns to walk normally, to sufferers of traumatic brain injuries undergoing seemingly miraculous recoveries, each story is more incredible than the next.
Directed by Andrew Gregg for the CBC's Nature of Things
STATE OF INCARCERATION
Canadian crime rates are at a 42-year low yet our federal government is spending billions of dollars to get tough on crime. Meanwhile in America, there is a push for fewer prisons and less people in them. In STATE OF INCARCERATION we speak to prisoners, ex-cons, politicians, criminologists, wardens, cops, community activists and take viewers inside prisons in the U.S. and Canada, to see what rehabilitation methods work and which ones don't.
Directed by Andrew Gregg. Edited by Bruce Lapointe. For CBC's Doc Zone
MOM AND ME
MOM and ME is a personal and intimate documentary about a young filmmaker coming of age in extraordinary circumstances. It follows the complicated relationship between director Lena Macdonald and her mother, who was once a filmmaker herself, but ended up homeless, crack-addicted and on the streets. For ten years Lena filmed in the cold, hard streets of Toronto’s inner city and her story is raw, honest and unforgettable. MOM and ME is about addiction, prostitution and despair but it is also a story about family, the power of hope and the tenacity of love.
Directed by Lena Macdonald. Edited by Geoff Matheson For TVO.
IT TAKES GUTS
It Takes Guts reveals cutting edge research that turns conventional medical wisdom on its head. We have always thought of bacteria as our enemy. But now we know some bacteria are our allies. And that radical idea is being tested by researchers, sometimes even using their own families as guinea pigs, in labs and homes across Europe and North America.
In this film, director Leora Eisen looks into how diet impacts our gut microbiome, why some foods make us fat, while others nourish healthy bacteria. A documentary that gives new meaning to trust your “gut feeling”.
Directed by Leora Eisen. Edited by Michael Hannan.For the CBC’s Nature of Things.
Congratulations to the team! Winner at 2016 Yorkton Film Festival for Best Science Documentary category. Winner "Special Jury Award" at Worldfest Houston 2016.
TWO OF A KIND
From her unique perspective as an identical twin, director Leora Eisen draws on the fascinating life experiences she shares with sister Linda to explore fundamental questions of identity, genetic destiny, and our desire to be recognized as individuals. What happens to “me” when you are one half of “we”? While many documentaries focus only on twinsʼ similarities, “Two of a Kind” also delves into the differences that separate natureʼs clones, revealing intriguing research that could prove to be the key to unlocking medical mysteries.
Directed by Leora Eisen. Edited by Michael Hannan.
For CBC's The Nature of Things and feature film version for doc channel.
WIND RUSH
Wind has been proven to generate immense amounts of energy-enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. And yet what should be the greenest of all energy sources is having severe growing pains: it's expensive, it has been seen to make people physically ill and there are a great many activists who claim there is, in fact, nothing green about turbine energy. "Wind Rush" looks at both sides of the contentious issue that has environmentalists and communities pitted against one another.
Directed by Andrew Gregg. Edited by Geoff Matheson. For CBC's Doczone
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD : THE WILLIAM STILL STORY
A one-hour documentary on one of the most significant figures in the abolition of slavery. William Still's passion for the cause of freedom was so great that when he died in 1902, The New York Times called him "The Father of the Underground Railroad." But this isn't just an American story nor a story about one man. Canada was Freedom's Land - and the Underground Railroad was a complex network of abolitionists, sympathizers, and safe houses that stretched from Philadephia to what is now Southern Ontario. Without Canada, the Underground Railroad would have been a road to nowhere.
Directed by: Laine Drewery. Edited by Geoff Matheson. For PBS and Rogers Television.
THE CHUCK EALEY STORY
This is the story of African-American quarterbacks getting an opportunity to play in Canada when NFL teams would not recognize their talents. At the centre is Chuck Ealey - the only US College quarterback in history to go undefeated - who had to come to Canada to play. But we intersect stories featuring other incredibly gifted black athletes - all who followed a compass pointing true north, where they made a permanent imprint on the CFL and Canada.
Directed by Charles Officer. For CTV/TSN
THE GREATEST TEAM THAT NEVER WON
The 1971 Argos was arguably the most colourful team to ever play in the CFL. They reflected the rebelliousness of the era-a squad of free-loving, longhaired characters. "We were rejects," says former QB Joe Theismann, "because the NFL chose not to have us. But the CFL did."
We re-visit those times with the players themselves and others including the family of Leon McQuay. McQuay famously fumbled the ball in the dying minutes of the 1971 Grey Cup game. "It was a sensational time," says Coach Leo Cahill. "Up until that Grey Cup."
Directed by Christie Callan-Jones. Edited by Bruce Lapointe. For CTV/TSN.
THE NORSE: AN ARCTIC MYSTERY
Archeologist Patricia Sutherland believes that over a thousand years ago Scandinavian Norse traded and lived with the Paleo-Eskimo Dorset people. In this film we witness her attempt to unearth the oldest European dwellings in North America and prove her theory that Vikings not only visited - but stayed.
Directed by Andrew Gregg. Edited by Geoff Matheson. For CBC's The Nature of Things.
JOURNEY TO THE DISASTER ZONE: JAPAN 311
On the anniversary of 3/11, the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami, David Suzuki travels to the areas most affected by the disaster to learn how the catastrophe is helping to change the mind-set of a people, and how new science, and the re-assessment of conventional thinking, can turn a cataclysm into a blueprint for the future. For David, it is both a personal journey and a global quest, about the dynamic relationship of science and nature, about hubris, about the need for a re-appraisal of how we can sustain our planet.
Directed by Michael Allder. Edited by Geoff Matheson. For CBC's The Nature of Things.
There are plenty more… but you get the idea..