Peter Vronsky

Peter Vronsky (Peter Wronski) (born 1956) is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, new media artist and historian. He is the director of several feature films including [http://www.russianbooks.org/badcompany.htm "Bad Company" ("Fast Company")] and [http://www.russianbooks.org/tv.htm "Mondo Moscow"] and the author of two recently published books on the history and psychopathology of serial homicide and the creator of a substantial body of formal video and electronic art works. He has also worked professionally in the motion picture and television industry as a producer and cinematographer in the field of documentary production and news broadcasting with CNN, CTV, CBC, RAI and other global television networks in North America and overseas. Currently at the Graduate School of University of Toronto, History Department, completing a doctorate in criminal justice history and intelligence in international relations. His next book, "1866: Ridgeway, The Battle That Made Canada" will be based on his dissertation on the Toronto Police and Ontario border security during the Fenian threat.

1970s

Film writer for magazine "Cinema Canada" and University of Toronto's "Varsity"; Member of Toronto Filmmakers Coop; studied with Canadian directors Don Shebib, Clarke Mackey, and Peter Pearson; wrote and directed two thirty-minute short drama films starring Paul Young from the Cardboard Brains: "American Nights" (1976) and "The Sheep-Eaters" (1977); Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council Grants; directed and produced thirty-minute music documentary special on punk rock for CBC television [http://www.russianbooks.org/crashNburn.htm "Crash’n’Burn" ("Dada’s Boys")] (1977) with the Viletones, Teenage Head, Dishes, The Ramones and The Deadboys, filmed at CBGB in New York and the New Yorker Theater and Crash’n’Burn in Toronto. Produced and directed feature film, [http://www.russianbooks.org/badcompany.htm "Bad Company" ("Fast Company")] (1978). Assistant-Director on Canadian feature films: "Nothing Personal" (1979), "The Last Chase" (1979) and "Screwballs" (1981).

1980s

Created numerous [http://www.russianbooks.org/art.htm videoart tapes and formal video installations] exhibited in Canada and internationally in Tokyo, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, New York and London. Artist-in-residence with Sony Corporation at Video/Culture International, 1983. Undercover video specialist – field producer with CBC’s "The Fifth Estate" and CTV’s "W-5". Head of Interactive Laser Optical Software Development, Sony Corporation-Video/Culture, 1984-1985. Project Director, Berlin Wall Videodisc, Sony Canada-Image Over Time, 1985.Field Producer/Cameraman, CNN International, Rome Bureau, 1986-1990. Producer-director, "Russian Rock Underground", a thirty-minute special on rock music in the Soviet Union, 1988.

1990s

Writer-producer-director, [http://www.russianbooks.org/tv.htm "Mondo Moscow"] , feature length documentary on Stalinism and underground culture in the USSR, 1991. In 1991 investigates [http://www.russianbooks.org/oswald-in-russia.htm Lee Harvey Oswald's] activities in the USSR in 1959-1962--first Westerner ever to inteview Oswald's friends, lovers and acquaintances in Russia. Cameraman-line producer, [http://www.russianbooks.org/tv.htm "The Hunt for Red Mercury"] , investigative one-hour documentary (Discovery Channel - CTV) on nuclear weapons material smuggling in Chechnya, 1992. Writer-director, "The Uncanadians", NFB feature documentary 1994-1995. (Withdraws own name from director’s credit when censored by National Film Board.) Head of English Language Production, Panavideo, Venice Italy – service producer for Italy’s national television network, RAI, 1997-1999.

2000s

Queens Park/Toronto Bureau Chief, "E-Press", Canada's first online news streaming service, 2000. Broadband Content Specialist, "Canada-Invest.com", financial news streaming service, 2000-2001. Director of Photography, feature length music documentaries, "Life Could Be A Dream" (Bravo Television 2002) and "I'll Fly Away Home" (Bravo Television 2004). Author of [http://www.petervronsky.com "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters"] , Berkley-Penguin Books (2004) and "Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters", Berkley-Penguin Books (2007).

Currently

PhD candidate in Canadian and criminal justice history and security-intelligence studies at University of Toronto, History Department, where his doctoral dissertation deals with the early history of the Toronto Police and its intelligence functions during the 1860s Fenian threat. Lectures at Ryerson University in the history of the [http://www.russianbooks.org/thirdreich.htm Third Reich] ,international relations, American Civil War, and the history of espionage.

Peter Vronsky resides in Toronto and Venice, Italy.

External links

* [http://www.russianbooks.org/"Peter Vronsky Home Page: CV, Streaming Video Excerpts, Websites, etc"]
* [http://www.petervronsky.com/"Books by Peter Vronsky"]