Bonnie Sherr Klein

Bonnie Sherr Klein (born April 1, 1941) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a feminist filmmaker, author, and disability rights activist. She and her husband, Michael Klein, immigrated to Canada in 1967 as Vietnam War Resisters [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-704-e.html]

Film-making Career

Klein worked for the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal as a director and producer in the late 1960s. Between that time and the late 1980s, Klein was to make dozens of films for the NFBIn 1975, Bonnie joined Studio D, the National Film Board of Canada's Women's section, and the first government-funded film studio dedicated to women filmmakers in the world [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-714-e.html] In 1981, Klein made what is probably her best-known film, "Not a Love Story". [cite visual|director=Bonnie Klein |producer=National Film Board of Canada |title=Not a Love Story: A Motion Picture About Pornography] [cite journal |url=http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC30folder/NotLoveStory.html |title=Not a Love * Story: The film and the debate |first=Lisa |last=DiCaprio |issue=30 |month=March |year=1985 |pages=39–42 |journal=Jump Cut |accessdate=2007-09-09] Not a Love Story went on to become one of the most popular and commercially successful films the National Film Board of Canada ever made [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-704-e.html]

In 2004, Klein shot a new a National Film Board of Canada production about disability and art. "SHAMELESS: The ART of Disability" was released in 2006. Klein is featured in the film, along with poet and writer Catherine Frazee, humourist David Roche, dancer and choreographer Geoff McMurchy, writer and artist Persimmon Blackbridge. Vancouver musician Veda Hille contributed music for the film.

Personal life

Bonnie Sherr Klein and her husband Michael divide their time between Vancouver and Robert's Creek on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-704-e.html] The pair have two children, Seth Klein (b. 1968), the BC director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Naomi Klein (b. 1970), author of "No Logo", "Fences and Windows" and "The Shock Doctrine" as well as co-writer of the NFB film "The Take".

In 1987 Bonnie Sherr Klein survived two catastrophic brain-stem strokes which resulted in her becoming quadriplegic and requiring a respirator to breathe. She was in hospital for more than six months and spent another three years in full-time formal rehabilitation. [http://citizen.nfb.ca/onf/info?aid=6563&atid=24]

Filmography

* 1965-1966 Community Mental Health Series (three docu-dramas)
* 1966 For All My Students
* 1966 Last-Chance Children
* 1966 One Fine Day
* 1968 Challenge for Change
* 1968 Introduction to Fogo Island
* 1968 Little Burgundy
* 1968 Organizing for Power: The Alinsky Approach. Series of five films: People and Power; Deciding * to Organize; Building an Organization; Through Conflict to Negotiation; A Continuing Responsibility
* 1969 Opération boule de neige
* 1970 Citizens' Medicine
* 1970 La clinique des citoyens
* 1970 VTR St-Jacques
* 1976 Du coeur à l'ouvrage
* 1976 A Working Chance
* 1977 Harmonie (in French and English)
* 1978 Patricia's Moving Picture
* 1979 The Right Candidate for Rosedale
* 1981 Not a Love Story: A Film about Pornography
* 1982 C'est surtout pas de l'amour : un film sur la pornographie
* 1985 Dark Lullabies
* 1985 Speaking Our Peace
* 1986 A Writer in the Nuclear Age: A Conversation with Margaret Laurence
* 1987 Children of War
* 1987 A Love Affair with Politics: A Portrait of Marion Dewar
* 1988 Mile Zero: The SAGE Tour
* 1988 Le mille zéro : la tournée SAGE
* 1989 Russian Diary
* 2003 KickstART! A Celebration
* 2006 SHAMELESS: The ART of Disability

Honours

Bonnie received a lifetime achievement award from Women in Film and Television Toronto, [http://www.wift.com/pdf/2005Crystals/CrystalAwardsReleaseDec5.pdf] as well as a Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. [http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/persons/2004/recipients-2004_e.html]

References