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Jim Hamm, Writer, Producer, Director
Jim has been writing, producing and directing documentaries since
1984. He has a degree in History, a Teaching Certificate and Film Studies from Simon Fraser University.
Mr. Hamm’s latest production, Radical Attitudes:
The Architecture of Douglas Cardinal, is a 48-minute
documentary that looks at one of Canada’s most iconoclastic
architects and philosophers of architectural space. In this program,
we come to understand the unique fusion of the landscape with
Cardinal’s Native Indian and European roots to create the
inspiration for his concepts of curvilinear organic architecture.
Radical Attitudes received the Leo Award for
Best Documentary – Arts / Performing Arts, celebrating excellence
in British Columbia film and television. The film was premiered
by the Canadian Museum of Civilization with broadcasts on Bravo!,
APTN, Knowledge Network, SCN and Canadian Learning Channel.
His previous project, the feature length documentary The
Spirit Wrestlers, looks at the dramatic and troubling
story of the century of Doukhobor life in Canada. The film lays
bare the brutal ways that governments and state agencies sought
to forcibly assimilate generations of Doukhobor parents and children,
producing in response, some of Canada’s worst acts of terrorism.
The Spirit Wrestlers was an offical selection at
Toronto’s Hot Docs 2002 Canadian International Documentary
Festival. The film was broadcast on History Television, Vision
TV, Knowledge Network and SCN.
The 48-minute award winning 1999 documentary, Turning
Down The Heat: The New Energy Revolution travels the
world in search of practical and promising solutions to climate
change that can be used by Canadians. From wind turbines in Denmark,
to solar in California, to the hydrogen fuel cell in Canada --
the film takes an optimistic look at how we can radically reduce
our greenhouse gas emissions. Turning Down The Heat
is a co-production with the NFB and in association with CBC’s
Nature of Things, with narration by Dr. David Suzuki. It has been broadcast in over 30 countries, to date.
Mr. Hamm’s 44-minute documentary Between The Rock
and A Hard Place, is the quintessential Canadian story
of boom and bust as the over-exploitation and collapse of yet
another natural resource forces the migration of Newfoundlanders
to Fort Nelson, British Columbia to start a new life. The film
was produced in association with CBC Newsworld and broadcast on
Newsworld’s Rough Cuts Series and CBC Newfoundland.
The Air We Breathe, another award winning documentary,
is an examination of the problem of smog due to auto-dependency
and urban design in Canadian and American cities. The film was
co-produced with the NFB and broadcast on CBC Newsworld Rough
Cuts Series, WTN, SCN, Knowledge Network, TV Ontario and internationally.
Smile And Dial, a docu-drama on a charity fundraising
scam that used teenagers as telephone solicitors in an environment
reminiscent of a Dickens novel was invited to the 1986 Grierson
Documentary Film Seminars and screened at the VIFF in1987. It
was broadcasted on CBC Canadian Perspectives, Knowledge Network
and Access Alberta.
In 1983, his experimental docu-drama, Generic Desire,
was a finalist at the Seattle Film and Video Festival and was
screened at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Over the years Jim has production managed the dramatic feature
films, Terminal City Ricochet, Shelly
and Regeneration. He line-produced the docu-dramas,
A Chance For Change, about aids awareness in
Native communities and The Sentencing Dilemma,
an examination of the sentencing issues the courts face when prosecuting
assault cases. He also production managed the documentary, Gurdwara
- House Of The Guru, on the spiritual life of the Sikh
community in Vancouver.
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