Beverly Shaffer
Encyclopedia
Beverly Shaffer is a filmmaker in Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
. Shaffer spent the bulk of her professional career with the National Film Board of Canada
(NFB), directing short documentaries and dramas, including I'll Find a Way
, a documentary about a young girl with spina bifida
which won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
.
To a Safer Place (1987) was an uplifting story of an incest survivor in her thirties who succeeded in building a fulfilling life after years of abuse. Shaffer directed seven episodes in the Children of Jerusalem series, featuring profiles of Arab and Jewish youth, including the titles Children of Jerusalem: Gesho
and Children of Jerusalem: Yehuda
. She also directed Just a Wedding (1999), a docudrama sequel to I’ll Find a Way.
Her last film for the NFB was Mr. Mergler's Gift. In June 2008, it was announced that she and colleague Paul Cowan would lose their positions as NFB staff filmmakers, due to budget cuts.
in 1967, with a B.A. in comparative religion and philosophy. She taught high school for two years before doing a Master's degree in filmmaking at Boston University
. Upon graduation in 1971, she worked at WGBH-TV
as a production assistant, researcher and associate producer on science and public affairs programs.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Shaffer spent the bulk of her professional career with the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
(NFB), directing short documentaries and dramas, including I'll Find a Way
I'll Find a Way
I'll Find a Way is a 1977 short documentary film directed by Beverly Shaffer about nine-year-old Nadia DeFranco, who has spina bifida. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the film won an Academy Award in 1978 for Best Short Subject....
, a documentary about a young girl with spina bifida
Spina bifida
Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through...
which won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
This name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate...
.
Career
Shaffer won more than thirty international awards in her twenty-five years with the National Film Board. She joined the NFB’s newly created women's studio, Studio D, in 1975 after her proposal for a series of short documentaries about children was approved by Studio D head Kathleen Shannon. The ten films in her Children of Canada series included the Oscar-winner I’ll Find a Way. She has 3 sisters, and is not married.To a Safer Place (1987) was an uplifting story of an incest survivor in her thirties who succeeded in building a fulfilling life after years of abuse. Shaffer directed seven episodes in the Children of Jerusalem series, featuring profiles of Arab and Jewish youth, including the titles Children of Jerusalem: Gesho
Children of Jerusalem: Gesho
Children of Jerusalem: Gesho follows a thirteen-year-old Ethiopian boy who was one of 14,000 refugees to flee the warring African nation in hopes of finding a better life in the Jewish State of Israel. This 1996 documentary short is one of a five-part series directed by Beverly Shaffer...
and Children of Jerusalem: Yehuda
Children of Jerusalem: Yehuda
Children of Jerusalem is a 1994 film, that is a selection from a now-seven part documentary series that shows the holy city of Jerusalem from the distinctive perception of the municipality’s children, who hail from various cultural, economic, social and religious backgrounds.-Summary:Children of...
. She also directed Just a Wedding (1999), a docudrama sequel to I’ll Find a Way.
Her last film for the NFB was Mr. Mergler's Gift. In June 2008, it was announced that she and colleague Paul Cowan would lose their positions as NFB staff filmmakers, due to budget cuts.
Background
Born in Montreal in 1945, Shaffer graduated from McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in 1967, with a B.A. in comparative religion and philosophy. She taught high school for two years before doing a Master's degree in filmmaking at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
. Upon graduation in 1971, she worked at WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
as a production assistant, researcher and associate producer on science and public affairs programs.