Nik Sheehan
Encyclopedia
Nik Sheehan is a Canadian
documentary
filmmaker, who established an international reputation with No Sad Songs (1985), the first major documentary on AIDS
. The film cited by world renowned specialist Dr. Balfour Mount
as “the best film on the planet this year”.
In 1995 he produced and directed Symposium, inspired by Plato
’s classic and featuring multiple views of gay love as performed by Canadian artists and writers including Brad Fraser
, Stan Persky
, Patricia Rozema
, Tomson Highway
, Daniel MacIvor
and others. Premiering at the Montréal Film Festival, it was broadcast extensively by the CBC
, and created national headlines.
God’s Fool (1997), shot in Morocco, tells the story of Scott Symons
, a renegade writer of the Canadian establishment who had exiled himself to the seaside town of Essaouira
. It premiered at the Toronto International Festival of Authors, where artistic director Greg Gatenby judged it “the best film biography of a writer I have ever seen”. God’s Fool was broadcast nationally in prime time on Bravo TV. In 2002 the film opened “Freedom to Read Week” on the BookTelevision
digital channel, where it remains in rotation. Following Symons' death in February 2009, Sheehan wrote and published an obituary in Xtra!
Sheehan has worked as a literary critic, essayist, and biographer, publishing in Montage, POV, the National Post
, Now
, Toronto Life
, Quill & Quire
, Masthead and fab
.
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...
documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
filmmaker, who established an international reputation with No Sad Songs (1985), the first major documentary on AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. The film cited by world renowned specialist Dr. Balfour Mount
Balfour Mount
Balfour M. Mount, is a Canadian physician, surgeon, and academic. He is considered the father of palliative care in North America....
as “the best film on the planet this year”.
In 1995 he produced and directed Symposium, inspired by Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
’s classic and featuring multiple views of gay love as performed by Canadian artists and writers including Brad Fraser
Brad Fraser
Brad Fraser is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and cultural commentator. He is one of the most widely produced Canadian playwrights both in Canada and internationally. Fraser's plays typically feature a harsh yet comical view of contemporary life in Canada, including frank depictions of...
, Stan Persky
Stan Persky
Stan Persky is a Canadian writer, media commentator and philosophy instructor.- Early life :Persky was born in Chicago, Illinois. As a teenager, he made contact with and received encouragement from Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other writers of the Beat Generation...
, Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Rozema was born in Kingston, Ontario and raised in Sarnia, Ontario. Her parents, Jacoba Berandina and Jan Rozema, were Dutch Calvinists. Television was severely restricted and she didn’t go to a movie theatre until she...
, Tomson Highway
Tomson Highway
Tomson Highway, CM is a celebrated Canadian and Cree playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is the author of the plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won him the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Floyd S...
, Daniel MacIvor
Daniel MacIvor
Daniel MacIvor is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director and film director. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia and educated at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and then at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario....
and others. Premiering at the Montréal Film Festival, it was broadcast extensively by the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, and created national headlines.
God’s Fool (1997), shot in Morocco, tells the story of Scott Symons
Scott Symons
Hugh Brennan Scott Symons was a Canadian writer. Born into a wealthy family, he attended a number of private schools, the University of Toronto, Cambridge University and the Sorbonne...
, a renegade writer of the Canadian establishment who had exiled himself to the seaside town of Essaouira
Essaouira
Mogador redirects here, for the hamlet in Surrey see Mogador, Surrey.Essaouira is a city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, on the Atlantic coast. Since the 16th century, the city has also been known by its Portuguese name of Mogador or Mogadore...
. It premiered at the Toronto International Festival of Authors, where artistic director Greg Gatenby judged it “the best film biography of a writer I have ever seen”. God’s Fool was broadcast nationally in prime time on Bravo TV. In 2002 the film opened “Freedom to Read Week” on the BookTelevision
BookTelevision
BookTelevision is a Canadian, English-language, Category A specialty channel that broadcasts programming relating to books, literature, and various media...
digital channel, where it remains in rotation. Following Symons' death in February 2009, Sheehan wrote and published an obituary in Xtra!
Xtra!
Xtra! is a gay magazine, on newsprint in tabloid format, published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History and content :...
Sheehan has worked as a literary critic, essayist, and biographer, publishing in Montage, POV, the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
, Now
NOW (magazine)
Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....
, Toronto Life
Toronto Life
Toronto Life is a monthly Canadian magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Life also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including Home Decor, Stylebook, Eating & Drinking, Real Estate and Weddings. Established in 1966,...
, Quill & Quire
Quill & Quire
Quill & Quire, a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry, was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, but its publisher claims a readership of 25,000...
, Masthead and fab
Fab (magazine)
fab is a Canadian magazine which targets the gay community. The magazine publishes biweekly issues in Toronto, Ontario. It publishes alternate weeks to the city's other biweekly gay publication, Xtra!...
.
Films (selection)
- No Sad Songs (1985)
- Symposium: Ladder of Love (1995)
- God's Fool (1997)
- The Drawing Master (2004)
- FLicKeRFLicKeR (film)FLicKeR is a Canadian documentary film written and directed by Nik Sheehan, produced by Maureen Judge and Silva Basmajian . The film is based on the book "Chapel of Extreme Experience " by John Geiger about the work of artist Brion Gysin and his Dreamachine.Gysin's Dreamachine used a 100-watt light...
(2008)
Awards (selection)
- 2008 Hot DocsHot DocsHot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary film festival, conference, and market, held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, Special Jury Prize – Best Canadian Feature Documentary (FLicKeR) - 2009 Era New Horizons Film FestivalEra New Horizons Film FestivalNew Horizons Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in July in Wrocław, Poland. It has been organised since 2001.- Festival programme 2009 :* Opening gala – Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon...
(Wroclaw, Poland) – Best Film in the International Films on Art Competition (FLicKeR)