Cheating Death

Gemini Nomination for Best Photography in Documentary Program or Series, John M. Tran, 2006

belladonna productions and Death Defying Productions Inc.
Produced in Association with TVONTARIO
Co-producer: National Film Board of Canada

Ontario Media Development Corporation

Producer: Rosalie Bellefontaine

NFB Co-Producer: Peter Starr

TVOntario Commissioning Editor: Rudy Buttignol

Director: Eric Geringas

DOP: Gemini Nominated John M. Tran

Motion Graphics: Alan Shisko

Soundtrack: Solitair

Editor: Prem Sooriyakumar

Mentor : Barry Greenwald

For ten years, Gyasi Ferdinand was known as J9. He was a crack dealer in Regent Park, one of Toronto’s roughest neighbourhoods, and he always carried a 9mm. After he got shot, he had an unlikely visitor: an angel.  
For Gyasi to live, J9 had to die. 

Gemini Nomination, Best Photography in Doc, 2006

Winner Best Short Doc, Yorkton Short Film Fest, SK, 2005

Winner Best Short Doc, Winnipeg International Film Fest, 2005

Winner OMDC Calling Card Award, 2004  

Nominated Best Short Doc, Reel World Film Fest, Toronto, 2005

Awarded Honourable Mention, Medical Health Category,

Columbus International Film Festival, 2005

San Francisco International Film Festival, 2006

Harlem International Film Festival, 2005

Montana’s Big Sky Doc Festival, 2005

Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival, 2005

North Bay’s Bay Street Film Festival, 2005

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The Mayor of Tent City

belladonna productions and The Documentary Channel

Director/Camera/Editor: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Motion Graphics: Alan Shisko
Sound Track: Blaine Donais

Karl Schmidt isn't just any homeless man. With vision, leadership and courage, he led a housing revolution in downtown Toronto that would pave the way to the most radical housing programme for the chronically homeless in Canada.

Interviews with Canadian icon, Pierre Berton, author of

"The Great Depression" and Jack Layton, federal NDP leader and author of “Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis”.

Nominated Best Feature Doc, Winnipeg Int'l Film Fest, 2006 Selected Queen’s International Film Festival, NY, 2005

Selected Streets to Screen Film Series, panel and screening at

The Bloor Cinema, Toronto, 2006

DVDs and teaching guides available here.

Support from Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund (CIFVF), Ontario Arts Council, Charles Street Video, National Film Board of Canada, belladonna productions and The Documentary Channel.

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Reality Quest

Producer: Andrea Robertson, Blinding Flash of Light Productions
Produced in Association with TVONTARIO

Co-Directors: Rosalie Bellefontaine and E. L. Santonato
Editor: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Motion Graphics: Alan Shisko
Mentor: Barbara Bardé

Stills Photographer: Irene Duma

Montreal actress, Leni Parker, goes missing for three years. She is abducted by the Gene Roddenberry character named Da'an. Follow Leni as she loses her identity to the wonky world of sci-fi conventions, the blast of eternally devoted fans and the paranoia behind the prosthetics. The Volcano soundtrack drives her home.

OMDC Al Waxman Calling Card Award Recipient
TVOntario Commissioning Editor: Rudy Buttignol

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This Holy House

belladonna productions
Producer: Rosalie Bellefontaine

This Old House meets Skin Deep when Canada’s largest Anglican Church gets a $12,000,000 face-lift. Meet the practitioners of century old techniques in stained glass restoration, stone carving and roofing. We’ll see an architectural elder transformed into a state-of-the-art spiritual space.

2 x 1 hour, in pre-production.

Black and Moffat Architects. St. Paul’s Anglican Church.

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North of West Gate

belladonna productions

Director/Camera: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Sound Track: Blaine Donais

North of West Gate, nominated for Best Drama at the Yorkton Showcase, straddles brutal reality and fantasy in this gritty look at the lives of Aboriginal children in downtown Winnipeg in the wake of the killing of their uncle, JJ Harper.

Weetamah: Manitoba's Aboriginal Newspaper, 1991, writes:

"One very strong point about the film is how Bellefontaine captures the uniqueness of the people who inhabit the West Broadway area."

 

Manitoba Arts Council, CIDO, VideoPool.

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Street Health

Producer: Street Health

Exec. Dir: Laura Cowan

Director/Camera: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Sound Track: Blaine Donais

Motion Graphics: Alan Shisko

Toronto’s street nurses grapple with an exploding homelessness crisis in the wake of reduced welfare rates, housing deregulation and a skyrocketing cost of living in Canada’s strongest economic engine. Interviews skillfully handled by Saturday Night at the Movies director, Donna Gollan.

Trillium Foundation, Charles Street Video

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The State of the Ark

Exec Producer: World Society for the Protection of Animals, Toronto

Producer: Deanne Judson
Videographer: Rosalie Bellefontaine

This poignant exposé on the condition of animals living in road-side zoos in Ontario uncovers a grim reality. Under the guise of conservation and education, animals live at the whim of individual zookeepers who are guided by token, un-enforced by-laws.

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Quackery

Producer: Women Artists In Video, (WAIV)
Director: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Narrative: Kris Anderson

This comical diaristic short went long, traveling to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Sea Gallery in Dundee, Canadian Images ’89 Independent Film and Video Festival, SAW Gallery in Ottawa, Plains Canada Conference Tour, Heart of the Heart of the Region Exhibit in Calgary.

WAIV is an award-winning women’s video collective, co-founded by Bellefontaine, Christine Hawkes and Maureen Margaret Smith. Alumni accolades include DOXA’s Kris Anderson.

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Caretaker

Producer: Woodbine Entertainment
Director/Camera: Rosalie Bellefontaine

This feature segment (SportsNet) is a fresh look at a dirty job. Nominated for an American Hambletonian Award, this honest film gives us a glimpse at the intimate relationship between a ‘caretaker’ and her racing horse. The camera roves around the barn in concert with a team that maintains a unique, daily harmony.

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Hall of Fame

Producer: Woodbine Entertainment
Director: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Host/Writer : Louis Cauz

Highly acclaimed 14 part feature segment (SportsNet), Hall of Fame strips back time to recall great moments in horseracing history.

Telecast won Sovereign Award for Best Broadcast.

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My Pet

belladonna productions
Director: Rosalie Bellefontaine
Original Concept: P. Lemieux, John Sheridan

Technology wins out in this comedy-thriller about a prodigal tamagochi that returns with a vengeance. Will we ever hear the whole story?

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contact :

bellefontaine@belladonnaproductions.ca

donais@belladonnaproductions.ca

tel: 416-534-6781

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