Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, David Adkin has been an important figure in Toronto’s documentary filmmaking community. Among other roles, he’s served on the board of the Canadian Independent Film Caucus and as a member of the Blue Ribbon Jury for Hot Docs, in addition to being the Program Manager for the SkyWorks Charitable Foundation.

One of Adkin’s most important early projects was produced by the NFB: Out: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Youth (1993), a critically acclaimed feature doc that won multiple awards (such as Best Documentary at the Turin International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Italy) and was screened at 40 festivals around the world, including the Berlin International Film Festival. Out offers an intimate exploration of the struggles and victories of gay and lesbian youth in Canada in the early 1990s. Few Canadian documentaries at the time dealt with 2SLGBTQIA+ subject matter, which already makes this film noteworthy. Delving into the emotional, social and family conflicts that these youth often face, the doc breaks the damaging silence surrounding sexual orientation and difference. Out seeks to provide awareness, understanding and hope to young people, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, parents, counsellors and educators.

Adkin’s other documentary directing credits include Debt Trap (2008) and three episodes in the A Scattering of Seeds series: First Lady of the Yukon: Martha Black (1999), The Reluctant Politician: The Story of Irene Parlby (2000) and A Farmer from Amber Valley: J. D. Edwards (2001).