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Katerina Cizek (19)
Katerina Cizek
Katerina Cizek (B. Ontario, 1969), the daughter of Czech immigrants, is a Canadian two-time Emmy-winning non-fiction and digital content creator, who studied anthropology from McGill University (Montreal) and worked as an independent filmmaker and film technician since 1999, before joining the National Film Board of Canada in 2006.
“For a decade at the National Film Board of Canada, Cizek helped redefine the organization as one of the world’s leading digital content hubs. She was the director and creative force behind the NFB’s award-winning digital documentary project HIGHRISE, and she realized the acclaimed NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence program (both with Producer Gerry Flahive).” Cizek worked in dozens of projects at the NFB, The Bicycle: Fighting AIDS with Community Medicine (2006), winner at the International Film and Video Festival (USA), about Pax Chingawale bicycle chronicles to battle AIDS at the grassroots; A Short History of the Highrise (2013), a multi-year, multi-phase project that put the NFB on the interactive map, that traces the historical roots of the residential highrise, from the biblical Tower of Babel to the tenement buildings of New York. A Short History of the Highrise was selected in 14 festivals around the world and was the winner of 6 major international awards.
In overall, Cizek’s work has been recognized with 2 Emmys, a Peabody Award, World Press Photo Prize, 3 Canadian Screen Awards, a Webby. Cizek is the Co-Founder and Executive Producer of the Co-Creation Studio at MIT Open Documentary Lab (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
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Street Health StoriesKaterina Cizek 2007 9 minThis short film from the Filmmaker-in-Residence project puts a human face on the statistics in the Street Health 2007 Report. Four photographers who have experienced homelessness - Adrienne, Jess, Keneisha, and Meghan - document the stories of 28 homeless men and women through audio recordings and portrait-photography. -
The Interventionists: Chronicles of a Mental Health Crisis TeamKaterina Cizek 2006 31 minEllen is a mental health nurse. Brandon is a specially trained policeman. Together, they ride the streets of Toronto responding to 911 police calls involving “emotionally distressed persons.” Their mandate is not only to de-escalate crises, but to avoid unnecessary arrests and emergency room visits by providing appropriate referrals, services and resources within a patient's own community.
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The Bicycle: Fighting AIDS with Community MedicineKaterina Cizek 2006 14 minFollow Pax Chingawale as he cycles from village to village in Zomba District, Malawi, fighting AIDS at the grassroots. Pax volunteers with Dignitas International, headed up by Dr. James Orbinski, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for Médecins Sans Frontières.
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Dream MagicKaterina Cizek 2008 6 minThis revealing portrait of NFB filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin was shown at a gala ceremony in 2008, where Obomsawin received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Her work has captured some of the most startling events in Canadian history, including the armed standoff between the Canadian Army and Mohawk warriors in 1993. Her films cross a spectrum of social issues, but they are always human. Obomsawin explains in the interview, "For me, a real documentary is when you're really listening to somebody; they are the ones that will tell you what the story is, not you."
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A Short History of the Highrise, Part One: MudKaterina Cizek 2013 3 minIn the first installment, "Mud" traces the historical roots of the residential highrise, from the biblical Tower of Babel to the tenement buildings of New York. The film is narrated by singer-songwriter Feist, and is directed by Katerina Cizek in collaboration with the New York Times.
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A Short History of the Highrise, Part Four: HomeKaterina Cizek 2013 4 minIn the final installment, "Home" consists of images from New York Times readers, who submitted personal pictures of their lives in high-rises from around the world. Montreal musician Patrick Watson wrote the music for the film.
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Universe Within - AccraKaterina Cizek 2015 3 minJohn is a 30-year old that operates PC Clinic Air, a wireless Internet café in his apartment building. He wants to provide Internet access at an affordable rate, and considers his work in the public interest. Currently, his customers pay half of what they would with any of Ghana’s major network providers. In addition, his clients save the cost of purchasing a modem, or Internet stick. People use the Wi-Fi on their mobile phones, laptops or smart TVs.
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Universe Within - GuangzhouKaterina Cizek 2015 3 minThrough the internet, Ling has arranged for herself a "mock marriage" to a gay man, to conceal her lesbian identity from her parents, with whom she lives in a highrise apartment in Guangzhou, China's 3rd largest city.
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Universe Within - BakuKaterina Cizek 2015 4 minNew online tools have begun to offer a way to bridge the divide between a new generation of Armenians and Azerbaijanis activists brought up unable to remember the time when both lived side by side together in peace. One of them is Ahmed Mukhtar, a 28-year-old Internally Displaced Person (IDP) from Aghdam. Working as a photojournalist, Mukhtar photographs the plight of other IDPs in Azerbaijan, and also trains IDP children in using photography to document their lives. In a country where the mainstream media is government-controlled, the Internet is Mukhtar’s only way to publish images.
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Universe Within - TorontoKaterina Cizek 2015 3 minThe Patel family prays in their apartment morning and night, using their cell phones and their laptop computers to connect with live-streaming from Hindu temples around the world.
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Universe Within - SeoulKaterina Cizek 2015 3 min"Incredible Miracle" is a team of teenage boys who are world champion e-sports (competitive video gaming) players. They live, work and train on video games together in a highrise compound in central Seoul, often not leaving the premises for days on end.
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Universe Within - OttawaKaterina Cizek 2015 2 minCathy, who lives on her rural property outside St. John’s NFLD, has an aging mother who lives in Ottawa. Instead of sending her to a home, Cathy had several wifi connected sensors installed in her mum’s home and is able to keep tabs on her mother.
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Universe Within - TokyoKaterina Cizek 2015 3 minAs Yoko loses control of her body to Lou Gerrig's Disease, she prepares for her future by learning to operate (through eyeblinking) a "proxy" robot that goes out into the world for her, when she can no longer leave her Tokyo apartment.
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Universe Within - New York CityKaterina Cizek 2015 2 minFor 22 years inside a federal prison, Alvin had no access to a computer or the internet. So when he was released last year, he had decades worth of digital learning to catch up on: google, email, facebook and twitter. And now, through facebook, he has found his long lost son.
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Drawing from LifeKaterina Cizek 2008 30 minThis short documentary follows a group therapy workshop for people who have attempted to end their lives more than once. A hybrid of vérité and animation, the film is a candid portrayal of 12 people who together, for 20 weeks, take on their fears, their behaviours and their ghosts to move towards life and away from suicide.
Drawing from Life is a production of the National Film Board of Canada's Filmmaker-in-Residence project, produced with the creative participation of Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology, Animation Arts Centre. -
The Seven Interventions of Filmmaker-in-ResidenceHeather Frise & Katerina Cizek 2009 36 minThis short film charts the Filmmaker-in-Residence project's five-year history, investigating the creative process from within as media makers join health care workers to reflect on ethics, interventionist filmmaking and shifting cinematic genres. Intricate, difficult and delicate situations come alive in this documentary, featuring seven distinct yet interconnected experiments in collaborative media.
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A Short History of the Highrise, Part Three: GlassKaterina Cizek 2013 3 minIn the third installment, "Glass" examines the recent proliferation of luxury condos and the growing segregation between the rich and poor. The film is narrated by the singer-songwriter of Cold Specks, and is directed by Katerina Cizek in collaboration with the New York Times.
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A Short History of the Highrise, Part Two: ConcreteKaterina Cizek 2013 6 minIn the second installment, "Concrete" explores how, in New York City and globally, residential high-rises and public housing attempted to foster social equality in the 20th century. The film is narrated and directed by Katerina Cizek in collaboration with the New York Times.
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Universe Within - New York City - HurricaneKaterina Cizek 2015 3 minIn the absence of timely government emergency response to the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, one woman turns to google docs to organize the relief efforts of volunteers going door-to-door, floor-by-floor in the highrises of south Brooklyn, to aid Russian Jewish Seniors trapped in their own homes.
