Kathleen Shannon (7)
Kathleen Shannon
Kathleen Shannon’s body of work represents a milestone in the history of the National Film Board of Canada. Along with Norman McLaren, Alanis Obomsawin and Willie Dunn, she is one of the most important artists who ever worked at the NFB. Her impact has extended far beyond the walls of the Board, leaving a lasting mark on Canadian cinema, and she’s been an inspirational figure for women filmmakers around the world.
Born in Vancouver in 1935, Shannon was a director, producer, performer, sound recordist, image/sound editor and scriptwriter. She is credited with more than 270 NFB titles, including 20 as director and over 100 as producer (with two Academy Award-winning films among them: Beverly Shaffer’s I’ll Find a Way from 1977 and Cynthia Scott’s Flamenco at 5:15 from 1983). But Shannon is best known for being the founder and first executive producer of the NFB’s Studio D, the first government-funded studio in the world dedicated to women filmmakers.
Her directing career spanned more than two decades. Her first film, I Don’t Think It’s Meant for Us ... (1971), was followed by Extensions of the Family (1974), which deals with housing in Canada. Shannon also directed and produced films in the NFB’s Working Mothers series: It’s Not Enough (1974), Like the Trees (1974), Luckily I Need Little Sleep (1974), They Appreciate You More (1974), Tiger on a Tight Leash (1974), Would I Ever Like to Work (1974), Mothers Are People (1974) and “... and They Lived Happily Ever After” (1975). The success of this series made it clear to Shannon that there was a market for films about women’s issues, as well as women who were eager to direct, and it served as a source of inspiration for the creation of Studio D in 1974.
In the years that followed, Shannon directed Our Dear Sisters (1975), a film about Alanis Obomsawin; Dream of a Free Country: A Message from Nicaraguan Women (1983), about women guerillas in Nicaragua; and Goldwood (1975), about her memories of the BC mining town in which she grew up. She also directed all the films in Studio D’s 1990 series Faithful Women—Gathering Together, Harmony and Balance, I’ll Never Forget You, Priorities and Perspectives, Texts and Contexts, Faithful, Through Ignorance or Design and Working Towards Peace—which captures the perspectives and experiences of women and mothers from all backgrounds and fields.
Shannon was presented with the Order of Canada in 1986, and, in 1988, the NFB created the Kathleen Shannon Award for non-fiction films, presented annually at the Yorkton Film Festival. She also received three honorary degrees: a Doctor of Laws from Queen’s University in 1984, a Doctor of Letters from York University in 1996, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Mount Saint Vincent University in 1997.
In 1996, Studio D was closed due to decreased government funding and layoffs at the NFB. One of the last films it produced was Kathleen Shannon: On Film, Feminism & Other Dreams (1996) by Gerry Rogers.
Kathleen Shannon passed away on January 9, 1998, in Kelowna, British Columbia.
i Kathleen Shannon, “D is for Dilemma,” Herizons 31, no. 3 (Winter 2018): 24–27.
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"... and They Lived Happily Ever After"Kathleen Shannon , Irene Angelico , … 1975 13 minMade in 1975, as part of the Challenge for Change program, this film takes a long, hard look at marriage and motherhood as expressed in the views of a group of young girls and married women. Their opinions cover a wide range. At regular intervals glossy advertisements extolling romance, weddings, babies, flash across the screen, in strong contrast to the words that are being spoken. The film ends on a sobering thought: the solution to dashed expectations could be as simple as growing up before marriage. -
"I Don't Think It's Meant for Us ..."Kathleen Shannon 1971 32 minTenants of public housing express some of their concerns and perceptions of the public housing positions of federal, provincial and municipal levels of government who make and administer policies that affect their lives. Controversial viewpoints, which will be useful in constructive discussion, are expressed.
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Luckily I Need Little SleepKathleen Shannon 1974 7 minKathy worked as a nurse in Greece and then came to Canada. She and her family live in northern Alberta, where they are developing a farm. Kathy works outside the home as a nurse, sews for the children, maintains the house, and helps with the farm work.
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Mothers Are PeopleKathleen Shannon 1974 7 minJoy is a research biologist, a consultant to a large company. She is also a widow with two school-age children. In discussing her own dilemmas she speaks for many other women. "The powers that be know that women do work, but they turn a deaf ear." Apart from "discrimination against women," Joy sees the absence of universal day care as a loss for children too.
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Our Dear SistersKathleen Shannon 1975 14 minAlanis Obomsawin, an Indigenous woman who earns her living by singing and making films, is the mother of an adopted child. She talks about her life, her people, and her responsibilities as a single parent. Her observations shake some of our cultural assumptions.
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Like the TreesKathleen Shannon 1974 14 minThis short film is told in the first person by Rose, a Métis woman from northern Alberta who has left a difficult life in the city to rediscover her roots by returning to her Woodland Cree community. Rose reveals the racism, isolation and health issues she faced when trying to make a life for herself outside her home community, and how she is able to help others now that she has reconnected to her culture. The film is part of a 1970s series of eleven films title Working Mothers by producer/director Kathleen Shannon, exposing inequality for women in accessing education, childcare, and equal pay. These films led to the creation of Studio D at the National Film Board, the world’s first feminist production studio.
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GoldwoodKathleen Shannon 1975 20 minGoldwood is a search for the early self. A woman describes the look and feel of her childhood to an artist friend. The story of her days at Goldwood unfolds through his paintings and live footage of their visit to the site. Nature has reclaimed the land. The adult attempts to reclaim the child. The woman discovers pieces of her doll's plate, lost thirty years before. "I haven't been a figment of my own imagination," she says. The film evokes the universal feelings of a child in an adult's world and the awareness of self.
