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Up in the Clouds, Down in the Valley

in production

theatrical documentary

A tenacious visually impaired conceptual artist seeks to revolutionize accessibility for his community, discovering purpose and success along the way—but at what personal cost?

  • director: Carmen Pollard

  • writers: Carmen Papalia, Carmen Pollard

  • producers: Jenny Rustemeyer, Carmen Pollard

  • director of photography: Mike McKinlay

  • sound: Oscar Vargas, Sandor Gyurkovics

Produced by Diving Bell Films and Silvapark Films with support from Knowledge Network, Canada Media Fund, Creative BC, and Canada Council for the Arts.

The Hunter and the Herbivore

in development

experimental short

Set against the changing seasons during the course of a year, in a small rural community off the east-central coastline of Vancouver Island, The Hunter and the Herbivore captures the whimsy of childhood fettered by the eerie reality of climate change.

  • director, writer, and producer: Carmen Pollard

Blonde woman looking coy

At the Penthouse

in development

feature-length elevated true crime

Weaving home movies, a treasure trove of archives, interviews, and recreations to uncover one of Vancouver’s highest-profile murders and trials, culminating in an entertaining and emphatic case against marginalization.

  • director, writer: Carmen Pollard

  • producing support from: Kate Kroll, Andrew Williamson, Henrik Meyer

  • director of photography: Diana Parry

  • additional cinematography: Grant Baldwin

Produced by Diving Bell Films and with development support from Creative BC and the Rogers Group of Funds.

Movie poster - blonde woman and man wearing hat carry flowers and a red bucket in cemetery

For Dear Life

feature-length documentary

When James Pollard is given a terminal cancer diagnosis, he sets about orchestrating his own death. Like any good theatre producer, he researches options into different modes of burial, and the best means and methodologies of preserving his body after death. This may sound morbid, but the practicality, and often surprising amounts of humour with which James contends with his situation, allows for an openness and freedom in dealing with death.

Made with elegance and precision that speaks to Carmen Pollard’s skill as a director, as well as editor, this supremely emotional film walks the delicate line between grief and acceptance. Death is only part of the narrative, life in all its variegated shades of light and dark is the far bigger story.

  • director, writer, editor: Carmen Pollard

  • producers: Melanie Wood, Carmen Pollard

  • executive producer: Murray Battle

  • cinematography: Mike McKinlay, Grant Baldwin

  • original score: Daniel Seguin

Produced by Stranger Productions & Diving Bell Films in association with Knowledge Network.

Select Festivals: DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Yorkton Film Festival, Northwest Filmmakers Festival, FreeZone Film Festival, Available Light Film Festival, Northwestfest International Film Festival, Powel River Film Festival, Salt Spring Documentary Film Festival

Watch trailer .

For sales contact Diving Bell Films.

For educational distribution McIntyre Media .

Host a Community Screening

Militant Mother

documentary short

To get to class on time, children from the Raymur Place social housing project are forced to jump shunting train cars obstructing their path. After months of advocating for a safe crossing, twenty-five mothers make their voices heard by blocking CN rail.

  • featuring: Carolyn Jerome

  • director, writer, editor: Carmen Pollard

  • producers: Lisa Jackson, Lauren Grant, Carmen Pollard

  • director of photography: Claire Sanford

  • additional cinematography: Grant Baldwin, Mike McKinlay

  • composer: Brent Belke

  • sound design: Chris McLaren

  • Graphic Design: Brock Ellis

Militant Mother is part of the inaugural Citizen Minutes short film series commissioned by Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival. The series is aimed at inspiring interest and engagement in Canadian democracy and public affairs by exploring and celebrating stories of civic participation across the country.

Produced by Diving Bell Films in association with Hot Docs.

Select Festivals: Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Local Sightings Film Festival, Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival, AGH Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, CUFF Documentary Film Festival, Athena Film Festival, Powell River Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival, Vancouver International Women’s Film Festival, Davis Feminist Film Festival, Kdocs Film Festival, Nepatogus Kinas Film Festival.

Watch trailer.

Citizen Minutes website.

Host a Community Screening.

Film poster featuring Fraser McPherson playing saxophone and Jade Blade playing guitar

Dancehalls, Deejays & Distortion

documentary series

A collection of ten short historical documentaries profiling some of the musicians, deejays and clubs that made British Columbians swing and shout.

  • director, writer, producer, editor: Carmen Pollard

  • co-writer, design: Brock Ellis

  • supervising producers: Gillian Hrankowski, Erica Landrock

  • cinematography: Mike McKinlay, Grant Baldwin

  • original score: David F Ramos

  • production sound: Jeff Henschel

  • sound design: J Martin Taylor

  • animation: Jody Kramer, Michael Mann

  • production consultant: Laurie Case

Produced by Diving Bell Films in association with Knowledge Network.

Select Festivals: DOXA, Lunenburg Doc Fest, CUFF docs, Available Light Film Festival, Powel River Film Festival, LA Punk Film Festival, Sound Unseen Film & Music Festival, Yorkton Film Festival.

Golden Sheaf Winner: Best Series

Golden Sheaf Nominee: Best of Festival

Watch @Knowledge Network

A blond woman and man with dark hair in a 1970s car

Stellar, Stella Star

experimental short

In a series of seven vignettes spanning seven decades, Stellar, Stella Star captures iconic representations of women in cinema while offering a critical interpretation of the performative nature of role play and gender assumptions.

  • director, writer, producer: Carmen Pollard

  • featuring: Jackie Blackmore

  • cinematography: Rich Sinclair

  • original score and sound design: David Bernstein

  • editor: Carmen Pollard

Produced by Diving Bell Films with support from BC Arts Council.

Red Robinson wearing a red sweater looking out studio window

Red Robinson

documentary short

“Audiences get an upbeat adventure in Carmen Pollard’s superbly assembled portrait of Vancouver rock ‘n’ roll DJ Red Robinson.” Pat Mullen

POV Magazine

  • director, writer, producer: Carmen Pollard

  • co-writer, design: Brock Ellis

  • cinematography: Mike McKinlay

  • original score: David F Ramos

  • editor: Carmen Pollard

Produced by Diving Bell Films in association with Knowledge Network.

Select Festivals: DOXA Documentary Film Festival, CUFF.Docs, PRFF, Yorkton

Watch @Knowledge Network

Surfacing

experimental short

The flight patterns of birds, airplanes and helicopters merge with shifting landscapes to result in a haunting contemplation of a life and body in motion.

  • director, writer, producer: Carmen Pollard

  • cinematography: Rich Sinclair, Carmen Pollard

  • sound design, editor: Carmen Pollard

  • original score: Fiona Tyler

Produced by Diving Bell Films.

Select Festivals: Northwest Filmmakers Festival

numerous red lanterns sit below a neon sign that reads 'Everything is going to be alright'

Organelle

documentary short

A half dozen BC filmmakers’ take on a dozen BC artists in the Knowledge Network commission 12 Takes.

  • director, writer, producer: John Bolton

  • co-director, editor: Carmen Pollard

  • cinematography: Dikran Yazedjian

  • sound design: Chris McLaren

Produced by Opus 59 Films in association with Knowledge Network.

Select Festivals: Yorkton Film Festival

The Supremes performing at The Cave nightclub

The Cave

documentary short

For the better part of the 20th century, a converted two-level garage on Hornby Street in Vancouver’s downtown was one of Canada’s most imaginative and noteworthy music venues.

  • director, writer, producer: Carmen Pollard

  • co-writer: Mike Kissinger

  • graphic design: Brock Ellis

  • animation: Michael Mann

  • editor: Carmen Pollard

Produced by Diving Bell Films in association with Knowledge Network.

Select Festivals: Yorkton Nominee: Best of Fest, Yorkton Winner: Best Series

Watch @Knowledge Network

Bruce Fairbairn and Loverboy hanging outside Little Mountain Studios

The Little Mountain That Could

documentary short

Home of some of glam rock’s greatest air-punching anthems, this Little Mountain Sound studio put Vancouver at the top of the music industry, through the 80s and 90s.

  • director, writer, producer: Carmen Pollard

  • featuring: Bob Rock

  • graphic design: Brock Ellis

  • cinematography: Mike McKinlay

  • original score: David F Ramos

  • editor: Carmen Pollard

Produced by Diving Bell Films in association with Knowledge Network.

Select Festivals: Yorkton Nominee: Best of Fest, Yorkton Winner: Best Series

Watch @Knowledge Network

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