Filmmaker Helen Doyle receives the
Barbara Helen Greene Prize
Although current events remind us that women do not yet fully enjoy their rightful place in cinema, the awarding of a new prize by the Canada Council for the Arts turns the spotlight on the major contributions of two women to Canadian documentary filmmaking.
The first is Barbara Helen Greene. Originally from British Columbia, she made radio documentaries for both the BBC and the CBC while based in London after the Second World War. Following her return to Canada, she switched to making documentaries, including many for the NFB, such as Bella Bella and Ruth and Harriet: Two Women of the Peace.
Following her death in 2016 at the age of 92, the Canada Council received a bequest of $20,000 from her estate. The Council has used this bequest to award a single prize to another Canadian filmmaker – Helen Doyle of Quebec – in recognition of her documentary film career.
This prize increases the grant awarded to Helen Doyle for Au lendemain de l’odyssée, the feature-length documentary she is currently working on. “I’m interested in what happens to unaccompanied migrant children, especially young girls,” she explains. “Many end up on the shores of Italy, but some also make it to Canada. Unaccompanied minors can find themselves in situations that leave them particularly vulnerable.”
This project very much illustrates Helen Doyle’s humanist approach – an approach that was also Barbara H. Greene’s. However, Helen Doyle adds a feminist perspective: “I do not just make feminist films, but all my films appear to show that I am one,” says Helen Doyle with a smile.
I do not just make feminist films, but all my films appear to show that I am one
Helen Doyle
In her first film Chaperons rouges [Red Riding Hoods] (1979) on the painful subject of rape, Doyle was already hankering to go beyond the traditional documentary form: “I included elements such as a filmed excerpt from a play and some vignettes showing women being harassed,” she explains. “Actress Louisette Dussault was filmed telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood to her daughters, exhorting them to defend themselves by hitting the Big Bad Wolf on the nose with their baskets! I blended various styles into a somewhat hybrid form. This concern to find the most suitable form for the subject has never left me – it’s a consideration in every project of mine.”
In 1973, Doyle joined forces with Nicole Giguère and Hélène Roy to found the Vidéo Femmes group in Quebec City. “Video was then emerging as a means of communication – the cellphone of the time, as it were,” recalls the filmmaker. “We started to produce films about women, by women, and for women. We then began to distribute our films and those of other female filmmakers.”
Since then, Helen Doyle has pursued a career as an independent screenwriter and director. She is particularly interested in armed conflict (Le rendez-vous de Sarajevo), activist artists (The Messengers) and how images are now freely available in the digital universe (Dans un océan d’images j’ai vu le tumulte du monde).
Her works have earned her much recognition, both in Canada and abroad, including a career grant from the CALQ (Quebec arts council) and a retrospective at the Cinémathèque québécoise. In 2015, the book La liberté de voir, together with a four-DVD set featuring her works, was published to honour her 40-year-long filmmaking career. Doyle currently shares news of her projects, as well as her discoveries and encounters, through posts and many photos in her blog.
“Receiving the Barbara Helen Greene Prize has given me an extraordinary opportunity to discover the work of this artist who had such an amazing and inspiring career. The money will enable me to pursue and develop my film-making quest and my current projects even further.”