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Gordon Sheppard
Writer, Photographer, Filmmaker
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- Born Montréal, April 9, 1937.
- University of Toronto (B.A. specialising in Political Science and Economics 1957); Oxford University (M.A. History 1960).
- Produced and directed public affairs programs and documentaries for CBC-TV and CTV, including The Most, about Playboy’s Hugh Hefner (1962), winner of numerous international film festival awards (San Francisco, Melbourne, Mannheim, Florence, Montréal etc.)
- Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Canada (1963); Special Consultant on the Arts to the Federal Government (1965). Author of A Special Report on the Cultural Policy and Activities of the Government of Canada 1965-66 (1966).
- Produced and directed film documentaries for Canadian TV. Hosted CBC radio program on the arts (1967-70). Feature writer and reviewer for Toronto Telegram.
- Wrote children’s book, The Man Who Gave Himself Away, published by Harlin Quist Books, New York and Paris (1971).
- Wrote, produced and directed feature film, Eliza’s Horoscope, for Warner Bros. Starring Academy Award winners Tommy Lee Jones and Lila Kedrova. Winner of five Canadian Film Awards (1975), including an award to Sheppard as “Outstanding Canadian Filmmaker of the Year”. Special Jury Award, Festival of the Americas 1975. Represented Canada at Teheran International Film Festival 1975.
- Produced and hosted TV specials for CFCF-TV, Montréal, 1977-87.
- Co-wrote Signé Hubert Aquin 1977-85 (Les éditions du Boréal Express 1985), an investigation of the suicide of Canadian writer Hubert Aquin.
- Began photography 1986.
- Collaborated with singer Marie-Claire Séguin on the music and lyrics of her album Une femme une planète, 1990.
- Artist Residency (photography), Banff Center for the Arts, winter 1995.
- Research, writing and preparation of HA! A Self-Murder Mystery, an expanded investigation of the suicide of a Hubert Aquin, 1977-1999. Published by McGill-Queens University Press 2003.
- Canada Council fellowship for writing, 2004-2005
- One child, a daughter, born 1989.
Publications
Books
2005-2006 – Raising Africa by the Sheppards. (in preparation) Text by Africa and her parents about how she was raised from pregnancy to age fifteen.
2003 – HA! A Self-Murder Mystery, McGill-Queen’s University Press., pp 870 (fiction)
1985 – Signé Hubert Aquin, Éditions du Boréal Express, Montreal, pp 357 (non-fiction)
1971 – The Man Who Gave Himself Away, Harlin Quist Books, New York, pp 28 (children’s book)
1966 – A Special Report on the Cultural Policy and Activities of the Government of Canada 1965-66, Government of Canada
Articles
2006 – “The Wondrous World of Prostate Cancer”, selections from the article to appear in Surviving Prostate Cancer by Fuller Torrey, Yale University Press.
1989 – “Referendum Blues” in Le Syndrome postréférendaire, Editions Alain Stanké (ironic essay about 1980 Quebec referendum)
1989 – “Le Sacre profane” in Liberté (June issue) (a fantasy about Quebec)
1970 – “Violence and the French-Canadian Male” in A Guide to the Peaceable Kingdom, an anthology edited by William Kilbourn, Macmillan of Canada (essay)
1957-70 – Divers articles and reviews in Canadian newspapers
Films and Screenplays
1989 - Le mort moqueur (feature film recounting episodes in the life of filmmaker Claude Jutra for which a 10 minute presentation film was made)
1985 - Ile d'Orléans, documentary.
1976 – Eliza’s Horoscope (feature film starring Elizabeth Moorman, Tommy Lee Jones and Lila Kedrova).
1967 - The Stormy Clovers, documentary about a Canadian musical group.
1967 - Love, documentary.
1964 - Dreamgirl, documentary about Elaine Bédard, Québec model and TV host.
1962 - The Most, documentary about Hugh Hefner of Playboy.
1961 - Three Canadian Provincial Premiers of the Thirties, four part documentary about William Aberhart (Alberta), Maurice Duplessis (Québec), and Mitch Hepburn (Ontario).
Songs
1990 - Une femme, une planète, album of songs co-written with Marie-Claire Séguin.
1975 - "Marilyn" - sung by Jaye P. Morgan.
1970 - "Mr. Plum" (lyrics by Sheppard, music by Charlebois) on Version originale, album by Robert Charlebois.
Photography
Exhibitions
Archives personnelles / Personal Archives, comprising photos by Sheppard and poetry by Gérald Godin, presented at Galerie Pink (Montréal) June 22-29 1992; at Les Galeries du SAC, Université de Montréal, September 1993 as part of Le mois de la Photo, Montréal, 1993; and at the Maison des écrivains, Montréal, May 15 - June 15, 1994.
Étapes / Stages, at Les Galeries du SAC, Université de Montréal, September 1993 as part of Le mois de la Photo, Montréal 1993; and at La Galerie de l’UQAM ( University of Québec at Montréal) May - June 1994.
The Rowing Pictures, Cote St-Luc Library, Montreal, April 2000.
Watervisions/Visions d'eau, from 11th August to 11th September 2005, Salon Bibliocafé, Montreal
Collections
Loto Québec; Bank of Montréal; Fédération des caisses populaires; Rossy foundation; private collectors.
In Preparation
Auras: Photographs and painted canvases mounted together.
Childhood: Images of childhood from pregnancy into the teenage years.
Comparisons: Photographs of the same people taken in the same physical attitude, at different times in their lives.
Gold Rush: Multi-image interpretaions of photographs taken in the Yukon 1908-14.
Sacred Portraits: Photographic portraits of Quebecers of various ethnic origins and faiths wearing Catholic vestments.
Associations, Memberships
Directors Guild of America
Canadian Independant Film Caucus
Writers Union of Canada