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INSTRUCTOR

Biology of Story Instructor Geneviève Appleton

Geneviève Appleton started her career as an award-winning actress in KIDS OF DEGRASSI, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, THE SEQUEL (ANNE OF AVONLEA) and other films and TV shows. After receiving her B.A.A. in Film Production from Ryerson University in 1994, she started working behind the camera as associate producer trainee on the award-winning CBC mini-series THE ARROW (starring Dan Aykroyd), and on the development of feature films SUCH A LONG JOURNEY directed by Sturla Gunnarsson and WHOLE NEW THING directed by Amnon Buchbinder.

Geneviève associate produced WILBY WONDERFUL (starring Sandra Oh, Ellen Page, Paul Gross, Callum Keith Rennie and Rebecca Jenkins) by writer-director Daniel MacIvor, which screened at festivals around the world, and is distributed in Canada by Mongrel Media and in the US by Film Movement. She produced Amnon Buchbinder's short, TRAVELLING MEDICINE SHOW: APOCALYPSE, funded by the Ontario Arts Council.

Since receiving her MFA in Screenwriting from York University in 2003, Geneviève has written narration for the travel series GAP: GREAT ADVENTURE PEOPLE (broadcast on National Geographic and other channels) and two feature film documentaries: IN THE LAND OF THE MOOSE, directed by Harold Arsenault, which aired on TV5, and PARTLY PRIVATE, directed by Danae Elon, which won the best New York Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival.

For her company, White Wave Productions (est. 1992), Geneviève has written, produced, directed and co-edited several films. Her documentary A GARDEN'S FAMILY aired on Vision TV, and ACTOR'S TRANSFORMATION, featuring the extraordinary work of acting teacher Deena Levy and her students in NYC, premiered at the Female Eye Film Festival and aired on Bravo! Canada. Her short dance film CALLING THE MINSTREL was screened at the 2010 Olympics' Cultural Olympiad, the Atlanta Film Festival, and the Izmir International Short Film Festival.

She produced Seth Feldman's documentaries THE DACHAU LINE, screened at several conferences including Visible Evidence at New York University, and MAUTHAUSEN TWICE, screened at the Toronto Independent Film Festival and the Utanç Muzesi (“Museum of Shame”) in Turkey.

She was invited to present her documentary EAST TIMOR PEACE MISSION at the 20th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony and Conference in Timor-Leste, where it aired on East Timor Television. Footage from the film and an interview with Geneviève were included as part of a new documentary by Francisco Manso Producoes for RTP1 (the Portuguese public TV channel).

With Colleen Wagner, Geneviève co-directed and co-produced the documentary WOMEN BUILDING PEACE, which won Best Documentary at the Silver Wave Festival.

 

She is the producer of Amnon Buchbinder’s interactive documentary BIOLOGY OF STORY, featuring interviews with storytelling experts Steven Bochco, Dean DeBlois, Pen Densham, Leonard Dick, Aaron Ehasz, Rodrigo Garcia, Alex McDowell, Janet Peoples, David Webb Peoples, Philip Pullman and Zak Penn, as well as dozens more.

 

Geneviève earned a BAA (Honours) in Film Production from Ryerson in 1994, and an MFA in Screenwriting from York University in 2004.

Since 2003 she has taught Screenwriting and Media Production at various institutions including Bilkent University, University of Toronto, York University, Sheridan and Ryerson University as well as in private workshops. She recently taught the Biology of Story course at York University.

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