Gail Singer (partial data)
Films directed by Gail Singer
Quotes by Gail Singer
"My whole perception of how relationships between men and women work was formulated by the movies. Men could do whatever they liked. So could women, as long as they were at home. (They could cook, clean, write letters, wait for their father, boyfriend, husband to get home. Wait longer.) Men had power and women did not—unless they were bad. That made me want to be bad! Later it made me want to make movies."
-- Gail Singer
(source)
"Studio D [at the National Film Board of Canada] made me confront and define myself as a feminist. It provided an
intense feminist environment and there were very few places like that."
-- Gail Singer
(source)
Quotes about Gail Singer
"[Beryl] Fox has been outspoken in recent interviews about her commitment to helping women get ahead in the industry. Fox has acted on that commitment already, securing a trainee director position for Gail Singer, a ten-year practitioner of documentary filmmaking. [...] She has yet to direct a feature or to attempt a drama of any kind, but she seems a likely candidate for the major step into feature directing. Singer came to filmmaking with a commitment to social change through the use of cinema, and in ten years has polished her craft and broadened her interests. There are few other women in English Canada who have such extensive experience as directors in the private sector."
-- Kay Armatage
(source)
"Gail Singer (b. 1946) is one of the few Canadian women filmmakers able to make a living in independent documentary production, and she has been a committed advocate of feminism and socially progressive issues. She began as a researcher and assistant in the late 1960s, but quickly established herself as a director of intelligence in social documentaries on mercury poisoning in Canada's waterways, native cultures, arctic oil spills, battered women, breastfeeding, abortion, obstructive government bureaucracy, and children of divorce, as well as several films about artists. She has worked at various times with the CBC and Studio D, but she manages to maintain an independent profile in Canadian film culture. She has often worked with women as principal crew members [...]."
-- Kay Armatage
(source)
"[Gail] Singer's films acknowledge the complexity of cultural conditioning and avoid simplistic messages. They take a step forward in addressing the issues of social inequality and sexual stereotyping. She does not offer solutions but hints quite loudly that the opposing ideologies must come into contact and that dialogue between the camps must begin. The humour, tears, compassion, conversation contained within the films and the sensitivity and respect shown the individual subjects are constructive reminders of how we may proceed."
-- Joan Borsa
(source)
For QUOTES about a specific film by Gail Singer, please see: Loved, Honoured and Bruised
Abortion: Stories from North and South
True Confections
You Can't Beat a Woman!
Bibliography for
Gail
Singer
Section 1: Publications by Gail Singer
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Singer, Gail. "Celebrating the cinema: From kids'
matinees to drive-ins to art films, going to the movies is an everyday
magical experience, Gail Singer writes." Globe and Mail, December 19, 2003.
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Singer, Gail. "Picture this: On the eve of the Oscars,
Gail Singer goes beyond the glitz to discover what makes movies, and
moviegoers, tick." Globe and Mail, February 28, 2004.
Section 2: Publications about Gail Singer
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
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Borsa, Joan. "Gail Singer: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, September 26 to 29." Vanguard, December-January 1984/1985.
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Fraser, Deirdre. "Singing with her eyes: An
interview with Gail Singer." Interview with Gail Singer. In 2 Print, June 22, 1997.
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Goddard, Peter. "Movie maker Gail Singer in focus." Toronto Star, March 6, 1990.
Web Sites
Section 3: Publications about the Films of Gail Singer
Brief Sections of Books
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Landsberg, Michele. Women and Children First: A Provocative Look at Modern Canadian Women at Work and at Home. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1982.
(pp. 76-78)
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
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Jankowski, Kathryn. "Faces of an intimate dilemma." Review of Abortion: Stories from North and South. Ms., August 1985.
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Longfellow, Brenda. "From didactics to desire." Canadian Forum, February 1985.
True Confections
(1991) (also known as:
"Le goût du vrai")
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
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Roberge, Huguette. "Le goût du vrai (True Confections) : Une petite percée dans 'la grande noirceur'." Review of True Confections. La Presse, November 23, 1991.
[in French]
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
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Leerhsen, Charles. "Women who kill—nightly:
Wisecracks directed by Gail Singer." Review of Wisecracks. Newsweek, June 15, 1992.
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Linfield, Susie. "Women comics stand and
deliver: Gail Singer's documentary 'Wisecracks' lets comediennes have the
last laugh." Review of Wisecracks. New York Times, July 12, 1992.
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Novak, Ralph. "Wisecracks." Review of Wisecracks. People Weekly, July 20, 1992.
You Can't Beat a Woman!
(1997) (also known as:
"No pots apallissar una dona!")
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
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Golfman, Noreen. "You Can't Beat a Woman." Review of You Can't Beat a Woman!. Canadian Forum, September 1997.
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Knelman, Martin. "You can't beat a woman." Review of You Can't Beat a Woman!. Financial Post Magazine, January 1998.
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Saunders, Doug. "Different take on wife abuse: In
person: Gail Singer's second documentary on domestic violence debuts
today at Montreal's festival." Interview with Gail Singer. Globe and Mail, August 28, 1997.
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
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Heer, Jeet. "Gail Singer's Watching Movies." National Post, December 11, 2003.
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Singer, Gail. "Celebrating the cinema: From kids'
matinees to drive-ins to art films, going to the movies is an everyday
magical experience, Gail Singer writes." Globe and Mail, December 19, 2003.
Archival Collections
These archival institutions have holdings related to Gail Singer or her films:
