Barbara Doran | WatchedThis
Barbara Doran
Production
Biography
Barbara Doran is based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and has been writing, directing, and producing international films and television for the past thirty-five years. She is internationally recognized for specializing in documentary and drama productions, including the Gemini winning mini-series “Random Passage” and most recently the box office hit, “The Grand Seduction”, starring Brendan Gleeson and Taylor Kitsch now in worldwide distribution.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Taking on Water
In the fall of 2021 playwright Robert Chafe set out on an interview tour of eastern Newfoundland, asking residents of coastal communities why they live where they live, and how they might see their future. The responses offer a new way to think about the love, risk, and resilience of living on the edge of a changing ocean. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Barbara Doran and Jerry McIntosh, Taking on Water takes the audience through the process of developing the musical-dramatic performance of the same name from local conversations about ocean and coastal change to final performances on the stage.
The Real Matriarch
The Real Matriarch takes a look at the politics, life and professions of four prominent women from Newfoundland and Labrador: Lois Brown, Barbara Doran, Edythe Goodridge, and Mrs. Sarah Sexton. Media clips and interviews showcase their vivacious personalities; entertaining, shocking at times, endearing, and ultimately great storytellers. Their work with women's groups, aids patients, artists, filmmakers, and community groups is acknowledged nationally and internationally. Spanning four generations and while raising children they have held their battles wildly and never stepped down, always leaving a boardroom or a dining room in laughter.
Production
Random Passage
This award winning miniseries traces the difficult passage of young Mary Keane (Aoife McMahon) from servitude in Ireland to the squalor of rough-and-tumble Newfoundland in the early 1800s. Escaping attempted rape and abuse, Mary moves on with her infant daughter to find shelter at a remote fishing station run by Thomas Hutchings (Colm Meaney). In a time and place where life and death are a hair's breadth apart, Mary joins the community's struggle for survival against sickness and starvation. All of the Cape's people are fugitives of one kind or another, but by pulling together through hardships and tragedies, they forge a new life of hope - and even love.
Still Rowdy After All These Years
A documentary retrospective on the prolific career of acclaimed Canadian actor, writer and director Gordon Pinsent.
Still Rowdy After All These Years
A documentary retrospective on the prolific career of acclaimed Canadian actor, writer and director Gordon Pinsent.
Still Rowdy After All These Years
A documentary retrospective on the prolific career of acclaimed Canadian actor, writer and director Gordon Pinsent.
Ho! Kanada
What do the Japanese see in Canada? What's the magnetic pull from the Far East? And what's our take on this land of ours? Bolstering our feeling of national pride comes naturally after watching the Japanese embrace the country. The film follows Masaaki Kagami, a Japanese transplanted in Alberta. He specializes in making souvenir videos for Japanese tourists. HO! KANADA is an investigation of national stereotypes. The film records the way the Japanese see us, and how we see them and ourselves.
The Man Who Studies Murder
Elliott Leyton, the subject of this riveting documentary by filmmaker Barbara Doran, can't help but be fascinating; that's because Leyton, who teaches at the Memorial University in Newfoundland, is also a valuable ally for law enforcement officials who need his expertise in psychology and criminal behavior to catch some of the most heinous criminals: serial killers.
The Grand Seduction
A small fishing village must procure a local doctor to secure a lucrative business contract. When unlikely candidate and big city doctor Paul Lewis lands in their lap for a trial residence, the townsfolk rally together to charm him into staying. As the doctor’s time in the village winds to a close, acting mayor Murray French has no choice but to pull out all the stops and begin The Grand Seduction.
Young Triffie's Been Made Away With
In 1947 Whitbourne, Newfoundland, Alan Hepditch, a by-the-books but squeamish and somewhat dimwitted criminologist is constantly being tormented by his fellow ranger candidates and his sergeant, Bill O'Mara. Before Hepditch can quit, O'Mara, as a sort of punishment, assigns him to his first posting at Swyer's Harbour, where five sheep mutilations have taken place over the past year. When he arrives in Swyer's Harbour, Hepditch has a more serious crime to investigate, that of the murder of a local, mentally slow woman named Tryphenia Maud Pottle, better known to the locals as Young Triffie.
Love & Savagery
In 1969, a visiting geologist from Newfoundland arouses scandal in a small Irish village when he romances a local girl who’s destined for the convent.
Boundaries
Emily Price tries to balance family life and leading crunch negotiations between a Canadian politician and the president of a country whose natural resources are being exploited.
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