Beverly Shaffer facts for kids

Beverly Shaffer is a talented filmmaker from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She spent most of her career making short documentaries and dramas for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). One of her most famous films, I'll Find a Way, is about a young girl with spina bifida. This film won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1977!

Making Movies

Beverly Shaffer won over forty international awards during her thirty-two years at the National Film Board. She joined the NFB's new women's film studio, Studio D, in 1975. This happened after her idea for a series of short documentaries about children was approved.

Children's Stories

Her "Children of Canada" series included ten films. The Oscar-winning I'll Find a Way was part of this series. Shaffer also directed seven episodes for the "Children of Jerusalem" series. These films showed the lives of Arab and Jewish young people. Some titles were Children of Jerusalem: Gesho and Children of Jerusalem: Yehuda. She also made Just a Wedding (1999), which was a follow-up story to I'll Find a Way.

Later Work and Other Films

Her last film for the NFB was Mr Mergler's Gift. It was considered for an Academy Award in 2005. Beverly Shaffer mostly made documentaries. But she also created dramas sometimes. These included The Way It Is (1982), a story about a girl dealing with her parents' divorce. Another was Who Should Decide? (1985), part of a series about tricky choices in life.

Her Early Life

Beverly Shaffer was born in Montreal in 1945. She went to McGill University and earned a degree in comparative religion and philosophy in 1967. After teaching high school for two years, she studied filmmaking at Boston University. She graduated in 1971. Then, she worked at WGBH-TV, helping with science and public affairs shows.

Awards and Special Mentions

• 1977 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film - I’ll Find a Way
• I’ll Find a Way - nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Factual Film

Film List

• My Name is Susan Yee (1975)
• My Friends Call Me Tony (1975)
• Gurdeep Singh Bains (1975)
• Kevin Alec (1977)
• Beautiful Lennard Island (1977)
• I’ll Find a Way (1977)
• Veronica (1977)
• Benoît (1978)
• Julie O’Brien (1981)
• It’s Just Better (1982)
• The Way It Is (1982)
• I want to Be an Engineer (1983)
• Discussions in Bioethics: Who Should Decide? (1985)
• To a Safer Place (1987)
• Children of Jerusalem- Tamar (1991)
• Children of Jerusalem- Asya (1992)
• Children of Jerusalem- Neveen (1992)
• Children of Jerusalem- Yacoub (1992)
• Children of Jerusalem- Yehuda (1994)
• Children of Jerusalem- Gesho (1996)
• Children of Jerusalem- Ibrahim (1996)
• Just a Wedding (1999)
• To my birthmother… (2002)
• Mr. Mergler's Gift (2004)