Paul Saltzman

Filmmaker, Photographer, Author, Hockey Player: Paul Saltzman is a two-time Emmy Award-winning, Toronto-based director-producer known for over 300 film and television productions. After briefly studying Engineering Science, he did congressional civil rights lobbying in Washington, D.C., and voter registration in Mississippi, in the summer of 1965, with SNCC. His film and television career began in 1965 at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a researcher, interviewer and on-air host, before working at the National Film Board of Canada. In 1967 he interviewed American inventor and visionary Buckminster Fuller, who would later say that until he met Saltzman he thought "the '60s generation was a lost generation." In 1968, he learned meditation at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in India, an experience that changed his life. There, he photographed the Beatles, Mia Farrow, Donovan and Mike Love. In 1968-69 he assisted in the birth of a new film format as second-unit director and production manager of the first IMAX film, produced for the Osaka 1970 World's Fair. In 1969, he attended the Woodstock Music Festival, later producing a Leonard Cohen concert tour as well as producing and directing his first film, a documentary on Bo Diddley. In 1973, Paul founded Sunrise Films Limited. He produced, directed, and wrote various documentaries over the next decade, including the acclaimed series Spread Your Wings. In 1983, he turned to drama, producing and directing the premiere of HBO's Family Playhouse and a special for American Playhouse. In the same year, he co-created and produced the family action-adventure television series Danger Bay. The hit CBC-Disney Channel series ran for 6 years and 123 episodes. He has produced television series like My Secret Identity, Matrix and Max Glick, as well as miniseries and MOW's. He co-produced Map of the Human Heart, an international epic directed by Vincent Ward, starring Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud, Patrick Bergin, John Cusack and Jean Moreau. He also executive produced Martha, Ruth & Edie as well as Sam & Me, which received an Honorable Mention in competition for the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2000, Viking Penguin released Paul's first book, The Beatles in Rishikesh. In early 2006 Paul created a deluxe Limited Edition Box-Set based on that work, The Beatles in India. In 2008, he made his feature-film directorial debut with Prom Night in Mississippi, a feature documentary with Morgan Freeman, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, 2009. His 2nd feature documentary, The Last White Knight-Is Reconciliation Possible? featuring Harry Belafonte, Morgan Freeman and Byron (Delay) de la Beckwith, Jr. premiered in 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2011, he founded the non-profit organization Moving Beyond Prejudice to work with students, youth-at-risk and community groups using Prom Night in Mississippi and The Last White Knight. In December 2011, Paul was invited to the White House to screen his prom movie and hold a Moving Beyond Prejudice discussion with the audience. While there, he was honored as a Community Leader at a reception with the President and the First Lady. Paul is a member of the Director's Guild of Canada and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. He loves traveling, skydiving, scuba diving, and playing ice hockey (often!). He has one daughter.