Patricia Sims

Producer, Director, Writer, Photographer

From swimming with wild dolphins and whales in oceans around the world to getting up close and personal with monkeys in the jungles of Borneo and elephants in Thailand, award-winning Canadian filmmaker Patricia Sims has always kept a passionate eye on conservation. Patricia has produced documentaries around the world, focusing on nature and conservation education, and the interrelationships between humans and animals. Patricia is a Fellow International of The Explorers Club (FI’20), and a Fellow in the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She has collaborated with some of the world’s leading conservation celebrities, scientists and explorers, with a specialization in wildlife and oceanographic productions. Well-traveled in over twenty countries, she has produced television documentaries for CityTV, CBC, Astral Media, YLE, ARTE, Discovery Channel, TVAsahi, NHK, NHK-BS2, TBS, non-profit organizations, and the United Nations University.

Patricia is the Co-Founder of the annual World Elephant Day, a global awareness campaign that brings attention to the critical threats facing elephants. Patricia launched World Elephant Day with the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, an initiative of HM Queen Sirikit of Thailand, on August 12, 2012. World Elephant Day has participants in over 50 countries and is supported by over 100 wildlife organizations. The campaign reaches millions of individuals across the globe through events, traditional media, and social media outreach.

As a graduate of the Radio and Television Arts, Film & Photography programs at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Patricia began her career as a producer for Canadian network television (CityTV/MuchMusic), where she produced numerous factual series and specials. She lived in Japan for several years, honing her nature and underwater filmmaking skills while working as producer, manager and life-partner of the legendary world-record French free-diver, the late Jacques Mayol (subject of Luc Besson’s 1988 feature film, The Big Blue). During her time in Japan, in association with various Japanese companies, she and Jacques Mayol produced a number of television documentaries, books, product sponsorships and events that educated audiences about dolphins, whales, environmental and ocean conservation.

Since 2005 Patricia has been based in British Columbia where she founded CanazWest Pictures. Her recent productions include DocJam, a 15-part documentary series for Astral/Bell Media in Canada. Patricia has been working on projects that bring awareness to the plight of endangered elephants through digital media outreach and documentary films. She has produced, directed and written the multi-award winning Return to the Forest, a 30-minute documentary narrated by actor William Shatner, and the feature documentary When Elephants Were Young, also narrated by William Shatner, which was theatrically released in the USA and Canada, and broadcast on CBC Documentary Channel in late 2016.

Awards include: Best Documentary Feature, Moondance International Film Festival, USA (Voices of the Chichinautzin); Best Environmental Documentary, Tepotzlan Film Festival, Mexico (Voices of the Chichinautzin); Best Short, Artivist Film Festival, Hollywood (Return to the Forest); Humanitarian Award, Best Shorts Competition, Los Angeles (Return to the Forest); Best Conservation Film, New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (Return to the Forest), Best Documentary Feature, Palm Beach International Film Festival (When Elephants Were Young).

Patricia is currently developing several new documentary projects, and factual series. Most recently, Patricia is the producer, director, writer and director of photography of Ravishing Rags, 3 x 25 documentary series for TELUS Originals.

Michael Clark

Editor, Cinematographer, Animator, Developer, Programmer

Michael Clark is a Canadian-Japanese-American filmmaker who has had an impressive 35-year career as an award-winning director, producer, editor, post production supervisor, music supervisor, computer graphics/animation and special effects designer, and camera system technology innovator. His innumerable credits range from documentaries, episodic television, corporate, feature film and commercial production. His awards include: Cannes Festival Advertising Awards; London International Advertising Award; Gold Berliner Klappe; Gold New York Advertising Festival; Gold New York Art Directors Award; Gold CFTA; Winner SACEM Paris; Gold EBC Chicago; Genie Award nomination; GeminiAward, among several others. One of Michael’s notable credits as Post Production Supervisor and Editor is the internationally distributed, multi-award winning feature documentary film Sharkwater, a film that has been instrumental in generating worldwide awareness about shark-finning issues. Sharkwater has won over 35 international awards.

In tandem to his filmmaking career, Michael has developed several innovative camera systems.

As Editor, Michael’s most recent documentary credits include:

  • Beluga Speaking Across Time, one-hour documentary for CBC, TV5, YLE, ARTE

  • Voices of the Chichinautzin, one-hour documentary for the United Nations

  • Hijacked Future, one-hour documentary for Global Television

  • Community Forests, 7-part series for BC Ministry of Community Forests

  • Back in the Day, 6-part series for APTN

  • Sharkwater, multi-award-winning, box office success, feature documentary for which he won several awards including a Director’s Guild of Canada Best Editor Award

  • Return to the Forest, 30-min multi-award-winning documentary narrated by William Shatner for Elephant Reintroduction Foundation and World Elephant Day

  • 1491, 8 x 60 series for APTN, ZDF

  • Tribal Police, 13 x 30 series for APTN, Season 2, and Season 3

  • Wheeler’s Everest, award-winning feature documentary for CBC Documentary Channel

  • Finding the Balance, award-winning short documentary for Kwassen Productions Inc.

  • Ravishing Rags, 3 x 25 documentary series for TELUS Originals

As Editor, Co-Director and DOP:

  • DocJam, a 15-part series for Astral/Bell Media, Canada

  • When Elephants Were Young, a feature documentary released 2016

In 2018 Michael and his partner Jordyn Lee Hager launched PEZO2 Media, a post-production company that provides editing, sound design, animation and complete post production services.

Anne Hainsworth

Writer, Researcher, Director

Anne Hainsworth is an award-winning story producer, director, writer and researcher with over 15 years of rich expertise in long-form documentary television, investigative journalism, factual lifestyle series, and corporate video production. Her key skills are in broadcast journalism, investigative reporting and current affairs, research and interviewing, field production, project management and digital media.

Among her many credits, Anne has worked as a researcher, writer and field producer for the CTV’s W5 series. Her highlighted stories included: “Canadian Mining in Guatemala”; “Pipeline Bomber”; “Rodeo Cowboys”; “Antarctica Rescue” (Best Feature/Radio-Television News Directors Association; Best Investigative Television Show/Canadian Association of Journalists). Her work included liaising with network management to promote stories and select work for the network web content. Her developed expertise in environmental stories led to breaking four major ecological stories. Additionally, Anne was a segment producer and writer for the investigative news magazine series 16 x 9 for GlobalTV West; as a writer for Vancouver-based Omni Entertainment / Discovery Channel; and as writer/director with various production companies in Toronto for several hit Discovery Channel series ("Mighty Ships", "Megabuilders", “Violence and Gang War in Mexico”). Anne also produced the 60-minute documentary “A Twin Otter from Start to Finish” for Viking Air, which showcased the manufacturing process of this iconic aeroplane from flat sheet metal to final paint job. Most recently, Anne is the researcher and co-writer for Ravishing Rags, 3 x 25 documentary series for TELUS Originals.