Breaking: Canadian filmmaker Charles Officer died Friday after lengthy illness. Just 48, the director (and one-time pro hockey player) burst onto scene with NURSE.FIGHTER.BOY in 2008, going on to deliver groundbreaking works THE SKIN WE’RE IN, UNARMED VERSES and AKILLA’S ESCAPE. pic.twitter.com/N8NVBM1Pt4
— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) December 3, 2023
Charles Officer went into certain neighbourhoods, one where you might not pay too much attention. Officer came out of those neighbourhoods with incredible stories where you wanted to pay attention.
Maybe you just became a fan with Akilla's Escape. Perhaps you've been on board since Nurse.Fighter.Boy and you wondered why you cared so much about this story. Unarmed Verses, a documentary on the demolition of a Toronto public housing neighborhood, made the TIFF Top Ten Canadian films of 2017.
This is unfortunately another story of an amazing Canadian film director gone way too soon. Officer passed away at the age of 48 on Friday after a lengthy illness. (Some outlets list Officer as being 53.)
Canadian film review: Akilla's Escape
Canadian film review: Nurse Fighter Boy
We have seen 3 of Officer's notable films: the 2 above and Unarmed Verses, which we haven't yet turned into a film review. Barry Hertz from The Globe and Mail mentioned The Skin We're In, which he not seen.
We had built trust in Officer's vision and would watch a film where he was significantly involved. Officer had a good working relationship with Canadian filmmaker/actor Ingrid Veninger, who was a producer and co-writer on Nurse.Fighter.Boy. They also worked on the short film Urda/Bone. Veninger is known for i am a good person/i am a bad person (2011) and Porcupine Lake (2017).
Mi'kmaw filmmaker Jeff Barnaby has passed away at 46
There are some parallels between Charles Officer and Jeff Barnaby, besides their tragic, unexpected deaths. They were under the radar yet film lovers know their work. Officer didn't get a chance to do too many films yet more than Barnaby did.
Officer also directed such Canadian TV shows as The Porter (4 episodes), Coroner (4 episodes), Ransom (2 episodes), Private Eyes (2 episodes), 21 Thunder (3 episodes), and an episode each for Saving Hope and Rookie Blue.
Officer was good at documentaries and feature films. His feature film style had a strong intimacy that drew you into the subject matter.
I remember when watching Nurse.Fighter.Boy: I asked myself "why am I still watching this movie." I couldn't stop watching.
I am not a comedian but love a comedian's comedian, those comedians who make other comedians laugh. Charles Officer struck me as a filmmaker who other filmmakers had a deep appreciation for his work.
Rest in Power Charles ❤️ pic.twitter.com/940nLuYf6c
— Canadian Film Centre (@cfccreates) December 3, 2023
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Officer spent his time in urban Toronto neighbourhoods in the films we've seen. You can easily make the argument that his films had some impact on recent films such as Scarborough and Brother.
Appreciate this obituary and use this as a resource to explore his past films.
Akilla's Escape is available on Amazon Prime Video in the United States and CBC Gem in Canada. Nurse.Fighter.Boy can be found on Tubi in the United States and just got added to Starz in Canada.
Twitter captures: @HertzBarry; @cfccreates
photo credits: Akilla's Escape; Nurse.Fighter.Boy; inkCanada Facebook page
Comments