THE PRODUCERS

The Messenger, SongbirdSOS and Le Silence des Oiseaux are  international co-productions between Canada and France. They are produced by SongbirdSOS Productions and Films à Cinq.

About SongbirdSOS Productions:

SongbirdSOS Productions is a Toronto-based independent production company created by Su Rynard, Joanne Jackson and Diane Woods. The trio bring a passion for storytelling, a commitment to excellence, and individual expertise in film and TV production to their role as executive producers of Songbird SOS

About Films à Cinq:

Paris-based Films à Cinq is internationally renowned for its work about science, cinema, art and history. Credits include the Emmy-nominated Four Wings and a Prayer , which journeys into the mysterious world of the Monarch butterfly. No matter the subject, the work by Films à Cinq is distinguished by original storytelling and a rich cinematic style.

Joanne Jackson – Producer:

Joanne Jackson is an award-winning documentary and television producer and the driving force behind many compelling, thought provoking programs over the last 20 years. Her background includes hundreds of hours of television programming. She has also worked as an in-house producer and as a production executive. In the latter role, she supervised many series and specials at YTV, WTN and CTV/Discovery-owned channels Animal Planet Canada, travel+escape and Discovery HD. In Spring/Summer 2011, she was the Supervising Producer for Hero Dogs of 9/11, a one-hour documentary that was broadcast on Animal Planet Canada for the 10th Anniversary of the Ground Zero tragedy and the second highest rated program on the channel for the year. Her independent documentaries include The Big Wait, (2010) a poignant documentary about the doctor shortage in Canada and Long Haul Big Hearts (2007), the story of a long haul truck driver and his rescue mission to deliver relief supplies to Hurricane Katrina victims.

Sally Blake – Producer:

Sally Blake is an award winning producer/director/editor whose work has been shown around the world. Sally cut her filmmaking teeth in the bizarre world of professional wrestling, co-producing the Gemini-award winning documentary feature, Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows (TVO, BBC, ARTE, A&E). From pink tights to evangelical pop stars, and machine guns to Leonardo Da Vinci’s mules, Sally continues to look for important stories in unusual places. Her recent films include: Cat Ladies (TVO, Canal D), about loneliness and social acceptance as experienced through four women and their cats; Peep Culture (CBC, Canal D, Gemini Award), a jarring tale of lives transformed into broadcast entertainment and The Emperor’s Lost Harbour (CBC, ARTE), an architectural detective story following the emergence of 37 shipwrecks in the decidedly land locked centre of Istanbul.

Diane Woods – Producer:

Diane Woods combines her passion for great stories, her love of nature, knowledge of the film industry and her experience as an accountant (CMA) to produce dynamic compelling natural history and science programs featured on National Geographic Canada, Discovery Channel, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and Knowledge Network. Her documentaries have won repeated recognition at national and international award festivals including several nominations for Smoke From His Fire (2007) and Ancient Sea Gardens: Mystery of the Pacific Northwest  (2006). She is also known nationally and internationally as a pioneer and leader in emerging technology having produced the first high definition television program for National Geographic Canada Channel; and produced/consulted on the first and several live action Stereoscopic  3D programs in Canada.

Martin de la Fouchardiere – Producer:

Martin de la Fouchardiere has been making documentary films for the past eight years, starting off as the production manager of the Emmy-nominated Four Wings and a Prayer, the Cannes Film Festival feature doc, Two in the Wave, and the docu-drama Charles Darwin’s Grand Voyage. He has produced numerous international co-productions, notably the feature length docu-drama, Hitler’s Museum, which sold to over 20 countries worldwide, Mister Wong and The Emperor’s Lost Harbour . Martin de la Fouchardière is fluent in English, French and German and is a musician with a love of Flamenco!

John BV Kelly — Consulting Financial Producer/Business Affairs:

John BV Kelly has 20 years of practice bridging the worlds of finance, commerce media and entertainment law. A lawyer with experience in international co-production financing and other complex film financing models, his expertise includes documentary production, social innovation, UN partnerships, corporate finance and impact investment. Previously John was the COO at IMX and VP Business Affairs at Imagex Films. He is currently the CEO of Neko Harbour Entertainment, producers of the award-winning documentaries The Antarctica Challenge and The Polar Explorer, the only films ever invited to screen for negotiators at the UN Climate Change Conferences (Copenhagen and Cancún). He also founded Youth Climate Report.

Diana Warme —Line Producer/Production Manager:

Diana Warme has worked at Toronto based Cave 7 Productions as PM/Line Producer/Co-Producer with filmmaker Jamie Kastner since 2003, most recently on the feature length doc The Secret Disco Revolution, which premiered at TIFF 2012 and which will have its US and Canadian theatrical release in spring 2013. She has also worked as PM/Associate Producer/Researcher with Sun-Kyung Yi and John Haslett Cuff at Aysha Productions for many years, most recently on Echoes, which just premiered on TVO. Diana wears many hats and has assisted and consulted on a range of projects for other acclaimed filmmakers including Shelley Saywell and Deborah Parks, John Kastner, Sarah Spinks, Jari Osborne and Ann Shin among others.