ARTIE SHAW:
Time is all you've got

Brigitte Berman is an Academy Award®-winning producer, director, editor and writer who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and graduated from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, where she studied English and Film. Her work in the film and television industry encompasses more than thirty-five years. She has produced and directed over two hundred documentaries, both independently and at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

With her independent production company, Bridge Film Productions Inc., Berman has directed and produced two feature documentaries Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got and BIX: “ain’t none of them play like him yet”. Both have been showcased at numerous international film festivals. BIX won her the Bronze Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, and Artie Shaw: Time is All You’ve Got, won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary, as well as First Prize at the Valladolid International Film Festival.

Subsequently she wrote, directed and produced her first dramatic feature The Circle Game, which had its world premiere at TIFF, as well as showcasing at a number of international film festivals.

Berman has continued to work as a writer, director and producer both in theatre and in film, making documentaries and dramas to the present day.

Berman and Victor Solnicki’s controversial and award-winning Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (2010) feature documentary has been shown at over twenty- five International Film Festivals. It showcases Hefner’s role as a pioneer during the civil rights movement. The 42nd NAACP Image Awards nominated Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel for Outstanding Feature Documentary.

The River of My Dreams: A Portrait of Gordon Pinsent is the second collaboration for Berman and her late husband, producer Victor Solnicki. It had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. The film features one of Canada’s great icons actor/director/writer Gordon Pinsent. It was also showcased at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was the Opening Night Gala at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival. Subsequently the film travelled across Canada with numerous festival and art house screenings, including a special presentation for Canada’s 150th Birthday Celebration at Ottawa’s National Art Centre in February, 2017.

Hugh Hefner’s After Dark: Speaking Out in America, is the third collaboration for Berman and Solnicki and is the brain child of her late husband and writing/producing partner, Victor Solnicki. The film was completed in August 2018 and world premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and went on to screen at numerous other international Film Festivals. It won the ‘Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Canadian Film’ at the Whistler Film Festival in December 2019 and won the Best Documentary Feature Film Award at the Montana International Film Festival in 2019.

During the pandemic, she took the opportunity to restore her first feature documentary film BIX: “ain’t none of them play like him yet!. On August 6th, 2021, this newly restored film world premiered at the Film Forum in New York City where it received a New York Times ‘Critics Pick’ and a number of excellent reviews. Currently she is in post-production on her next feature documentary film about an iconic ballet dancer.

In 2023 she restored her Oscar-winning documentary Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got which had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. In January 2024, her newly restored film had its U.S. premiere at the Film Forum in New York City where it received a New York Times ‘Critics Pick’. The New York Times called it “Spectacular...an unfailingly entertaining saga.”