Lois Siegel (born 1946) is an American-born Canadian film director and photographer.Jean Russell, "Genie-award winner Lois Siegel partied all night; Then it was right back to work for documentary film-maker from Kirkland". Montreal Gazette, March 22, 1990. She is most noted for her 1989 short documentary film Stunt People,Jim Levesque, "Lois Siegel's Stunt People". Cinema Canada, November 1989. and her 1995 feature documentary Baseball Girls.Bill Brownstein, "Picking up ball Burns dropped; Montreal director chronicles role of women in baseball". Montreal Gazette, March 21, 1990.
Early career Born in Wisconsin,Martha Jones, "Introducing Lois Siegel: Overdosed on energy". Cinema Canada, January/February 1979. Siegel attended Ohio University, where she was a sportswriter for the student newspaper. After graduating with a master's degree in English, she moved to Montreal in 1970 to study French at McGill University. After completing her studies, she decided to stay in Canada, becoming a Canadian citizen and working in various roles in film, including assistant camera credits on the films East End Hustle, The Rubber Gun and Happiness Is Loving Your Teacher.
Filmmaking Her first film for the NFB was 1979's Stunt Family, part of the Canada Vignettes series.
In 1983 she released the experimental feature film A 20th Century Chocolate Cake."Lois Siegel's A 20th Century Chocolate Cake". Cinema Canada, July/August 1983. She followed up in 1988 with Strangers in Town, a mid-length documentary film about people with albinism.
In this era she also had numerous credits as a casting director, including on the films Train of Dreams, Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, Princes in Exile and Vincent and Me.Bruce Bailey, "Filming Tommy Tricker more than child's play for Montrealer Rubbo". Montreal Gazette, July 24, 1987.
Stunt People, released in 1989, was a longer film about the same family of stunt performers she had profiled in Stunt Family. It was the winner of the Genie Award for Best Short Documentary at the 11th Genie Awards in 1990,Jay Scott, "Jesus swept: an even dozen Genies". The Globe and Mail, March 21, 1990.
She followed up in 1993 with Lip Gloss, a documentary film about the drag scene in Montreal whose participants included Armand Larrivée, Derek McKinnon and Guilda.Jay Stone, "Documentary provides glimpse of world most never see". Ottawa Citizen, June 15, 1994. Baseball Girls, a film about the history of women's baseball, followed in 1995.
She has also taught film studies courses at John Abbott College and the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.
Photography Throughout her career, Siegel was also a photographer, regularly photographing both film sets and jazz, blues and rock concerts.Anne Sutherland, "Shooting Stars: Lois Siegel's photographs are testimony to time spent on movie sets around town". Montreal Gazette, March 13, 1997. She did this mainly as a hobby at first, but after Baseball Girls she began to exhibit her photography in gallery shows.
She later moved to Ottawa, where she taught video production at the University of Ottawa,Paul Gessell, "Soul catcher". Ottawa Citizen, July 13, 2004. and continued to work as a freelance photographer for media, arts organizations and community groups in the city.Andrea Lewandoski, "Taking time to make a difference: Lois Siegel shows you can fight city hall". Capital Xtra!, November 3, 2004. She was also the writer of "A Man for All Stages", a documentary about actor Christopher Plummer, for the CBC Television biographical documentary series Life and Times.
Filmography Spectrum in White - 1971 Paralysis - 1972 Painting With Light - 1974 Boredom - 1976 Faces - 1976 Canada Vignettes: Stunt Family - 1978 Dialogue of an Ancient Fog - 1978 Recipe to Cook a Clown - 1978 Solitude - 1978 Arena - 1979 A 20th Century Chocolate Cake - 1983 Plastic Dreams - 1988 Strangers in Town - 1988 Stunt People - 1989 Pancake on a Hot Tin Roof - 1990 Lip Gloss - 1993 Baseball Girls - 1995
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