Jacques HOLeNDER - Producer/Director

Jacques Holender born in Ndola Zambia, attended film school in London and became an independent filmmaker in Canada, where he has produced and directed critically acclaimed films which have been seen at international film festivals, and on worldwide prime-time television. Broadcasts include USA (PBS, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, DISCOVERY CHANNEL) - Canada (CBC, TVO, CityTV) –  England (CHANNEL FOUR) – Germany (ZDF, WDR) -  Japan (NHK) - Australia (ABC, SBS) - Italy (RAI) - Finland (YLE)

Filmography

KODO - Heartbeat Drummers of Japan (1983 - Length 53 Minutes)
KODO - the Japanese word for heartbeat, is the name of the world famous group of musicians and dancers, whose exhilarating performances of traditional and contemporary drumming have captivated a worldwide audience. Filmed in Japan in Tokyo and Sado Island.

JUJU Music (1988 - Length 51 Minutes)
A unique performance documentary, features the urban popular tribal music of Nigeria known as Juju. The film includes a historic all-night juju concert in Lagos, with internationally known performers King Sunny Ade, Chief Commander, Ebenezer Obey, Shina Peters and I.K. Dairo.

Musicians in Exile (1990 - Length 75 Minutes)
Filmed on location in New York, Paris and London. This powerful performance documentary on artists who, due to political repression, have fled their native lands and now living and performing abroad. The film includes performances by Cubans - Paquito D'Rivera - Daniel Ponce, South Africans Hugh Masekela - Jonas Quangawa - Julian Bahula and Chileans Quilapayun.

Voodoo (1992 - Length 74 Minutes)
Is the lifeblood of Haiti. It sparked the revolution that gave Haiti its independence in 1804. Today, it fires the imagination of a proud people beset by poverty, disease and repression. Shot in Haiti in August, 1991, Voodoo is a sympathetic portrait of a tragic nation. Performances include Boukman Esperienace. 

TIME is on my side  (1995 - Length 54 Minutes)
A fame rock star dies in Toronto under suspicious circumstances. As his body is transported through the netherworld of the death industries, his questioning spirit encounters the people who make their living where life ends. Part documentary, part fiction, the film reveals a society that demands to be shielded from death.

STAGED - The architecture of Pop Concerts (1996 - Length 51 Minutes)
Is the ultimate backstage pass into the creative chaos of concert staging - with commentary and sizzling footage from the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, The Who, U2, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Neil Young and a galaxy of stars.

Wake Up! (1998 - Length 50 Minutes)
Is an effervescent performance documentary. It's subject Lorraine Klassen, a passionate South African exile based in Montreal, has enraptured audiences with her township-jazz performances.

RATS (2000 - Length 70 Minutes)
Is a black comedy feature film about a filmmaker who convinces a broadcaster to fund a documentary on rats. His progress is continually interrupted by set backs and further personal rat infestations until one night, he discovers another documentary has beaten him to the punch. Cast: David Hemblen - David Fox - Torri Higginson - Miff

Rats Tales (2000 - Length 42 Minutes)
Is a remarkable collection of gripping and unusual stories about rats as told by people who encounter them by chance or b chase. Neither the "war on rats" declared by the mayor of New York, no the Alberta Rat Patrol, or the professional exterminator appear to be winning their unending battle with these reviled creatures and their unending war for self-preservation.

TRACES (1982 - Length 10 Minutes)
Through imagistic poetry, TRACES imagines the emotional experience of a horse as it powerfully explodes out of the start gate during a race.