The late Charles Officer was an undeniable talent who, while taken way too soon, left a mark on Canadian cinema that will reverberate for decades to come. Originally drafted by the Calgary Flames, before injuries led to him to pivot from hockey into a career in filmmaking, his keen eye and gifted storytelling abilities were evident from the start. Officer’s debut short film When Morning Comes premiered at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and his debut feature, the award-winning Nurse.Fighter.Boy, premiered at the festival eight years later. Despite the praise latter received it, including being nominated for 10 Genie Awards, securing funding for his next narrative feature, 2020’s Akilla’s Escape, was a challenge.
In between, the Canadian Film Centre alum made several award-winning documentaries and worked in television directing episodes of Coroner, The Porter and more. He was the founder and creative director of the CaneSuger Filmworks, a production company which he ran with business partner Jake Yanowski, and one of the co-founders of the Black Screen Office, a non-profit organization that works to make Canada’s screen industries equitable and free of anti-Black racism.
After his death the Toronto Film Critics Association bestowed on him posthumously the Company 3 TFCA Luminary Award, which is the organizations lifetime achievement award. The award also comes with a “pay it forward” component, where the recipient selects an artist still early in their career to receive 50K grant in production equipment from Company 3. On behalf of Officer, Yanowski selected filmmaker Thyrone Tommy to receive the grant. The Toronto Film Festival and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced a new award , that will be given annually to a Canadian filmmaker who best exhibits the qualities and artistic vision that the Officer displayed.
Films:
When Morning Comes (2000)
Short Hymn, Silent War (2002)
Pop Song (2003)
Urda/Bone (2003)
Nurse.Fighter.Boy (2009)
Mighty Jerome (2010)
100 Musicians (2012)
The Skin We’re In (2017)
Unarmed Verse (2017)
Invisible Essence: The Little Prince (2018)
Akilla’s Escape (2020)