Cynthia Scott

Cynthia Scott (born January 1, 1939) is a Canadian award-winning filmmaker who has produced, directed, written, and edited several films with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Her works have won the Oscar and Canadian Film Award. Scott is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Her projects with the NFB are mainly focused on documentary filmmaking. Some of Scott's most notable documentaries for the NFB feature dancing and the dance world including Flamenco at 5:15, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 56th Academy Awards in 1984. She is married to filmmaker John N. Smith; their son is actor Dylan Smith.

Background

Cynthia Scott was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Early career in media

After graduation, Scott worked at the Manitoba Theatre Centre as a second assistant director before moving to London, England where she worked as a researcher for Patrick Wilson and Douglas Leiterman on This Hour Has Seven Days. Despite her interest in filmmaking, Scott explains that she originally believed that director work was solely for men and that directing positions were unattainable for women. In 1976, Scott produced the controversial Barbara Greene documentary Listen Listen Listen (1976) for the NFB.

During her time with the National Film Board of Canada, Scott went on to participate in a women in the directors chair workshop in Banff, Alberta. In her Sarah Kernochan interview Scott describes this intensive workshop is an opportunity to educate and bring women directors together. The film was a huge success in both Canada and international markets; it became the highest grossing NFB produced film ever at the time.

In an interview with Sarah Kernochan, Scott stated that while she was working on the film her production team members were all women. Flamenco at 5:15 focuses on the reality of what it is like to be inside a Flamenco dance class at the National Ballet of Canada.

After career Scott was diagnosed with cancer while she was developing an adaptation of The Stone Diaries, a 1993 fictional autobiography written by Carol Shields. She said she plans to go back into development on The Stone Diaries once her health has returned to normal.

In an interview about the success of her film The Company of Strangers, Scot said that she wants to learn to speak French fluently. Scott and her husband John N. Smith have spent a number of summers residing on currant lake in Dunany, Quebec. The Dunany community organization honoured Scott by holding an event at the community club house where her Oscar award winning documentary Flamenco at 5:15 was screened.

Flamenco at 5:15 (1983): 56th Academy Awards: Best Documentary Short - won 12th Genie Awards: Best Picture - nominated 12th Genie Awards: Film Editing - won Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival: Best Feature Film Vancouver International Film Festival: Most Popular Canadian Film International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg: Grand Newcomer Award