Lynne Fernie

Lynne Fernie (born 1946) is a Canadian filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. She spent fourteen years as the Canadian Spectrum programmer for the Hot Docs Festival from 2002 to 2016, and was described as having a passion as "deep as her knowledge," and it was said that her "championing of Canadian documentaries and the people who make them has never wavered."

Career Fernie was the co-director with Aerlyn Weissman of the award-winning 1992 documentary film Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives. They also co-directed Fiction and Other Truths: a film about Jane Rule, an award-winning biography about the author and Order of Canada recipient, Jane Rule. Her short films School's Out! (1996) and Apples and Oranges (2003) Forbidden Love was re-released on a streaming service in 2012 to celebrate its " place as an integral part of LGBT film history."

Fernie is a member of numerous arts and LGBT organizations in Toronto. She was a co-founding collective member of the feminist periodical Fireweed and worked as editor and editor-in-chief of the artist-run centre magazine Parallélogrammefor a number of years. She was engaged with LGBTQ+ culture with the Lesbian Organization of Toronto and the Inside Out Film and Video Festival. She was a frequent songwriting lyric writer and collaborator with the pop band Parachute Club, including lyrics for the band's most famous single, "Rise Up" which was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in November 2019.

She taught production at the film studies department at York University for eight years, and is a programmer for the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. She is interviewed in Matthew Hays' Lambda Literary Award-winning 2007 book The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers.

Personal life Lynne Fernie currently lives in Toronto and her visual art is available through the Oeno Gallery. She has exhibited visual art and been the recipient of arts and film grants from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council, and has been a jury member of Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council, specifically the Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal Grant in 1997, Canada Council Research and Development Grant in 1995, the Canada Council “B” Grant in 1989, and the Canada Council Publication Assistance Grant in 1983.

Filmography Film TitleYearCredited asRoleNotesWriterExecutive ProducerAnimation/ArtdepartmentOtherForbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives 1992 Director Fiction and Other Truths: A Film About Jane Rule 1995 Director Portland: Strip City U.S.A./Strange Sisters: The Golden Age of Lesbian Pulp 2002 As herselfSexTV 2002 As herself Fascination 2006 As herselfTake This Waltz 2011

Television TitleYearCredited asRoleNotesWriterExecutive ProducerDirectorAnimation/ArtdepartmentQSW: The Rebel Zone 2001 Writer of "Neon Blue"Little Sister's vs. Big Brother 2002 Rise Up: Canadian Pop Music in the 1980s 2009 Katie Chats 2015 As herself HotDocs Press Conference Chats 2015 2015 As herself

Awards and nominations Year Organization Award Category Work Result 1981 Ontario Arts Council M. Joan Chalmers Awards for Arts Administration, Artistic Direction and Documentary Film and Video "Picnic in the Drift" 1984 Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Juno Award Composer of the Year "Rise Up" 1993 Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television Genie Awards Best Feature Length Documentary Forbidden Love: The unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives 1995 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience Award Best Documentary Fiction and Other Truths: A Film About Jane Rule 1996 Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television Genie Awards Best Short Documentary Fiction and Other Truths: A Film About Jane Rule L.A Outfest Audience Award Outstanding Documentary Short Film Fiction and Other Truths: A Film About Jane Rule Toronto Arts Council Toronto Arts Council Award Visual art Visual art

Exhibitions