Patricia Watson

Patricia Watson (March 12, 1930 – February 13, 2015) was an award-winning Canadian filmmaker. She wrote, directed and produced numerous films and documentaries such as The Invention of the Adolescent and The Legacy of Mary McEwan (1987) which were her most well known and significant films.

Background Patricia Watson was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 12, 1930. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History and Modern Languages from the University of Toronto Watson had two children, Sasha and Maggie King and one step daughter, Anna King. Her films also stood out through her incorporation of feminism in many of her documentaries and her interesting ways of portraying characters, for example The Legacy of Mary McEwan is described in a review by John Hasslett Cuff, "The most frustrating aspect of tonight's otherwise intriguing documentary about feminist psychiatrist Mary McEwan, is the absence of the woman herself. In the NFB production, The Legacy of Mary McEwan (Vision TV at 8 and 11), she appears only briefly at the beginning and near the end. This is not a criticism of producer/director Patricia Watson; the film is actually a testimonial to McEwan, who died in 1985. But the seven women interviewed, who were her patients and friends, speak with such emotion and affection and reveal so many tantalizing glimpses of this fascinating woman, that the viewer is curious to experience something of the paragon herself." Aside from films, Watson also wrote the short story, My Husbands Wedding, and had some of her art work featured at the Heliconian Club. The Summer we Moved to Elm Street (1966) - director, writer The Invention of the Adolescent (1967) - director The Admittance (1968) - director, writer Who Has Seen the Wind (1977) - writer The Best Time of my Life: Portraits of Women in Mid-life (1985) - director, producer The Legacy of Mary McEwan (1987) - director, producer

Awards 1969: International Children’s Film Festival, La Plata Argentina (For The Invention of the Adolescent)

1969: The American Film and Video Festival, New York (For The Invention of the Adolescent)

1970: International Educational Film Festival, Tehran, Iran (For The Invention of the Adolescent)

Golden Reel Award (For Who Has Seen the Wind)

Grand Prix at the Paris International Film Festival (For Who Has Seen the Wind)