Broke.
Canada, 2008, 77’13
In association with TVO and Knowledge

Broke. The latest documentary from award-winning filmmaker Rosie Dransfeld is set in a pawnshop.  Its owner, David Woolfson, is a banker of last resort. The grouchy old guy with the mushy heart, Jewish immigrant from South Africa, is running the store for nearly 16 years. Not that he needs to. It’s just that, if he was stuck at home, he would go mad. 

Then, one day, Chris Hoard, ex-convict and psychopath, shows up and offers his help.  For free. An unlikely friendship develops. Chris is learning a lot from the old cynic. But he has his own luggage to carry, and it is wearing him down.

Shot in cinema verite style, Broke. is a highly entertaining sitcom – featuring a cast of  gripping characters, but without a script. Well, sometimes reality is more colourful than fiction.

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Produced by: National Film Board of Canada and ID: Productions Inc. 2007
70 minutes

Misunderstood and abused over a period of thirty years, Michael Borowski decided to turn away from people and be with the dogs. They taught him to love and respect himself. Now he is ready to face the world surrounding him.

Watch a clip from The Dogwalker

Produced by ID: Productions Inc. in association with CBC Newsworld, 2006
50 minutes

To understand what’s going on in the work place, Rosie divides mankind into bosses and underlings. Her zoological field study observes the dominance behaviour of three successful bosses in their specific habitat. The results are striking!

Watch a clip from Bosses



Get BOSSES media kit and photography

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada and Courageous Idea! Productions, 2003
48 minutes

Film about the scandalous lack of support for families with children with disabilities: luckily severely handicapped Bethany has a mother who fights like a lion to secure the support her daughter needs to develop into an independent human being.

Watch Mothers of Courage Clip



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Mothers of Courage on the NFB site

Produced by: Black Spring Pictures Inc. 2003
43 minutes

Alberta ain’t the easiest province to live in under normal circumstances, but when Rosie finds out that quite a few Albertans want to separate from Canada, because of some injustice from 35 years ago, she finds herself at the end of her patience. She journeys through the province to have a talk with these guys.

Watch the Crash Course Alberta Clip



Crash Course Alberta on the CBC Rough Cuts site

Produced by: National Film Board of Canada. 2002
51 minutes

30 years ago David May, a writer from Scotland, innocently moves to Canada. He writes several books but as soon as he starts his research on the cultural history of the beaver, Canada’s National emblem possesses him.  To get rid of this quirky but certainly unhealthy obsession the writer heads out on a quest full of mad cap adventures.  Will he ever have a normal life without the rodent nagging him?

Watch the Beaverman Clip



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Beaverman on the NFB site

More and more churches have discovered the potential of saving the ‘lost souls’ of skaters.  Basic principal: First they listen to the gospel and pray, and then they are allowed to skate.

In this road movie style series I want to follow a pro-skater on his trip along the West Coast of North America, visiting various skate churches.

The series has been developed with the financial support of Vision TV.

Interested? Contact Rosie to order the information kit.

When Abdoul Kamara immigrated to Canada 25 years ago, he made an oath to the family he had left behind in Sierra Leone: Whatever happened to his parents, brothers, sisters, his aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and his cousins, he would always protect them. He'd send them money so they would never starve again. He’d ensure an education for their children.  From now on they would live in peace and economic safety.

The documentary has been developed with the financial help of NFB and CBC TransCanada Fund.

Interested? Contact Rosie to order the information kit.

A docu-soap series about real life neighbours, warts and all.

Neighbours goes behind the manicured lawns of four young couples for a year to reveal the real truth about their mortgages and marital problems.  As the couples take up residence, we’ll witness the real life drama of tackling the most stressful life changes – moving home, the birth and upbringing of a first child, starting up a business, getting married and maybe even getting divorced.  Bliss, after all, is short lived these days, leaving the majority of marriages in deep trouble within two years.

For some, it’s a place of last resort. To others, an oasis of happiness.  Humans sit on one side of the waiting room, animals on the other. Their hope for a cure lies in the hands of husband-and-wife team Steve and Karen Marsden who own and run the cutting edge Edmonton Holistic Veterinary Clinic. The series One Life At A Time goes behind the scenes to document the real-life dramas of pets and humans whose lives are at stake. No worries: besides the drama there will always be enough room for humour and quirkiness.

Applying her signature style of direction, Rosie follows the leaders of Canada’s five major parties across the country, recording the subtle (and not-so-subtle) moves in the game of Rulers and Subjects and its goal of winning “the popular vote.”