| Raymonde
Provencher |
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Raymonde Provencher
has been roving the world, led by her passion for international
issues, for over twenty-five years. Her reporting career began
in the Radio-Canada newsroom in 1973. For the next ten years,
she worked on a number of television programs at Radio-Canada
and Télé-Québec that allowed her to expand
her horizons into areas such as cultural issues with Femmes
D'aujourd'hui (1973-1976); daily news with Ce Soir
(1976-1980); politics with special reports such as Référendum
80; scientific issues with Science-Réalité
(1980) and public affairs with L'Objectif (1980-1983).
During her two-year mandate as President of the Quebec Federation
of Professional Journalists, the association undertook the
first major review of international reporting in the province
of Quebec.
In 1983, Raymonde and film makers Robert Cornellier and Patricio
Henriquez teamed up to create and develop Télé-Québecs
Nord-Sud television program, which soon became the provinces
benchmark international news show. For the next thirteen years,
the length of the Nord-Sud adventure, Raymonde played
an active role in nearly 100 reports, traveling to some thirty
countries in the process. Among these reports were a number
of prize-winners, including Tajwar Kakar, moudjaheda Afghane,
winner of the M.I.M. Award (Media, Islam and Muslims, 1989);
Femmes en péril, a documentary on the fate of women
refugees in Malaysia, Costa Rica and Zambia that won the Media
Watch Award in Toronto (1990) and the 3rd prize of the Rencontre
Média Nord-Sud in Geneva (1991); and, Les Défis
d'Aristide, rewarded with the Grand Prix de la Communauté
des Télévisions Francophones, International
category (1991). Between reports, Raymonde served as host
of Nord-Sud.
In 1995, when the Nord-Sud adventure came to an end,
Raymonde and her colleagues, Patricio Henriquez and Robert
Cornellier, decided to form their own private production company:
Macumba International. Soon, the threesome developed Living
in the City, the first major documentary series to spotlight
some of the most fascinating cities in the world through citizens
personal accounts. Raymonde Provencher both researched and
hosted this thirteen part urban documentary series that was
completed in 2000.
At the same time, she also worked on the documentary Des
marelles et des petites filles (Les Productions Virage
inc.), a project she instigated which went on to win three
Gémeaux awards including the prize for best research.
As a co-producer, Raymonde collaborated on two documentaries
directed by Patricio Henriquez: September 11, 1973 : The
Last Stand of Salvador Allende, and Images of a Dictatorship.
Both received critical acclaim and numerous awards and prizes.
In 2001, as part of the Extremis series which
won three Gémeaux awards Raymonde directed documentaries
on child workers in the Philippines and on the pilferage of
water in Palestine.
The following year, she wrote and directed the feature-length
documentary War Babies, on the fate of children
born to victims of wartime rape. The film won critical acclaim
and four Gémeaux Awards (2003) for
Best documentary, Research, Editing and Sound, the Audience
Award for Best documentary at the Hot Docs! Canadian International
Festival in Toronto, Canada (2003), the Best Documentary award
at the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival in Saskatchewan,
Canada (2003), and the Human Rights award at the Docupolis
International Documentary Festival in Barcelona, Spain.
In 2005, Raymonde directed Leaving or Dying,
an episode of the eXtremis series on illegal
immigration. In 2007, she completed a film on abuses committed
by Peacekeepers around the world Blue Helmets: Peace
and Dishonour and in 2008, she released A
Senseless Death a film about one of the first American
GIs killed in Iraq. She is now currently working on a film
on the fate of girl soldiers in Uganda. |