Wanda Nolan
Production
Biography
Wanda Nolan is a writer and filmmaker from Newfoundland, Canada. In 2014, she was named one of eleven writers to watch for by CBC Canada Writes. In the Fall of 2016, she made her directorial debut with two short films: an animation, The Mystery of the Secret Room (2016), produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Magic of the Secret Room was nominated for two Golden Sheaf Awards: Best Emerging Filmmaker and Best Animation. It was also nominated for a Golden Egg Award at the Reykjavik International Film Festival. The same year she released Crocuses (2016), produced by LJH Films. Crocuses was the winner of Best Short at the Nickel Film Festival; and, winner of the RBC Michelle Jackson Emerging Artist Award - a financial and mentorship prize for emerging female filmmakers. . It was also chosen for the 2018 Women in Film and TV International (WIFTI) Short Film Showcase where it will be shown in over 40 countries this year. Her feature screenplay The Magic of Boxer Connors was the winner of the 2012 Inspired Script Harold Greenburg Award. It is currently in development with Pope Productions. Wanda is also a story consultant, her credits include the feature documentaries DANNY (NFB) and Luben and Elena (NFB). She has a Masters of Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.
Known For

Adopted Montreal filmmaker Adrian Wills discovers, on camera and in real time, the startling truths of his complex beginnings in Newfoundland. Shocking details drive Wills to the core of his birth mother’s resilience, and ultimately his own. In this moving feature documentary that combines 16mm footage and contemporary images with deeply personal conversations, Wills’ voyage transforms from an urgent search for identity into a quest to give a quiet girl her voice.
A Quiet Girl

Feisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.
Mabel

This short film pays tribute to actress and comedian Mary Walsh. Layering archival photographs of downtown St. John’s and evocative imagery, it tells the remarkable story of a little girl who grew up next door to her family. Inspired by Mary Walsh’s one woman play Dancing with Rage, the film reveals the heart of the unique characters created by Newfoundland’s grand dame of comedy. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
Imaginary Heroine

An old flame dredges up family secrets. Will four sisters finally put their jealousies and misconceptions to rest?
Four Sisters
Alice, a bus tour guide in St. John's Newfoundland with a broken heart unexpectedly tells her tales of love and loss to a group of life-weary tourists and realizes the power of the moments she has experienced in the city.
The Tour

The Death of Winter: In 1830s Newfoundland, a woman is on trial for the murder of her husband. While innocent of the homicide, she is hanged for having an affair.
The Death of Winter

Mystery of the Secret Room takes viewers on a spellbinding voyage between the real and the imaginary. An inspiring portrait of family, adversity, and resilience, this richly hued animated short tells the tale of 10-year-old Grace, who uses her creative superpowers to navigate the emotional landscape of her mother’s depression.
Mystery of the Secret Room

A folklorist is summoned by the last living soul of a forgotten community to witness a folktale transform into a terrifying reality.
Always Going Never Gone

When 74-year-old Robert Tilley agreed to take photographer Ting Ting Chen on a road trip across Newfoundland, neither could have predicted the deep, cross-generational friendship that would blossom between them, nor how Robert's role in Ting Ting's art would challenge traditional ideas of the artist-muse relationship. This touching short film explores the concepts of aging, memory and identity while demonstrating the power of creative connection.
The Muse

A feature documentary about the life of former Newfoundland Premier, Danny Williams
Danny

On the last day of packing up her home, a woman can't shake the regret she feels about her late husband.
Crocuses

Chronicles ten weeks with Lauda - a pioneering youth ensemble within the internationally renowned Shallaway Youth Choir, one of only a handful of choirs in the world to embrace all neurotypes. As the choristers prepare for their end of season concert, they reveal the joyful harmony they’ve found together while navigating a world not always tuned to their rhythm.
Sing the World Better
When there's a knock on their apartment door Thanksgiving Day, Jay decides that today's not the day to introduce his girlfriend and common-law partner, Sam, to his Cameroonian parents.
Common Law

In the stark Labrador interior, a growing number of Filipino workers have recently landed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, travelling halfway around the world for jobs they hope will offer their families new opportunities and a better life. Becoming Labrador follows a handful of them as they make a place for themselves in Labrador while dealing with the unexpected costs of living far from their family.
Becoming Labrador

On September 7, 2012, Ashley MacDonald was sexually assaulted. In this powerful first time film, she talks to strangers about what that same day looked like in their own lives. What were they doing? What happened to them? The result is a documentary about processing trauma, and the power of openness and connection to help us heal.
September 7, 2012

Deeply rooted in artistic families, young Luben Boykov and Elena Popova escape the repressions of communist Bulgaria and find refuge on the island of Newfoundland in 1990. With their 2-year-old daughter and sixty dollars they begin to build a new life. At the height of what many would define as success, they leap again, understanding that the greatest risk for art, and for love, is taking it for granted.