... EXTENDED BIOGRAPHY

Liz Marshall is a Toronto born / based filmmaker who spent her childhood summers playing and imagining on the salty sorrel beaches of British Columbia.

In the early 90's Liz Marshall majored in film, video and photography in the Media Arts Program at Ryerson University. Her thesis project 
“Identity Portraits” explored the complexities of identity and revealed a talent for intimate character development and image making. Marshall went on to work in television, for non-governmental organizations, and for hire. She is well versed in the craft of storytelling having worked as a videographer, cinematographer, producer, director, writer and photographer since 1994.

Passionate about character-driven cinematic storytelling and social justice Liz has created projects shot all over the world: in West and Central Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Central and South America, Europe and North America. She has focused on the right to water; censorship affecting writers and journalists; war-affected children; corporate-globalization; gender; sweatshop labour; refugees; HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa; popular culture; music; dance, and the written and spoken word.

Liz’s most recent film is Water On The Table (2010), featuring Maude Barlow’s crusade to have water declared a human right. Water On The Table was nominated for the Donald Brittain Award for best social political documentary at the 2010 GEMINIS. It won the Best Canadian Feature Film Award at the
11th Annual Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival. It is the 2010
Featured Canadian Film for Cinema Politica. And it won the 2011
Honourable Mention for Canada's inaugural Environmental Media Association Awards (EMA's).

In 2008, Liz directed Girls of Latitude, a documentary about the rights of girls in Colombia, Haiti and South-Sudan, in partnership with Plan Canada for MTV and CTV. She directed episode 6 of the unorthodox Gemini nominated 8-part music series The Rawside of … about the reunion of the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir for the Independent Film Channel. In 2006-2007 she directed and produced three half-hour documentaries for the Stephen Lewis Foundation about women, orphans and grandmothers infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, these films have been screened thousands of times for grassroots groups. In 2005, on behalf of “CBC News: Sunday,” Liz shot The Afterlife of Einstein’s Brain. In 2004 Liz shot and co-directed Inside Your Threads for MuchMusic about sweatshop labour in Mexico and Bangladesh featuring music celebrities Sam Roberts, Jully Black and Hawksley Workman, it was short-listed for the 2005 Deborah Fletcher Award (CIDA); it won Gold for the 2005 Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), and Bronze for the 2005 New York International Film Festival. While working as the Media Director for War Child Canada between 1999 and 2001 Liz directed Musicians in the WarZone, a multi-award-winning program for MuchMusic that attracted half-a-million viewers, featuring music celebrities the Rascalz, David Usher, Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace: Awards: Gold - Cable in the Classroom; Gold - Canadian Association of Broadcasters  (CAB); Bronze - New York International Film Festival.

Between 1998 and 2003 Liz worked as an Arts, News, and Specials television producer and videographer for award winning shows at Bravo!, MuchMusic, and BookTelevision: The Channel. And fresh out of university between 1995–1996 Liz was commissioned by Righteous Babe Records to create a multi-media archive of folk-icon Ani DiFranco. Liz directed a unique collage-style portrait of Ani on tour in parts of Canada and the US.

Liz also works as a series and episode director for television. Recent credits include working with Mike Holmes on the well known Holmes Inspection series (2010). In 2008-2009 Liz was the series director on the second season of Stuck, a 13-part series for the W Network. Additionally, since 1995, Liz has created a body of dance and music videos featuring the following artists: Acclaimed dancer, choreographer Peggy Baker; celebrated singer-songwriters Ron Sexsmith and Don Kerr (Sexsmith & Kerr), Kyp Harness, Canadian-Egyptian chanteuse Maryem Tollar, and the world music ensemble Maza Meze.

Liz is also a published and passionate 35mm documentary stills photographer.

 ... AND IT CONTINUES ...