Contact
Jonathan Bland
Jonathan Bland
jonathanbland-at-gmail-dot-calm
Avatars
Director
Lighting Cameraman
Avatars
Director
Lighting Cameraman
Gear
Camera
Canon 5D Mark II
- 24-105mm f4L IS USM
- 100mm f2.8L IS Macro USM
- 35mm f1.4L USM
- 14mm f2.8L II USM
- 2 - 32 GB Cards
- 4 - LPE6 Batteries
- TC-80N3 Remote Timer
- Singh Ray Vari-ND Filter (1-8 Stops), MorSlo ND (5 Stops)
Sony PMW EX1 HD
- Century Optics 0.6X Wide Angle Adaptor
- 4 - 16GB Cards
- 2 - 8GB Cards
- 5 - BPU60 Batteries
Sound
H4H Zoom Recorder
Sennheiser MKH416 Mic w/ SKP 100 G3 Wireless Transmitter
Sennheiser EW100ENGG3 Wireless Lav MIc
Sony Wireless Lav
Work Station
Macbook Pro/ Final Cut Studio 6 w/ 10TB Raid Storage
Support Accessories
2- Gitzo Video Tripods
Matthews Mini Grip Kit/ Manfrotto SuperClamp
Lighting Can be arranged.
Bio
Born Calgary, Canada (1969).
9 years in India. Adventures in 30 other countries. Currently residing in Mumbai, India.
Interests
Documentary Film
Travel
Growing my own food
Education
1996 – 1998 SOUTHERN ALBERTA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Communication Arts - Graduate of Film Program
Major: Camera/ Editing
1998 – 1999 CALGARY SOCIETY OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS
Documentary Workshop - Writing/ Directing
In Production
2011 Bombay Taxi
Synopsis:
A feature documentary about the Taxi Drivers of Bombay, India.
Writer/ Director/ Producer/ Camera
Confirmed financing:
The Canada Council for the Arts
Manitoba Arts Council
Filmography (Condensed)
2009 Raw Opium
Documentary Feature (Canada)
Director of Photography/ Camera (India March, China December)
Commissioned by: Arte/ ZDF, Canal D, SBS Australia, TV Ontario Link
Synopsis:
Raw Opium is a two-part documentary about a commodity that has tremendous power to both to ease pain and to destroy lives. The opium poppy is the raw material for heroin, fueling a vast criminal trade far larger than the economies of many countries. It is also the source of the pharmaceutical morphine and codeine that patients desperately need for pain relief.
Raw Opium is a journey around the world and through time, where conflicting forces do battle over the narcotic sap of the opium poppy. From an opium master in Laos, to the DEA in Afghanistan and the opium smugglers of central Asia; from the fine balance of India's vast opium fields that feed both the Western pharmaceutical industry and their own escalating population of heroin addicts; to a crusading Vancouver doctor who confronts the prevailing notions of addiction.
We see how this flower has played, and continues to play, a pivotal role not just in the lives of people who grow, manufacture and use it รข€“ but also in the increasingly tense sphere of international relations. In the process, our assumptions about addiction and the War on Drugs are challenged.
2007 THE STORY OF CANADA'S ROYAL WINNIPEG BALLET - 40 YEARS OF ONE NIGHT STANDS
Documentary Feature (Canada)
Director of Photography/ Camera
Commissioned by: Bravo! Link
Synopsis:
Born out of nothing in the middle of nowhere, an impossible dream of two determined immigrants from England, the Royal Winnipeg set the ballet world on prairie fire, touring from Moscow to Flin Flon and wowing audience and critics with its youth, vitality, and innocent excitement. From it’s early days as what the NY Times dubbed a “bright feather in the cultural cap of our neighbour to the north” to international award-winning fame, the RWB ‘family’ has survived fortune, famine and fire to become one of the world’s premiere dance companies.
2006 A WAKE
Documentary Short (India) 6min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
Born Calgary, Canada (1969).
9 years in India. Adventures in 30 other countries. Currently residing in Mumbai, India.
Interests
Documentary Film
Travel
Growing my own food
Education
1996 – 1998 SOUTHERN ALBERTA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Communication Arts - Graduate of Film Program
Major: Camera/ Editing
1998 – 1999 CALGARY SOCIETY OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS
Documentary Workshop - Writing/ Directing
In Production
2011 Bombay Taxi
Synopsis:
A feature documentary about the Taxi Drivers of Bombay, India.
Writer/ Director/ Producer/ Camera
Confirmed financing:
The Canada Council for the Arts
Manitoba Arts Council
Filmography (Condensed)
2009 Raw Opium
Documentary Feature (Canada)
Director of Photography/ Camera (India March, China December)
Commissioned by: Arte/ ZDF, Canal D, SBS Australia, TV Ontario Link
Synopsis:
Raw Opium is a two-part documentary about a commodity that has tremendous power to both to ease pain and to destroy lives. The opium poppy is the raw material for heroin, fueling a vast criminal trade far larger than the economies of many countries. It is also the source of the pharmaceutical morphine and codeine that patients desperately need for pain relief.
Raw Opium is a journey around the world and through time, where conflicting forces do battle over the narcotic sap of the opium poppy. From an opium master in Laos, to the DEA in Afghanistan and the opium smugglers of central Asia; from the fine balance of India's vast opium fields that feed both the Western pharmaceutical industry and their own escalating population of heroin addicts; to a crusading Vancouver doctor who confronts the prevailing notions of addiction.
We see how this flower has played, and continues to play, a pivotal role not just in the lives of people who grow, manufacture and use it รข€“ but also in the increasingly tense sphere of international relations. In the process, our assumptions about addiction and the War on Drugs are challenged.
2007 THE STORY OF CANADA'S ROYAL WINNIPEG BALLET - 40 YEARS OF ONE NIGHT STANDS
Documentary Feature (Canada)
Director of Photography/ Camera
Commissioned by: Bravo! Link
Synopsis:
Born out of nothing in the middle of nowhere, an impossible dream of two determined immigrants from England, the Royal Winnipeg set the ballet world on prairie fire, touring from Moscow to Flin Flon and wowing audience and critics with its youth, vitality, and innocent excitement. From it’s early days as what the NY Times dubbed a “bright feather in the cultural cap of our neighbour to the north” to international award-winning fame, the RWB ‘family’ has survived fortune, famine and fire to become one of the world’s premiere dance companies.
2006 A WAKE
Documentary Short (India) 6min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
World Premier: Billytown, The Netherlands Link
Synopsis:
Diesel fumes hang heavy under the warm amber glow of sodium lamps somewhere deep in the south of the Indian sub continent.
A single lorry truck ambles through the mess of sleeping bodies and heaps of burning trash. It’s horn smashes the silence and a dog's warm carcass lays shattered. Red liquid spills from its open skull as the crows begin to smile.
Another cassette is loaded. The camera threads the tape.
In the distance, a steady stream of cockeyed headlamps drift through the thick toxic soup. The sound of grinding gears signal the dog's burial crew is arriving. Pulling on half lit cigarettes, the drivers of these ghost ships move closer. Their faces empty and sunken with the inescapable debt of karma.
Auto focus is switched to manual and pushed to infinity.
The moon moves into position as the hulking trucks arrive. One by one the necessary dance plays out... an endless cycle of death and rebirth. Morning arrives to find little more than stained streaks in the asphalt.
The camera is switched back to auto and powered down.
2004 HAUNTS OF THE BLACK MASSEUR: THE SWIMMER AS HERO
Documentary Feature (Canada/ Europe) 52 min.
Director of Photography/ Camera
Broadcast/ Commissioned by:
France: Arte
Germany, Austria, Switzerland: ZDF
Canada: TV Ontario, Knowledge Network, SCN, IFC Link
Synopsis:
Diesel fumes hang heavy under the warm amber glow of sodium lamps somewhere deep in the south of the Indian sub continent.
A single lorry truck ambles through the mess of sleeping bodies and heaps of burning trash. It’s horn smashes the silence and a dog's warm carcass lays shattered. Red liquid spills from its open skull as the crows begin to smile.
Another cassette is loaded. The camera threads the tape.
In the distance, a steady stream of cockeyed headlamps drift through the thick toxic soup. The sound of grinding gears signal the dog's burial crew is arriving. Pulling on half lit cigarettes, the drivers of these ghost ships move closer. Their faces empty and sunken with the inescapable debt of karma.
Auto focus is switched to manual and pushed to infinity.
The moon moves into position as the hulking trucks arrive. One by one the necessary dance plays out... an endless cycle of death and rebirth. Morning arrives to find little more than stained streaks in the asphalt.
The camera is switched back to auto and powered down.
Untitled from Jonathan Bland on Vimeo.
2005 KALIYUGA: AGE OF IRON
Documentary Feature (India) 60 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Editor Jonathan Bland
Canada Council for the Arts Grant/ NFB FAP Grant
World Premier Calgary International Film Festival Link
Synopsis:
Nepali Baba believes this world is an illusion. For the past 20 years he has been living a simple existence in a cave at 15 000 feet in the Indian Himalaya. He is a Hindu sannyasi (renunciate) and believes we are living in the age of darkness (Kaliyuga) where deceit and immorality are commonplace. His goal is a simple one...to find God. The film is a series of slow moving vignettes captured from his daily life over a 3 month period in 2000. These images reveal a man's life during a incredible time of change and allow the viewer to contemplate the larger religious, moral and cultural ramifications of this change.
Documentary Feature (Canada/ Europe) 52 min.
Director of Photography/ Camera
Broadcast/ Commissioned by:
France: Arte
Germany, Austria, Switzerland: ZDF
Canada: TV Ontario, Knowledge Network, SCN, IFC Link
Synopsis:
For the millions of swimmers worldwide, this film explores all that swimming has meant for so many – the splendor, the bravery, the adventure and the sensuality of the aquatic experience.
This is a film of submersive passion; from the ancient Greeks to the great swimmers and divers
For the millions of swimmers worldwide, this film explores all that swimming has meant for so many – the splendor, the bravery, the adventure and the sensuality of the aquatic experience.
This is a film of submersive passion; from the ancient Greeks to the great swimmers and divers
of the twentieth century, water has inspired a devotion beyond athletics, a virtual cult of immersion. This hour long documentary takes its inspiration from Charles Sprawson’s landmark book, Haunts of the Black Masseur – the Swimmer as Hero, and the viewer is invited to accompany Sprawson as we explore such famous swimming haunts as Turkey’s Hellespont, The Tiber, the English Channel and many other magnificent locales across Europe and the United States. Throughout the hour we will meet some of the top marathon swimmers in the world such as Lynne Cox, David Yudovin and Alison Streeter as well as famed personalities, such as photographer Linda Troeller, who share their passion for and obsession with what most of us take for granted: water.
2004 HOOK, LINE, SINKER
Documentary Short (Canada) 27 min.
Director of Photography/ Camera
Commissioned by: TV Ontario
Synopsis:
A Mecca to fishing aficionados, the KBI lures hundreds of participants and spectators from all over Canada and the US. For some, the KBI is fishing for dollars; for others, it’s an important stop on the professional circuit. But for most of these fishermen, it’s a hobby that has grown into an obsession eating up thousands of dollars in equipment and hours of vacation time. When a relaxing pastime becomes a fishing fixation and the only thing separating winner and loser is a few ounces of fish, there’s a lot on the line.
2004 KIRAN OVER MONGOLIA
Documentary Feature (Mongolia) 86 min.
Story Concept/ Writer/ Director of Photography/ Camera
Bulk Films Link
Currently on the world festival circuit
Synopsis:
Kuma, a young Kazak man, retraces the steps of his grandfather who was formerly eagle master back to the remote mountainous region of his family's origin. There, in extreme western Mongolia, he fulfills his dream of trapping and training his own eagle. Under the tutelage of a local eagle master named Khairatkhan, Kuma learns not only the ways of hunting with eagles, but also the ways of his own people.
2003 OUTCASTE
Documentary Short (India) 30 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
Official selection Hot Docs / IDFA Link
Synopsis:
Set amidst the crushing mayhem of a frighteningly overpopulated India, one human being struggles to live a simple life in silence. For the past 12 years, a Hindu ascetic has haunted the raced streets practicing his quiet austerity. In a world of inter-connectivity he is a Mauni Baba: Silent Monk.
Untouchable and stricken with a level of poverty that few in the west could comprehend, he drifts through an underworld of backward social castes and discarded refuse. With quiet comical musings he achieves basic survival, and in the eyes of God, maybe something more.
Photographed over a one-year period, and without narration, this film takes an anthropological approach to reveal the not so quiet daily life of a man that few of us would dare to trade places with.
2003 CRAPSHOOT: THE GAMBLE WITH OUR WASTE
Documentary Feature (Canada) 52 min.
Director of Photography/ Camera (India)
National Film Board of Canada Link
Synopsis:
A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water-combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food-where does it all go? And what does it do to us? From ancient times, countries have chosen the sewer to get rid of household and industrial waste, yet the contaminants we flush resurface in our food chain. Fish swim through waste water dumped into rivers, while sewage sludge is spread on farmland as fertilizer.
Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions whether the sewer is actually compounding our waste problems. While scientists warn of links between sewage practices and potential health risks, activists, engineers and concerned citizens challenge our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?
2003 HELL REALM
Documentary Short (India) 8 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
World Premier: Billytown, The Netherlands Link
Synopsis:
Life in hell.
1999 THE EDGE CINEMATOGRAPHY
Camera Assist/ Grip/ Technical Assist
Documentary/ Commercials/ Corporate/ Sports
1999 SOLE’D OUT
Commercial Advertisement - Big Rock Brewery
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera
Jonathan Bland
Documentary Short (Canada) 27 min.
Director of Photography/ Camera
Commissioned by: TV Ontario
Synopsis:
A Mecca to fishing aficionados, the KBI lures hundreds of participants and spectators from all over Canada and the US. For some, the KBI is fishing for dollars; for others, it’s an important stop on the professional circuit. But for most of these fishermen, it’s a hobby that has grown into an obsession eating up thousands of dollars in equipment and hours of vacation time. When a relaxing pastime becomes a fishing fixation and the only thing separating winner and loser is a few ounces of fish, there’s a lot on the line.
2004 KIRAN OVER MONGOLIA
Documentary Feature (Mongolia) 86 min.
Story Concept/ Writer/ Director of Photography/ Camera
Bulk Films Link
Currently on the world festival circuit
Synopsis:
Kuma, a young Kazak man, retraces the steps of his grandfather who was formerly eagle master back to the remote mountainous region of his family's origin. There, in extreme western Mongolia, he fulfills his dream of trapping and training his own eagle. Under the tutelage of a local eagle master named Khairatkhan, Kuma learns not only the ways of hunting with eagles, but also the ways of his own people.
2003 OUTCASTE
Documentary Short (India) 30 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
Official selection Hot Docs / IDFA Link
Synopsis:
Set amidst the crushing mayhem of a frighteningly overpopulated India, one human being struggles to live a simple life in silence. For the past 12 years, a Hindu ascetic has haunted the raced streets practicing his quiet austerity. In a world of inter-connectivity he is a Mauni Baba: Silent Monk.
Untouchable and stricken with a level of poverty that few in the west could comprehend, he drifts through an underworld of backward social castes and discarded refuse. With quiet comical musings he achieves basic survival, and in the eyes of God, maybe something more.
Photographed over a one-year period, and without narration, this film takes an anthropological approach to reveal the not so quiet daily life of a man that few of us would dare to trade places with.
Outcaste from Jonathan Bland on Vimeo.
2003 CRAPSHOOT: THE GAMBLE WITH OUR WASTE
Documentary Feature (Canada) 52 min.
Director of Photography/ Camera (India)
National Film Board of Canada Link
Synopsis:
A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water-combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food-where does it all go? And what does it do to us? From ancient times, countries have chosen the sewer to get rid of household and industrial waste, yet the contaminants we flush resurface in our food chain. Fish swim through waste water dumped into rivers, while sewage sludge is spread on farmland as fertilizer.
Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions whether the sewer is actually compounding our waste problems. While scientists warn of links between sewage practices and potential health risks, activists, engineers and concerned citizens challenge our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?
2003 HELL REALM
Documentary Short (India) 8 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
World Premier: Billytown, The Netherlands Link
Synopsis:
Life in hell.
Hell Realm from Jonathan Bland on Vimeo.
1999 THE EDGE CINEMATOGRAPHY
Camera Assist/ Grip/ Technical Assist
Documentary/ Commercials/ Corporate/ Sports
1999 SOLE’D OUT
Commercial Advertisement - Big Rock Brewery
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera
Jonathan Bland
1998 ZENSMOKING
Documentary Short (Canada) 20 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
World Premier Calgary International Film Festival
Synopsis:
Climb inside the mind of local legend Cal as he takes us on an audacious romp down Calgary's 4th street. Miss this and you'll find him waiting for you in heaven... with a gun.
1998 AGITPROP FILMS
Camera Assist/ Sound/ Still Photography/ Gaffer
Documentary/ Corporate/ Dramatic Shorts
1998 COUNTRY MUSIC TELEVISION
Camera Assist/ Grip/ Assist Gaffer
Music Videos
1998 HOPE
Documentary Short 15 min.
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology - Independent Study Program
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
CHICAGO WORLD POPULATION FILM FESTIVAL - HONORARY MENTION
1997 MIDNIGHT HIGHWAY FILM CO.
Gaffer/ Grip
Features/ Music Videos/ Commercials
Documentary Short (Canada) 20 min.
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
World Premier Calgary International Film Festival
Synopsis:
Climb inside the mind of local legend Cal as he takes us on an audacious romp down Calgary's 4th street. Miss this and you'll find him waiting for you in heaven... with a gun.
1998 AGITPROP FILMS
Camera Assist/ Sound/ Still Photography/ Gaffer
Documentary/ Corporate/ Dramatic Shorts
1998 COUNTRY MUSIC TELEVISION
Camera Assist/ Grip/ Assist Gaffer
Music Videos
1998 HOPE
Documentary Short 15 min.
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology - Independent Study Program
Producer/ Writer/ Director/ Camera/ Edit
Jonathan Bland
CHICAGO WORLD POPULATION FILM FESTIVAL - HONORARY MENTION
1997 MIDNIGHT HIGHWAY FILM CO.
Gaffer/ Grip
Features/ Music Videos/ Commercials
