Donald Shebib | |
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| Born | Donald Everett Shebib 17 January 1938 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Education | UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Years active | 1962 - Present |
| Known for | Canadian feature films, short documentaries, television films |
| Children | Noah "40" Shebib |
| Parents |
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Donald Everett Shebib (born 17 January 1938), often called Don Shebib, is a Canadian film director, writer, producer and editor.[1]
Shebib was born in Toronto, the son of Mary Alice Long, an Irish Newfoundlander,[2] and Moses "Morris" Shebib,[3][4] born in Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1910, himself the son of Lebanese immigrants.[5][2] In a 2011 interview with Andrea Nemetz in the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Shebib said: "I was aware of migratory experiences – like the Okies in California in the dust bowl. I had a cousin who came to stay with us in Toronto in the late 1950’s and he tried to make a go of it and couldn't and went back to the Maritimes."
A graduate of UCLA film school, Shebib gained prominence and critical acclaim in Canadian cinema for his seminal 1970 movie Goin' Down the Road, which combined narrative storytelling with Canadian documentary tradition influenced by the British.[6][7][8] The low-budget film crew travelled around Toronto in a station wagon, supported by funding from the newly-formed Canadian Film Development Corporation. The movie was screened in New York and hailed by Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert. Kael wrote that the movie showed up the ostensibly forced sincerity and perceived honesty of the films of John Cassavetes. Shebib is the father of actor and music producer Noah "40" Shebib, with actress Tedde Moore.
Goin' Down the Road was digitally remastered as one of the key films in the Canadian film canon and was honoured with a screening at the Art Gallery of Ontario. A sequel, Down the Road Again (2011), features some of the original cast members as well as a new generation of characters.
Shebib directed at least one episode of the following series:
