• reFrame Films is the home of award-winning filmmakers Garry Beitel and Barry Lazar, who produce enduring social documentaries about compelling contemporary subjects.

About reFrame Films

reFrame Films is the home of award-winning filmmakers Garry Beitel and Barry Lazar. reFrame Films features all of the two-dozen documentary films we have made over the years, including the films from Beitel-Lazar Productions, les Productions du Boulevard, and other films directed by Garry Beitel.


Who are we?

Garry Beitel, director

Garry Beitel is a Montreal-based documentary filmmaker. His in-depth explorations of individuals and communities in transition have been broadcast on Canadian television for over 20 years. Produced in both English and French, his probing, intimate portraits have won both national and international awards.

Garry Beitel was the 2011 recipient of the Bourse de carrière (for lifetime achievement) awarded annually by the Conseil des arts et des letters de Québec. He is the first Anglophone filmmaker in Quebec to receive this prestigious award. Read more

Awards – Garry Beitel

Bonjour! Shalom! – Won three Gemini awards, including Best Quebec Documentary (1991) and was selected for the Contemporary Documentary Series in Los Angeles by the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Vive le Quebec… Anglé! – Nominated for a Gemini award (2004) for Best Direction in a Public Affairs Documentary.

My Dear Clara and The “Socalled” Movie – Both won the J.I. Segal Award for Best Canadian Film on a Jewish Theme.

The Man Who Learned to Fall – Won two prestigious International Freddie Medical Film Awards, Best Educational Film and Best Film on Coping.

Water for Tonoumassé won Quebec’s ADATE educational film award, the Golden Sheaf Award in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and was a finalist at the American Film and Video Festival.

Endnotes – Nominated for a Vision TV Humanitarian Award and for Best Social Issues doc at Hot Docs (2000).

On Wings of Song – Nominated for a Vision TV Humanitarian Award (2000).

Barry Lazar, producer

Barry Lazar has worked as a journalist and documentary producer for more than 30 years. He started with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where he worked in both radio and television. He also worked on productions for the National Film Board of Canada, Spectra-Amerimage, CFCF-TV, TVO and other broadcasters. Read more

Barry Lazar is well known for his writing on ethnic food in Montreal and the city’s history. His books include Barry Lazar’s Taste of Montreal, Underestimated Importance: la culture anglo-québécoise, Tea with Mr. George and Other Adventures in Montreal, The Guide to Ethnic Montreal, and most recently, Montreal CityGuide for Globe Pequot Press.

Since 1997, Barry has taught in the Journalism Department of Concordia University.

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