Beverly Shaffer is an internationally-renowned filmmaker based out of Montreal, whose empathetic and uplifting documentary work focuses on stories of resolve.
Born in Montreal, Shaffer graduated from McGill University in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in comparative religion. After a short stint teaching high school, she received a master’s degree in film from Boston University in 1971. She began her television career as a production assistant, researcher and associate producer at WGBH, a PBS-affiliate in Boston.
In 1975, Shaffer joined the National Film Board’s famed Studio D, which was dedicated to supporting the work of women filmmakers. It was during this time that Shaffer directed I’ll Find a Way, a documentary about a young girl with spina bifida, which won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, one of three Oscars won by Studio D. I’ll Find a Way chronicles the challenges and victories of nine-year-old Nadia who, despite the potential for teasing and taunting at a regular school, is determined to “find a way” to attend.
Shaffer is credited with the Children in Canada series and the Children of Jerusalem series, as well as films like To a Safer Place, which profiles an incest survivor, and was named one of the best films of the decade by the American Film Librarians Association. She has also worked on dramas, including the half-hour drama, The Way It Is, about a young girl dealing with her parents’ divorce.
During her 25 years at the NFB, Shaffer was the recipient of more than 30 awards.
