SPECTRUM FILMS - Key Persons
Before Holly became a dramatic film director in the late eighties she had worked on a numerous dramatic films in may job capacities, as editor, director of photography, assistant director, and producer. She also has given many acting workshops and lecturers at Universities through the world including Harvard and Browns University. This diverse education has embellished her craft as a director.
Awards include; a Genie for P4W, a Gold Plaque in Chicago for Hookers, and the Lillian Gish Award for Calling the Shots. In 1988, the Canadian Film & Television honoured Cole and Dale with the Theatrical Producers Achievement Award
In 1990, Cole completed Shaggie: Letters from Prison, a 12 minute independent short, and also part of the feature length Five Feminist Minutes. Shaggie won the prestigious Best Short Film Award at the 1990 Toronto Film Festival
A three week long Production Workshop led by Cole at the Winnipeg Film Co-op resulted in eight participants completing two short films under her guidance entitled; When Worlds Collide and Death, The Impossible Escape. Cole has lead Advanced Writing Workshops and Advanced Documentary Workshops at Charles Street Video, Trinity Square Video and other artist run organizations. She presently teaches in Integrated Media at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
Cole Showed Four Panels - a mixed media piece in remembrance of her brother Barry, exhibited at A Space Gallery in the AIDS Gathering Show. Quarry Press published Calling The Shots: Profiles of Women Filmmakers, written with Holly Dale.
Cole's long form writing includes Aggie; The Woman from Grey County, Party to a Crime, West End Girls, and My Lover's Closet. In 1991, Cole wrote the script for Agnes Macphail Heritage Minute Series developed by Patrick Watson. Cole's script, Dangerous Offender, was produced by the CBC and earned seven Gemini Nominations, the Bronze Plaque Award for writing at the Columbus Film Festival and a Top Ten Award from the Writers Guild of Canada.