ECHOED WORDS (2023)
PREMIERE BROADCAST ON AMI – AUGUST 31, 2023 at 5 pm CST
Echoed Words is a 1/2 half hour documentary with a powerful first-person perspective on the impacts of a person’s life who stutters, and how to find ways to manage the disorder to ease their everyday life.
Through a range of first-hand experiences, an older teen reveals the devastating effects of stuttering and his motivation for seeking help. He delves into his the arc of emotions and a family member provides insights into the condition as reflected in the family dynamics. He explains how he discovered a place to help with his disorder from early years, and we follow him as he attends a three-day intensive refresher treatment program . At the conclusion, we see the changes that can happen even in such a short time frame, and learn how he feels to be able to become more confident in his everyday life and further improve his speech fluency, and how this changes his life for the positive. Broadcast on AMI
HONOURING THE BUFFALO (2023)
Honouring the Buffalo: A Plains Cree Legend Becomes ANIMATED TV Show for Pre-Schoolers, Families & Educators
This 7 minute animated documentary is for preschoolers and their families based on the picture book, Honouring the Buffalo: A Plains Cree Legend. This all-ages picture book, originally written in English and Cree, is an based on an oral story told by Ray Lavallee, illustrated by Mike Keepness, and written by Judith Silverthorne. The beautiful artwork features detailed images of how generations of People of the Plains used the buffalo in many ways to survive. The animated documentary is adapted for a younger audience with appropriate vocabulary levels. Broadcaster: Citytv Saskatchewan/Rogers Media Inc. VIEW ON CITYTV SK
A PROMISE TO MY SON (2021)
Donalda Jones knows the situation well of what it is like to be a caregiver for a child with a high level of physical disability. Her son Steven with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy was one of the more than 5.3 million Canadians (or of the almost 16% of the population in Canada/or) living with some form of disability that affects their level of freedom, independence, or quality of life.
In this half-hour television documentary, we will go inside Donalda’s world to discover how she found a solution not only to help Steven live a more fulfilled and inclusive life and keep her and her family from burnout and exhaustion, but to help so many others to do what seems impossible. Broadcast on AMI . See it here
PREMIERE BROADCAST: A Promise to My Son was first broadcast on AMI.ca on Thursday, Sept 16 at 8 pm eastern time.
It’s a Cooper Rock Pictures/ Silverlight Productions Inc joint production with Lori Kuffner and Judith Silverthorne as Producers and featuring the superb dynamic shooting skills of Cinematographer Tony Quiñones and acumen of expert Editor Trevor Aikman.
Thanks to Donalda Grace Jones the effervescent star of the show and her son Steven, the REALM foundation and others who appeared, participated or assisted with it! What a fantastic team!!
KAY PARLEY: A Mind of Her Own
Kay Parley: A Mind of Her Own is a riveting account of Kay’s life struggles with mental illness and how she became well enough to train and work as a psychiatric nurse in the very hospital where she was once a patient. She then went on to teach psychology and sociology.
From a time before medicine to experiments with LSD, Kay’s insights continue her advocacy in helping people understand this wide-spread disorder.
See it on Access7 TV.
Documentaries Produced and Broadcast by Judith Silverthorne under SPIRAL COMMUNICATIONS INC. (1996-2010)
Roger Ing’s Utopia
See ROGER ING’S UTOPIA on YouTube
Enter the eclectic world of Roger Ing, a prolific Canadian artist, philanthropist, and former owner/operator of the New Utopia Café in Regina, a place where magical moments happened and a legend was created.
Produced for SCN, CBC, Vision TV, and Knowledge Network, with funding from SaskFILM, the National Film Board of Canada. Spiral Film Productions Inc., 1998. Winner of a Saskatchewan Showcase Award. Director: Frank Halbert.
Other documentaries available for purchase:
RUPCHAN SPIRIT OF A PRAIRIE POTTER
Rupchan: Spirit of a Prairie Potter is a half hour television docu-drama produced by Grasslands Productions Inc. in 1992. This show is based on the book Made in Saskatchewan by Judith Silverthorne that tells the story about a Ukrainian immigrant who became Saskatchewan’s first major potter.
Ingrained Legacy explores a cross-section of the extraordinary woodworkers, who immigrated to the prairies at the turn of the century. Besides giving a synoptic look at their lives and a reflection of their diverse ethnic backgrounds and abilities, this half-hour documentary provides insights into our early history.
Splinters is a series of vignettes that showcases ten of these unique woodworkers: Harold Coombs, Olaf Pearson, John McGuirl, Charles Smith, Onesimé Dorval, Doukhobors, Mennonites, Malcolm MacDonald, Joachim Pilon, John Wilson. Experts and collectors such as Mac Provich, Ralph Jarotski, Lindsay Anderson, and George Chopping, as well as family members and contacts, provide interviews and insights in the documentary and vignettes. For more information and insights on these and other incredible pioneers, please visit Early Saskatchewan Woodworkers.
OTHER PRODUCTIONS
- The Abduction Project, Short Movie, Ynot Media Canada, 2020. Judith Silverthorne, Producer. Tony Quiñones, Director, Cinematographer
- Story Junction, in collaboration with AccessTV. Judith Silverthorne, Co-Producer, Storyteller, Co-host: Alison Lohans Author/Co-producer, Co-host , May 2020
- Bookworms Corner, ½ hour episodes, featuring children’s picture book writers, hosted by Jean Freeman. Access Communications TV in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild 2012-2015, Judith Silverthorne, Executive Producer, Researcher.
- First Visions, a series of three vignettes, two to four minutes in length, featuring aboriginal artists from the prairies, and includes D. Blair Gerard, Stan Otter, and Kevin Pelletier, produced for SCN by Spiral Film Productions Inc., 1997. Judith Silverthorne, Producer, Writer, Director, Researcher.
silverlightproductionsinc.com 