Biografia
Paul Saltzman is a Toronto-based filmmaker, photographer, author, and hockey player who has won two Emmy Awards. With a career spanning over 300 film and television projects, he initially studied Engineering Science before engaging in civil rights activism in 1965, including congressional lobbying in Washington, D.C., and voter registration efforts in Mississippi with SNCC. He began his film and television journey that same year at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a researcher, interviewer, and on-air host, later joining the National Film Board of Canada. In 1967, he interviewed American inventor Buckminster Fuller, who remarked that meeting Saltzman changed his view of the 1960s generation. In 1968, Saltzman studied meditation at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in India, a transformative experience during which he photographed notable figures such as the Beatles, Mia Farrow, Donovan, and Mike Love. Between 1968 and 1969, he contributed as second-unit director and production manager to the first IMAX film for the Osaka 1970 World's Fair. He attended the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 and later produced a Leonard Cohen concert tour as well as his first documentary film about Bo Diddley. In 1973, he founded Sunrise Films Limited, producing, directing, and writing numerous documentaries including the acclaimed series Spread Your Wings. Transitioning to drama in 1983, he produced and directed HBO's Family Playhouse premiere and a special for American Playhouse. That year, he co-created and produced the family action-adventure series Danger Bay, which aired for six years with 123 episodes on CBC and the Disney Channel. His production credits also include television series like My Secret Identity, Matrix, and Max Glick, along with miniseries and movies of the week. He co-produced the international epic Map of the Human Heart, directed by Vincent Ward, starring Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud, Patrick Bergin, John Cusack, and Jean Moreau. Additionally, he executive produced Martha, Ruth & Edie and Sam & Me, the latter earning an Honorable Mention at the Cannes Film Festival’s Camera d'Or competition. In 2000, Viking Penguin published his first book, The Beatles in Rishikesh. In 2006, he released a deluxe Limited Edition Box Set titled The Beatles in India. His feature-film directorial debut came in 2008 with Prom Night in Mississippi, a documentary featuring Morgan Freeman that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. His second feature documentary, The Last White Knight—Is Reconciliation Possible? starring Harry Belafonte, Morgan Freeman, and Byron (Delay) de la Beckwith, Jr., premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2011, Saltzman founded the non-profit Moving Beyond Prejudice, engaging students, at-risk youth, and community groups through screenings of Prom Night in Mississippi and The Last White Knight. That December, he was invited to the White House to screen his prom documentary and lead a Moving Beyond Prejudice discussion, where he was honored as a Community Leader alongside the President and First Lady. A member of the Directors Guild of Canada and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Saltzman enjoys traveling, skydiving, scuba diving, and playing ice hockey regularly. He has one daughter.
