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Bringing the magic of nature to the screenHer work has taken her to places like Rwanda, the Congo and the Arctic. In addition to speaking English and French, she has a working knowledge of Kinryarwanda. She's arranged transportation of five planeloads of film equipment to Tanzania -- and even remembered to pack cookies that cheered up a production crew on the fourth consecutive day of rain. |
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 [ 2002-10-02 ] |
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Kathryn Liptrott at work last year on Ngamba Island in Africa, a sanctuary for orphaned chimps.
It's all in a day's work for documentary producer Kathryn Liptrott, 40, who graduated from the Political Science Institute in Paris with thoughts of working as a diplomat. She grew up in Toronto, where her mother, one of the first female television producers/directors in North America, worked for the CBC.
"I always swore it was something I wouldn't do," says Liptrott, who was nevertheless drawn to the craft. She landed her first job as a production assistant in commercials in 1987 and looks back fondly on her apprenticeship as a camera trainee.
"I learned on the job," Liptrott says. "It's the only way to do it. No one is going to teach you how to react when someone tells you they don't like your coffee. You spend your first few years, whether you went to film school or not, pushing a broom."
In 1990, a "bizarre twist of fate" landed Liptrott a job working on the first Natural History IMAX film ever produced. It was about mountain gorillas and she spent 18 months in Rwanda before being evacuated by French paratroopers after war broke out.
Shortly after returning home, she hooked up with Neil Rettig and Kim Hayes, producers she had worked with in Africa. Their U.S.-based company, Neil Rettig Productions, was working with National Geographic and they wanted Liptrott as their associate producer for Life at the Edge about the Canadian high Arctic.
She completed more than 50 films with National Geographic as an associate producer/production manager in its Natural History Unit, based in Washington, D.C.
Determined to return to Toronto to work on the launch of Discovery Channel in Canada, Liptrott landed the position of service producer for on-air promotions. She also co-wrote, produced and directed the pilot of Animal Tracks, a series that still runs.
Liptrott travelled the globe to work on Fabulous Animals documentaries with Neil Rettig Productions and enjoyed the post-production process in Europe.
"When you're shooting, you're thinking about how you're going to put it all together," she says.
Her next project, again with IMAX, was Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees, which documents Goodall's legendary work with the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Liptrott developed a true passion for chimpanzees in their natural environment.
The job of line director involved primarily budgeting and logistics, as an enormous amount of equipment was moved from one location to another. "Half the fun is the logistics and the people you get to meet," Liptrott says. "When an IMAX crew comes through, it's pretty memorable."
Now a producer with CineNova Productions in Toronto, Liptrott is working on Medical Mysteries documentaries for Discovery Channel in the U.S. and an archeological documentary.
She remains thrilled with her ever-changing job description. "Each project varies. It's always determined by how much money you have. That determines how many days you have to shoot, how much film you have to shoot and how much time you will have to spend in the editing room. Really good directors know that and plan for that."
Liptrott is proud of the messages conveyed in her documentaries. "I think of the Mountain Gorilla and chimp films and I just love watching them. I want everyone to see them and experience the magic and awe I feel for the natural world."
(Linda White is a freelance writer based in Brooklin, Ont. and can be reached at linda.white@rogers.com.)
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