Karen Shopsowitz

Movies

Magic Shadows, Elwy Yost: A Life in Movies
Director
Over 20 years have passed since Elwy Yost last served as the beloved host of TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies and Magic Shadows. His infectious enthusiasm for cinema and interviews with actors, filmmakers, and critics influenced generations and left an enduring legacy with audiences across Ontario. Through archival footage and interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, this film tells the story of how a school teacher from Weston, Ontario became a Hollywood film authority.
My Father's Camera
Editor
Home movies and their unique place in popular culture are the subject of My Father's Camera. Director Karen Shopsowitz weaves the history of home movies together with footage shot by her father--amateur filmmaker Israel Shopsowitz. Equipped with her dad's old Super 8 camera, Karen traces the history of home movies from the 1920s through to the amateur explosion of the '30s and '40s and beyond. She interviews a lively line-up of scholars and collectors, such as early members of the Toronto Film Club, a Japanese-American archivist who sees home movies as an expression of cultural diversity and a collector who hosts popular Webcasts that highlight new acquisitions.
My Father's Camera
Director
Home movies and their unique place in popular culture are the subject of My Father's Camera. Director Karen Shopsowitz weaves the history of home movies together with footage shot by her father--amateur filmmaker Israel Shopsowitz. Equipped with her dad's old Super 8 camera, Karen traces the history of home movies from the 1920s through to the amateur explosion of the '30s and '40s and beyond. She interviews a lively line-up of scholars and collectors, such as early members of the Toronto Film Club, a Japanese-American archivist who sees home movies as an expression of cultural diversity and a collector who hosts popular Webcasts that highlight new acquisitions.
My Grandparents Had a Hotel
Director
The nostalgic story of The Monteith Inn, in the Muskokas, run by Karen Shopsowitz’s grandparents, Harry and Jennie Shopsowitz, from 1935 to 1949. Originally seen as a haven for Canadian (and American) Jews who were kept out of restricted clubs, the hotel soon became a colourful part of the province’s Jewish history.