A Better Man (film)

A Better Man
Film poster
Directed byAttiya Khan
Lawrence Jackman
Written byAttiya Khan
Lawrence Jackman
Produced byChristine Kleckner
Justine Pimlott
CinematographyIris Ng
Edited byLawrence Jackman
Music byLesley Barber
Production
companies
Intervention Productions
National Film Board of Canada
Release date
  • 30 April 2017 (2017-04-30) (Hot Docs)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

A Better Man is a 2017 Canadian documentary film co-directed by Attiya Khan and Lawrence Jackman in which Khan, a survivor of domestic abuse, meets with the man who abused her to see if he can take responsibility to heal and repair the harms he created. The first filmed encounter between her and her ex-boyfriend, identified only as "Steve," took place in April 2013. After the initial contact, several of the conversations were facilitated by Tod Augusta-Scott, a prominent counselor in the domestic violence field.[1][2][3] The film also follows them back to their old high school as well as an apartment in Ottawa, and shows how the violence still affects Khan.[4]

The film was financed through crowdfunding on Indiegogo; it raised over $110,000 CAD, making it one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns in Canadian history.[5] Upon release, it received mostly positive reviews from critics,[6][7] and was chosen as one of the top 10 best films of 2017 by The Globe and Mail.[8]

  1. ^ A Better Man to be screened in Sudbury CBC, Oct.17, 2017
  2. ^ Bridges Institute
  3. ^ Tod Augusta-Scott (ed.). Innovations in Interventions to Address Intimate Partner Violence: Research and Practice. (Routledge Press, 2017)
  4. ^ Keeler, Emily M. (26 April 2017). "Q&A: Attiya Khan, the filmmaker who confronted the man who abused her in a new documentary, A Better Man". Toronto Life. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  5. ^ Ritchie, Kevin (26 April 2017). "Iris Ng, one of Toronto's busiest documentary cinematographers, returns to Hot Docs". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "The year in critical viewing: Kate Taylor's top 10 films of 2017". Retrieved 2018-01-11.