Mike Downie

This article is about the Canadian documentary filmmaker. For the Irish film producer, see Mike Downey (producer). For the American columnist, see Mike Downey (columnist).
Mike Downie
NationalityCanadian
OccupationDocumentary filmmaker

Mike Downie is a Canadian documentary filmmaker.[1] The older brother of late Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, he is best known for his work with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund.[2]

The founder of the film production company Edgarland Films,[3] Downie won a Gemini Award for Best Sports Program or Series in 2005 as coproducer with Nicholas de Pencier of The Hockey Nomad.[4] He has won three Canadian Screen Awards, for Best Science or Nature Documentary in 2014 as director of "Invasion of the Brain Snatchers", which aired as an episode of The Nature of Things;[5] Best Social or Political Documentary Program in 2018 as a producer of The Secret Path; and Best Direction in a Documentary Program in 2020 for the documentary Finding the Secret Path.[6]

He was also a Gemini Award nominee in 2000 for Blue Rodeo: The Scenes in Between[7] and in 2010 for One Ocean: Birth of an Ocean,[8] and a CSA nominee in 2018 for Running on Empty: Surviving California's Epic Drought.

His film The COVID Cruise, a documentary about the COVID-19 outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in early 2020, was released as an episode of The Nature of Things in November 2020.[9]

He directed The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, a four-part documentary series about The Tragically Hip slated for release in 2024.[10]

  1. ^ "Mike Downie encouraged by Ontario's move towards Indigenous education". CBC News Windsor, November 16, 2017.
  2. ^ "‘Now we get to work’: Mike Downie on his brother Gord". Maclean's, November 3, 2017.
  3. ^ "From sweetheart to: Kingston filmmaker looks at heartbreak in new documentary". Kingston Whig-Standard, May 14, 2005.
  4. ^ "Best of documentary, news, sports honoured". North Bay Nugget, October 20, 2003.
  5. ^ "CBC takes home 8 trophies at Canadian Screen Awards". Yahoo! News, February 24, 2015.
  6. ^ Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards 2020: Non-Fiction Winners Revealed". ET Canada, May 25, 2020.
  7. ^ "Complete list of Gemini nominees". Toronto Star, September 20, 2000.
  8. ^ "Canada’s Gemini Award nominees announced". Realscreen, August 31, 2010.
  9. ^ "An inside look at the Diamond Princess cruise and lessons learned". BNN Bloomberg, November 27, 2020.
  10. ^ Rosie Long Decter, "Tragically Hip Docuseries 'No Dress Rehearsal' Will Premiere at TIFF". Billboard, August 9, 2024.