Aaron Yeger is a Canadian filmmaker from Toronto. He graduated from the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University, where he was awarded several honours for his work, including the Norman Jewison Filmmaker Award, the Harvey Hart Directing Award and two Universal Studios scholarships.
In 2011, Yeger directed the film A People Uncounted: The Untold Story of the Roma, produced by Urbinder Films. Dedicated to the victims of the Porrajimos, the film connects the history of the Roma people ‘with their present-day struggle for civil rights in Europe’. The project was originally inspired by Lenny Binder and Tom Rasky, who were both producers of the film, as well as the Hungarian-Canadian jazz musician Roby Botos.
A People Uncounted was filmed in eleven different countries. Interviews and meetings with Roma and non-Roma Holocaust survivors, musicians and political activists were held in order to present a holistic scope of their lives.
In one of the interviews, Yeger commented, ‘[T]he Holocaust survivors were absolutely forthcoming and received us very warmly. Of course, many of them had already told their stories to children in schools and members of their community, so the opportunity to spread the truth to a much wider audience is something they seemed to very much appreciate.’
A People Uncounted was shown at the Hawaii International Film Festival, Starz Denver Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival. It was awarded Best Documentary at the Foyle Film Festival in 2011. In 2013, the Producers Guild of America nominated the film for Outstanding Motion Picture Producer of the Year.
While A People Uncounted became Yeger’s most successful documentary, his film
Sleeping Giant, which was directed by Andrew Cividino, made him famous as a writer and a producer. The film premiered as part of the Critics Week programme at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, was shown at the TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival and was nominated for a 2016 Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Film.
References
http://www.aaronyeger.com/bio.html
http://www.apeopleuncounted.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsUle1qrXcE&spfreload=10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robi_Botos
http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/interviews/aaron-yeger-discovers-a-people-uncounted/
http://www.hiff.org/
http://www.denverfilm.org/
https://filmfreeway.com/festival/StLouisInternationalFilmFestival
http://www.foylefilmfestival.org/
http://www.producersguild.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4SZXkKX7zo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Screen_Award_for_Best_First_Feature
http://www.tiff.net/canadas-top-ten/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Cannes_Film_Festival
Filmography (director)
Just completed – Chasing the King, documentary
2016 Inc’d, short film
2011 A People Uncounted, documentary, Best Documentary at 2011 Foyle Film Festival
2006 Shadow Life (short)
Awards
Norman Jewison Filmmaker Award
Harvey Hart Directing Award
Two Universal Studios scholarships