Christene Browne
2021
A Way Out
Christene Browne
A Way Out is a documentary about breaking the cycle of poverty in Canadian's oldest and largest "ghetto," Regent Park. In addition to talking about what it is like to grow up poor in North America, it explores the reasons behind one person finding a way out of poverty and others remaining. As a former resident of a low-income community, Christene Browne went back to find out what had happened to some of her old friends. Formal and impromptu interviews are conducted and the community is revealed through footage and stills.
A Way Out
Them That's Not
Christene Browne
From the courts of Nova Scotia to the streets of Vancouver, Them That’s Not takes a critical look at Canada’s welfare system through the eyes of single women and single mothers and examines why they and others and joining together to fight for social change.
Them That's Not
Brothers in Music
Christene Browne
John T. Davis (pianist/organist/vocalist) and Jim Heineman (saxophonist) are two Canadian jazzmen who have had to wage the war between the compulsion and the passion that they feel towards their music and the struggle that is involved with trying to make a living in the field of jazz music in Canada. John T. Davis is a Black musician from a poor rural environment. Jim Heineman is a white musician from a white middle-class urban environment.
Brothers in Music
Jodie Drake: Blues in My Bread
Christene Browne
Jodie Drake
Blues and jazz singer Jodie Drake is a legend. From her beginnings in Detroit to her many years of breaking ground in Canada, she has consistently promoted Black music, often simply through the power of her voice. Blues in my Bread made for a CBC national broadcast, presents the women in all her glory. Browne had full access to the singer, her interview and performances combine with now rare footage from Drakes TV appearances in the 60's and 70's add an important chapter to the history of jazz and blues in Canada.
Jodie Drake: Blues in My Bread
No Choice
Christene Browne
Hari Ghadia
No Choice is a short documentary that deals with the abortion issue and how it relates to women living in poverty. Five women, ranging in age from twenty to forty speak about the lack of choice available to poor people and how, because of their poverty, their reproductive capabilities are often controlled by extraneous factors. Part of the National Film Board of Canada's "Five Feminist Minutes."
No Choice
