Camelia Frieberg

Before Camelia Frieberg became one of Canada’s top film producers, her career seemed headed in another direction. After studying music and anthropology at Bennington College in Vermont, she was a freelance journalist in Toronto. Covering film and film festivals, she decided to persue a career in filmmaking and moved to Los Angeles. With some disappointment she turned her back on the usual Hollywood fare she had been involved with and decided to return home. Back in Toronto she gravitated toward a group of film school graduates that included Atom Egoyan, Peter Mettler, Bruce McDonald and Jeremy Podeswa. She worked as production manager on Egoyan’s 1984 film, Next of Kin and other projects through the 1980s, but as 1990 approached, Frieberg decided to launch into the role of a full time producer. Her first project was Srinivas Krishna’s 1991 film, Masala. One of the many Atom Egoyan films she was involved in was The Sweet Hereafter, which received two Academy Award® nominations and won eight Genie Awards, including Best Picture. It was also given the International Critics Prize and the Ecumenical Award at the Festival de Cannes.