James Anderson

James (Jim) Anderson began making films with Keith Lock as a student at North Toronto Collegiate. In 1969, his 6-minute animated film Scream of a Butterfly received a prize for best animation at the first Canadian Student Film Festival held at Cinecity in Toronto. The film went on to win the grand prix at the tenth Muse International Student Film Festival in Amsterdam. Anderson made several films with Lock, including Touched and Base Tranquility, both from 1970, and Arnold in 1971. Their last project together, Work, Bite, Eat (1971), a sequel to Arnold, is a story about “youth and being young.” The film follows pieces of the life of a young man named Arnold who works at a drugstore in Chinatown. In the early seventies, Anderson got involved with the Toronto Filmmakers’ Co-op, running workshops. During that time, he produced two films, Yonge Street (1972) and R.O.M., (1972) both of which were produced quickly and cheaply. He went on to produce several more films and have a successful career as an independent filmmaker. © Photo Credit : Edie Steiner