{{Short description|Canadian film director}} {{Infobox person | honorific_suffix = OC | name = Anne Wheeler | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Dorothy Anne Wheeler | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1946|09|23}} | birth_place = Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Film director<br>Film producer<br>Screenwriter, Short Story Writer | years_active = 1975–present }}
'''Anne Wheeler''', OC, (born September 23, 1946) is a Canadian film and television writer, producer, and director.<ref name="AW">{{cite web |url=http://www.annewheeler.com/ |title=Anne Wheeler |website=AnneWheeler.com |access-date=January 7, 2021}}</ref>
==Biography== After graduating in mathematics from the University of Alberta, Wheeler was a computer programmer before traveling abroad.<ref name="AW"/> Her years of travels inspired her to become a storyteller and when she returned she joined a group of old friends to form a film collective. From 1975 to 1985 she worked for the NFB where she made her first feature film, ''A War Story'' (1981), which was about her father, Ben Wheeler and his time as a doctor in a P.O.W. camp during World War II. The war is a common theme in her work and she revisited it later in her films ''Bye Bye Blues'' (1989) and ''The War Between Us'' (1995). Her first non-NFB film was ''Loyalties'' in 1986.
In addition to her films, Wheeler has directed episodes of ''Anne with an E'', ''Private Eyes'', ''Strange Empire'', ''The Romeo Section'', ''The Guard'', ''This Is Wonderland'', ''Da Vinci's Inquest'', and ''Cold Squad''.
==Awards and honors== Wheeler has been nominated four times for the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction for her films ''Loyalties'' (1986), ''Cowboys Don't Cry'' (1988), ''Bye Bye Blues'' (1989), and ''Suddenly Naked'' (2001). Her 1998 television miniseries, ''The Sleep Room'', won Gemini awards for best television movie and best direction.<ref>"The Sleep Room", ''The Canadian Historical Review'', Volume 80, Number 4, December 1999 pp. 698-705</ref>
In 2017 Wheeler won a Leo Award for Best Direction (Television Film) for the Hallmark movie ''Stop the Wedding''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leoawards.com/2017/winners/by_name.php#Television_Movie|title=Leo Awards 2017 Winner|work=Leo Awards|access-date=June 5, 2017|archive-date=June 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608101713/http://www.leoawards.com/2017/winners/by_name.php#Television_Movie|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Wheeler was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/030001-1269-e.html |title=Anne Wheeler |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401131051/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/030001-1269-e.html |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |publisher=Library and Archives Canada }}</ref> In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Wheeler has also been awarded seven honorary doctorates and is the first woman to be given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of Canada.
==Filmography== ===Film=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Writer ! Producer |- | 1986 | ''Loyalties'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 1988 | ''Cowboys Don't Cry'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |- | 1989 | ''Bye Bye Blues'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |- | 1991 | ''Angel Square'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 1999 | ''Better Than Chocolate'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | 2000 | ''Marine Life'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | 2001 | ''Suddenly Naked'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes|Executive}} |- | 2002 | ''Edge of Madness'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 2011 | ''Knockout'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- |}
'''Documentary film''' {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Writer ! Producer |- | 1975 | ''Great Grand Mother'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 1976 | ''Augusta'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 1981 | ''A War Story'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |- | 2000 | ''The Orkney Lad: The Story of Isabel Gunn'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | 2013 | ''Chi'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |-
| 1977 | ''Happily Unmarried'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | 1978 | ''Priory: The Only Home I've Got'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | rowspan="3"|1979 | ''Triangle Island'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | ''Welfare Mothers'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | ''Never a Dull Moment'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |-
| rowspan=2|1983 | ''Great Days in the Rockies'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | ''From Bears to Bartok'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | rowspan=2|1984 | ''Children Of Alcohol'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | ''This Is Only a Test'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |}
'''Short film''' {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Writer |- | 1977 | ''Happily Unmarried'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 1978 | ''Teach Me to Dance'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | 2000 | ''Legs Apart'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |}
===Television=== '''TV movies''' {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Writer ! Producer ! Writer |- | rowspan="2"| 1993 | ''The Diviners'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | 3-hour special |- | ''Other Women's Children'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 1995 | ''The War Between Us'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 1996 | ''Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury Story'' | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |- | 2002 | ''The Investigation'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2003 | ''Betrayed'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | |- | 2004 | ''A Beachcombers Christmas'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2006 | ''Christmas on Chestnut Street'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2007 | ''Mom, Dad and Her'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- |rowspan=3|2008 | ''Mail Order Bride'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | ''Living Out Loud'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | ''Dancing Trees (Partners in Crime)'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2009 | ''The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2012 | ''The Horses of McBride'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2014 | ''The Color of Rain'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2015 | ''A Country Wedding'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- | 2016 | ''Stop the Wedding'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | Best Direction, 2017 Leo Awards |- | 2023 | ''Friends & Family Christmas'' | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | |- |}
'''TV series''' {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Notes |- | 1984 | ''For the Record'' | Episode 46: ''A Change of Heart'' |- | 1984-1985 | ''Global Playhouse'' | Episodes ''One's a Heifer'' and ''To Set Our House in Order'' (Also writer) |- | 1985 | ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' | Episode ''The Martian'' |- | 1990 | ''Mom P.I.'' | 2 episodes |- | 1992 | ''North of 60'' | 2 episodes |- | 1995 | ''Jake and the Kid'' | 2 episodes |- | 1996 | ''The Adventures of Shirley Holmes'' | Pilot |- |rowspan=2|1998 | ''Cold Squad'' | 3 episodes |- | ''The Sleep Room'' | Miniseries |- | 1998-2003 | ''Da Vinci's Inquest'' | 7 episodes |- | rowspan=2|2000 | ''Mysterious Ways'' | Episode 6:''Twins'' |- | ''Beggars and Choosers'' | 1 episode |- | 2004-2005 | ''This Is Wonderland'' | 8 episodes |- | 2005 | ''Godiva's'' | 2 episode |- | rowspan=2|2006 | ''Jozi-H'' | 2 episodes |- | ''The Guard'' | 2 episodes |- | 2014 | ''Heartland'' | Episodes 5: ''Endings and Beginnings'' and 6: ''Steal Away'' |- |2014 | ''When Calls the Heart'' | Episode 9: ''Change of Heart'' |- | 2021 | ''Firefly Lane'' | Episodes 3: ''Dancing Queens'' and 4: ''Love is a Battlefield'' |- |}
==See also== * List of female film and television directors * List of LGBT-related films directed by women
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231334/http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=69&navid=87 Canadian Film Encyclopedia |A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group] * [http://www.annewheeler.com/ Official web site] * {{IMDb name|name=Anne Wheeler|id=0923768}} * [http://femfilm.ca/director_search.php?director=anne-wheeler&lang=e Anne Wheeler] at the [http://femfilm.ca/index.php?lang=e Canadian Women Film Directors Database] * [https://www.nfb.ca/directors/anne-wheeler/ Anne Wheeler] at the National Film Board of Canada
{{Anne Wheeler}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Anne}} Category:1946 births Category:Canadian women film directors Category:Canadian television directors Category:Canadian women television directors Category:Living people Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:Film directors from Edmonton Category:Writers from Edmonton Category:Canadian women screenwriters Category:Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts alumni Category:Best Original Song Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Category:Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Short Documentary Film Category:20th-century Canadian screenwriters Category:21st-century Canadian screenwriters Category:20th-century Canadian women writers Category:21st-century Canadian women writers Category:Canadian women documentary filmmakers Category:Screenwriters from Alberta