Alberta actress tells the story from behind the lens

Alexandra Lazarowich has been on both sides of the camera and that experience has told her that the non-traditional woman’s role of creating the story suits her better than telling the story.

But her years as an actress have helped prepare her for life on the other side of the lens.

 “Part of what makes me a good producer was being a not so successful actor,” Lazarowich, who acted from the time she was 10 until she was 21, said with a chuckle. “… That’s when I realized I had to make roles for myself.”

Lazarowich started at the bottom, volunteering on film productions around Edmonton, getting coffee and listing equipment. She realized this was her true calling—being part of the creative team that worked to make fantasy a reality. A positive and easy-going attitude soon landed her some paying gigs with ANAID Productions (developers of the popular Canadian reality series X-Weighted and The Rig) and the Native Counseling Services of Alberta, where she worked as a producer for five years.

While Lazarowich says that female producers, particularly Aboriginal women producers, are rare in show business, she believes that women are uniquely suited to the role.

“Honestly, I find women are often better (at it) because a producer has to be good at doing lots of different things at the same time and women so often have to manage lots of things all at once—family, work, chores. You have to be a brainstormer and a problem-solver. It’s multi-tasking in the extreme. And every woman I’ve ever met has been a problem-solver,” Lazarowich said, adding that in one day on set the problems could range from not having the right coffee on hand for the talent to trying to wrangle a helicopter for an aerial shot in a matter of hours.

 “Having a little feminine charm can help you in some situations,” Lazarowich said thoughtfully when asked about her experience as a woman running the show in what is still primarily a man’s world. “And it can work against you in others. And so you’re constantly navigating that. But if you work with great people—and there are so many out there—you always succeed. And by succeed, I mean get a film made and do justice to the story.”

This February, Lazarowich and director Cowboy Smithx began a journey to tell the story of the virtually unsung Canadian heroes of WWII—the Cree code talkers from northern Alberta. Information on the subject was declassified in 1963. The film is being made as part of the National Screen Institute of Canada’s Aboriginal Documentary training course. The course picks four producer-director teams annually to take part in the year-long production of a documentary short to be featured in any number of national film festivals.

As for the next generation of Aboriginal women looking to take their place behind the camera, Lazarowich says starting at the bottom and having the patience and grace to work your way slowly up the ladder is the key to success.

 “It takes time,” she said. “You get a little better and it gets a little easier. You find where your talents are, and you learn from people who are more talented than you.…It’s a really great job and I love it. I love finding our stories in our communities…and finding people to help me bring a vision to life.”

Photo caption: Film producer Alexandra Lazarowich with acclaimed Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson. The director was on hand to teach a portion of the Aboriginal Documentary Training course offered by Canada’s National Screen Institute.