Robert Lang (producer)


Robert Lang is a Canadian film producer, director, writer. He began his career in Montreal working at the National Film Board of Canada as a documentary film director and cinematographer in the mid-1970s. In 1980, he moved to Toronto, where he founded his own independent production company, Kensington Communications, to produce documentaries for television and non-theatrical markets. Since 1998, Lang has been involved in conceiving and producing interactive media for the Web and mobile devices.

Career

Robert Lang's work in television includes a number of documentary and factual series: Museum Secrets, a 22-part television series that investigates the stories behind artifacts in great museums around the world for History, UKTV and BBC Worldwide; Shameless Idealists, a five-part series that profiles a number of prominent change-makers and social activists for CTV; Diamond Road, a three-part series about the diamond industry for TVO, ZDF Arte and Discovery Times; The Sacred Balance, a four-part miniseries for CBC and PBS based on the book by geneticist and environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki; 72 Hours: True Crime, a true crime factual series for CBC and TLC; and Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science, a forensic crime series hosted by Graham Greene for Discovery and TLC.
Most recently, Lang's productions include: for and ZDF Arte, a one hour documentary about the busy urban scavengers who clean up the mountains of waste humans leave behind; for , and , co-produced with and in Paris, a feature documentary examination of the global gold industry from raw material to market; and between 2015 and 2017, Lang produced two one-hour documentaries,Champions vs Legends and ', produced by Kensington Communications in co-production with Berlin Producers for broadcast on CBC’s The Nature of Things, SRC Explora and ZDF/Arte. in 2017, he was director/writer/producer of a point-of-view 1-hour documentary for TVOntario and Canal D, called '. In 2015, Lang produced a one-hour documentary for TVOntario and CPAC called '.
Before that he was responsible for several documentary films, including: as producer, co-writer of ', which examines the failure of the War on Drugs through the lives of people involved in the international opium trade ; as director/writer/producer of ', in which renowned musician Bruce Cockburn travels to the remote Humla district of Northwestern Nepal ; as co-writer / director, producer of ', an intimate portrait of a Canadian aboriginal community in transition for CBC Nature of Things and APTN; as director/producer of ', which explores the ancient culture, popular music, and current struggles of the people of Mali, West Africa for Vision TV and TVO; as producer/co-director of ', the Gemini-winning documentary which follows the lives of conjoined twins from Pakistan and the pioneering operation that gave them a chance at a new life for Discovery; as director/co-producer of The Biggest Little Ticket, a children’s musical fantasy special for CTV which won several awards and ', a documentary music special for CTV.
He has produced many interactive digital projects over the years, from River of Sand interactive website, to The Sacred Balance online, Diamond Road interactive documentary, Museum Secrets Interactive, ScopifyROM, a mobile app to enhance the museum experience at the Royal Ontario Museum and ' mobile app.
Lang was recipient of the Queen's Gold Jubilee Medal in 2002, was named North American Trailblazer of the Year by MIPDOC in 2009 and his work in film and television has garnered many national and international awards. He's also been active in the production community as a founding member of the Documentary Organization of Canada, as a board member for The Real News since 2007 and as the founder of the Hot Docs CrossCurrents Fund in 2013.

Filmography

TV Series credits

Select documentary credits

YearFilmProducerDirectorWriter
1985Fragile Harvest
1986Seeds
1988One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers
1991Mariposa: Under a Stormy Sky
1991Earth Journal with Richard Leakey
1993The Biggest Little Ticket
1996Separate Lives
1998River of Sand
2001My Beat: The Life and Times of Bruce Cockburn
2003Almost Home: a Sayisi Dene Journey
2007Diamond Road
2008Return to Nepal
2011Raw Opium
2015The Drop: Why Young People Don't Vote
2016The Equalizer
2016Risk Factor AKA The Truth About Risk
2017Champions vs. Legends-
2018The Shadow of Gold-
2019The Nature's Cleanup Crew-

Accolades