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Winton, Ezra

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Winton, Ezra

Email Degree Ph.D., Communication Studies, Carleton University, Canada

Courses

  • Communication, Media and Society, JMC 1041
  • Documentary Studies, JMC 3063
  • Semiotics, JMC 4401
  • Television Studies, JMC
  • Special Topics: Film Festival
  • Special Topics: Ecomedia
  • Writing for Media, JMC 1050

Research Interests

  • Documentary film and media
  • World Cinema
  • Environmental Communication
  • Sustainability, climate and media
  • Postcolonial and anti-colonial media
  • Film curation, circulation and exhibition
  • Media ethics and impact
  • Social movement media
  • Film festivals

Dr. Ezra Winton is a film critic, curator and widely published academic. He is from Vancouver Island, Canada. He writes about the intersection of ethics, politics, justice and media circulation, curation and reception – especially with regards to documentary. Dr. Winton has published in academic journals, has written peer-reviewed book chapters, and has co-edited three scholarly collections: Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010), Documentary Film Festivals, Volumes 1 and 2 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), Indigenous Media Arts in Canada: Making, Sharing, Caring (2023).

Dr. Winton’s writing has also been featured in Cineaste and POV Magazine, where he is also a Contributing Editor. One of his published articles was selected for the Best Canadian Essays anthology series. He is also co-founder of Cinema Politica, the world’s largest grassroots documentary exhibition and distribution network. While working at Cinema Politica as Director of Programming, he also acted as Executive Producer on 15 short films combining non-fiction filmmaking with speculative futurism, called “Documentary Futurism.” His claim to fame is having worked as a set builder on the original X-Files TV series.

Education
Ph.D., Communication Studies, Carleton University, Canada, 2013
M.A., Media Studies, Concordia University, Canada, 2007
B.A., Double Major – Political Science and Communication Studies, Concordia University, Canada, 2005
Creative Non-Fiction Writing Program, University of Toronto Continuing Education Program (Honours), 2020

Teaching Interests
Documentary film and media, World cinema, Cultural Studies, Ecomedia and the Environmental Humanities, Sustainability and Climate Studies, Television Studies, representation and identification, Semiotics, alternative and social movement media, film festivals, media circulation and reception.

Select Publications

Books

  • Winton, Ezra. Forthcoming. Rules for Documentary Radicals: Provocations and Interventions for a Non-Fiction Cinema Beyond Colonial Capitalism. Arbeiter Ring Press.
  • Winton, Ezra. Forthcoming. Buying in to Doing Good: Documentary Politics and Curatorial Ethics at the Hot Docs Film Festival. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
  • Winton, Ezra and Dana Claxton. 2023. Indigenous Media Arts in Canada: Making, Caring, Sharing. Waterloo: Wilfred-Laurier University Press.
  • Winton, Ezra and Aida Vallejo. 2020. Documentary Film Festivals, Volume 1: Methods, History, Politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Winton, Ezra and Aida Vallejo. 2020. Documentary Film Festivals, Volume 2: Changes, Challenges, Professional Perspectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Turnin, Svetla and Ezra Winton. 2014. Screening Truth to Power: A Reader on Documentary Activism, 2014. Montreal: Cinema Politica.
  • ­­Waugh, Thomas, Michael Brendan Baker and Ezra Winton. 2010. Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Book Chapters

  • 2024. “Cinema Politica: 20 Years of Rabble Rousing at Concordia” (with Svetla Turnin). In Concordia University at 50: A Collective History, Monika Kin Gagnon and Brandon Webb (eds.), Concordia University Press.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2020. “Framing Frames of Counterpower: The Cultural Politics of Programming.” In Contemporary Radical Film Culture: Networks, Organisations and Activists, Jack Newsinger, Michael Wayne and Steve Presence, eds. London: Routledge.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2021. “Reclaiming Popular Documentary: Fast Festivals and the Private Interest Documentary.” In Reclaiming Popular Documentary, Christie Milliken and Steve Anderson, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2020. “The Program(ming) is Political: Documentary, Festivals and the Politics of Programming.” In InsUrgent Media from the Front: A Global Media Activism Reader, Stephen Charbonneau and Christopher Robe, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2020. “Letting it Seep In: Ojibwe Filmmaking Duo Adam and Zack Khalil Discuss Political Filmmaking as Covert Ops.” In InsUrgent Media from the Front: A Global Media Activism Reader, Stephen Charbonneau and Christopher Robe, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2020. “Hot Zones: The Cultural Politics of Documentary Through a Film Festival Lens.” In Documentary Film Festivals: History, Politics, Challenges, Aida Vallejo and Ezra Winton, eds. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2019. “Documentary Media: Towards a Definition.” In The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society, Debra L. Merskin, ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
  • Winton, Ezra and Svetla Turnin. 2017. “The Revolution Will Not be Festivalized: Documentary Film Festivals and Activism.” In Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, Sonia Tascón and Tyson Wils, eds. Bristols & Chicago: Intellect.
  • Waugh, Thomas and Ezra Winton. 2013. “Challenges for Change: Canada’s National Film Board,” with Thomas Waugh in The Documentary Film Book, Brian Winston, ed. London: BFI-Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Wagman, Ira and Ezra Winton. 2012 and 2009. “Canadian Cultural Policy in the Age of Media Abundance: Old Challenges, New Technologies.” In Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communications, 4th and 3rd Editions. Nelson Education.
  • Winton, Ezra and Jason Garrison. 2010. “If a Revolution Is Screened and No One Is There to See It, Does It Make a Sound? Grassroots Distribution from Challenge for Change to Cinema Politica.” In Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada, Thomas Waugh, Ezra Winton and Michael Brendan Baker, eds. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Essays, Articles and Reviews

  • 2025. “Film Festival and Neoliberalism: A Shaky Alliance,” NECSUS Journal, Spring.
  • 2024. “Beyond Triage Work” (with Alethea Arnaquq-Baril), Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 37.1 (Spring).
  • 2023. Rev. of “How documentaries went mainstream: a history, 1960-2022,” New Review ofFilm and Television Studies, 21(4), 818-822.
  • Winton, Ezra. 2022. “Doc Streams in Oceans of Content, POV Magazine, Spring/Summer, 2022. Link: https://povmagazine.com/doc-streams-in-oceans-of-content/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2021. “Tiger Kings and Wretched Things: Algorithm Docs in the Platform Junkyard,” POV Magazine, Issue 114, Spring/Summer (May). Link: https://povmagazine.com/tiger-kings-and-wretched-things/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2019. “10 Must-See Indigenous-Made Films of 2019,” The Nation, print and online (December).
  • Winton, Ezra. 2017. “Unsettling the Nation: A Short History of Documentary Dissent in Canada,” POV Magazine, Issue 104, Spring (March).
  • Winton, Ezra. 2017. “Review: Bee Nation,” POV Magazine, online. Link: https://povmagazine.com/review-bee-nation/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2017. “A Structured Inequity: Further Reflections following Hot Docs 2017 on Indigenous Representation in Canada’s Documentary Industry,” POV Magazine, online. Link: https://povmagazine.com/a-structured-inequity/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2017. “The Slow Burn: Committed Canadian Documentaries at Hot Docs 2017,” POV Magazine, online. Link: https://povmagazine.com/the-slow-burn-committed-canadian-documentaries-at-hot-docs-2017/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2013. “Upping the Anti: Documentary, Capitalism and Liberal Consensus in an Age of Austerity,” POV Magazine, Issue 92, Winter (December).
  • Winton, Ezra. 2011. “New Nordic Documentary Cinema: Identity and Belonging Made Visible,” POV Magazine, Issue 82, Fall (September). Link: https://povmagazine.com/new-nordic-documentary-cinema/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2011. “A Film Festival Grows Up: Hot Docs and the Networked Festival Community,” POV Magazine, Issue 81, Spring (April).
  • Winton, Ezra. 2010. “Multiculturalism, Radical Outcasts and Superheroes,” POV Magazine, Issue 80, Winter (December).
  • Winton, Ezra. 2010. “Beyond the Textbook: Documentaries as a Tool for Teaching,” POV Magazine, Issue 77, Spring (April). Link: https://povmagazine.com/beyond-the-textbook/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2007. “A Documentary Decade,” POV Magazine, Issue 66, Winter (December). Link: https://povmagazine.com/a-documentary-decade/
  • Winton, Ezra. 2006. “CinemaNet Europe: A Digital Doc Armada,” POV Magazine, Issue 64, Winter (December).

Interviews

Documentary Production

SELECTION OF CURATORIAL PRACTICE

  • 2023. Ripples and Threads: Poetic Shorts from Canada, Kosovo Film Festival.
  • 2006-2023. Cinema Politica Main Program.
  • 2020-2025. Settler Frames Curatorial project.
  • 2020-2021. Bring it Black: Films by Black Artists in Canada.
  • 2016-2018. First Peoples, First Screens.
  • 2016-2017. Nations and Migrations: Stories of Borders, Bodies and Resistance.
  • 2014-2015. Divine Interventions: Documentary, Spirituality and Social Justice
  • 2009. Sex, Labour, Smut Film and Video Festival.

OTHER MEDIA ARTS WORK

  • 2003-Present. Co-founder and Director of Programming, Cinema Politica.
  • 2015-Present. Contributing Editor, POV Magazine.
  • 2018. Executive Producer, The Next 150: Documentary Futurism (15 short films
  • combining documentary and the imaginary).
  • 2006-2015. Co-founder and Editor, ArtThreat.net.
  • 2007-2012. Executive Member – Concordia Documentary Centre.
  • 2006-2010. Board Member – Documentary Organization of Quebec.
  • 2006. Proposal writer, original idea, Wal-Town, directed by Sergeo Kirby,
  • Canada, digital, colour, 76 min. (Broadcast: CBC Television).
  • 2005. Co-Director, Swing, Canada, digital, colour, 5 min. (Broadcast: CBC
  • Television).
  • 2005. Co-Director, The Art of Resistance, Canada, digital, colour, 5 min.
  • 2000-2002. Set carpenter, The X-Files, television series (1993-2002), created by Chris
  • Carter.

Media Appearances