Ron Hallis

Ron Hallis has produced, directed and photographed more than twenty five films and videos in Canada, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Iran. The subjects of his films have ranged from African political leaders, Islamic fundamentalism, to ethnomusicology and traditional African dance. He has worked as sound recordist and director of photography on a number of independent films and videos. In 1975 he established a small 16mm black and white processing laboratory and began developing his own films and those of other filmmakers. He processed and supervised the optical blow-up from 16mm to 35mm of Gilles Carle's feature film, L'Ange et la femme. Ron was hired by the National Film Institute of Mozambique in 1977 to upgrade their processing facilities in Maputo and train young Mozambican technicians in film processing, laboratory maintenance and photochemistry. He and his partner, Ophera Hallis, lived in Mozambique for almost four years, working at the National Film Institute and occasionally traveling in the countryside filming village life and recording traditional music. They made films for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Education in exile in Mozambique and then later in independent Zimbabwe. In 1996, Ron began teaching film at a college in Montreal, Canada, and continued to do so until his death in 2006.