Norma Bailey (born 1949, in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada) is a Canadian film writer, producer, and director whose work is rooted in feminist and intersectional film theory. Bailey has directed several films, both in English and French and in various different genres, including fiction and non-fiction films. Her prolific career within the film industry has awarded her various awards and professional accolades including being named to the Order of Manitoba in 2010.
Career
Norma Bailey graduated from the University of Manitoba and began her film career as a production assistant on David Cronenberg’s Rabid. She joined the National Film Board of Canada, and her first short, The Performer (1980), made for the Canada Vignettes series, won a jury prize for short film at the Cannes Film Festival. Bailey has since then had an extensive career writing, producing, and directing numerous shorts, documentaries, features, and television dramas including The Sheldon Kennedy Story for CTV, Cowboys and Indians: The Killing of J. J. Harper for CBC and the Genie Award–winning Bordertown Café in 1992 which was an adaptation of a play by Kelly Rebar. Norma Bailey also served as a producer for the ground-breaking four-part series Daughters of the Country about aboriginal women's interactions with white society.
Works
Feminism
As a female Canadian director and producer Norma Bailey can be ranked among the greats. Her cinematic style is concisely centred around strong, independent, and mature female characters. Bailey's distinct style showcasing strong female characters can be found in several of her films such as Nose and Tine (1980), The Wake (1866), and Ikwe (1986). It is through Bailey's dedication to showcasing female characters as powerful, ambitious, and independent that she can be considered as a feminist filmmaker in cinema. Female characters and women are not extensively portrayed beyond the stereotypical representations often used to describe womanhood and the feminine existence in the film and television industry. Therefore, Bailey's interpretation of women onscreen in inherently a feminist act of rebellion against the typical patriarchal values implemented in film and television.
Feminist film making is a cinematic art govern by feminist politics and theories rooted in social justice and most generally associated with the second wave of feminism. It is common for feminist filmmakers to create cinematic works based on the lived experiences of women and the feminist ideological framework of womanhood. Moreover, feminist filmmaking can be considered an act of liberation for women and a way to diffuse feminist ideologies to a wider audience of people. Norma Bailey stands out as a feminist filmmaker for her contributions in creating more realistic female representation and by repositioning the female voice and gaze throughout her films. A prime example of Norma Bailey's dedication to reshaping the ways in which women are represented in film and television is through her 1986 film The Wake, which was a part of The Daughters of the Country series.
The Wake
The Wake was set in the 1980s in rural Alberta and told the story of a Métis woman named Joan and her love affair with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer named Jim. The film showcased Joan's experiences as a member of the Métis community and the effects cultural differences have on individuals. Norma Bailey reimagined the experiences of Indigenous women from what had been previously showed through film and television and focused on creating a main character that was strong, independent, flawed, and relatable.