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The one year anniversary of the completion of filming of Pedal Power marks a number of developments since we put away our bike-cams. Igor Kenk has been released from jail and has become his own blogger. His bike shop is no more and the transformation of Queen Street continues. There are still no new major east-west bike lanes in the city. The fate of Darcy Allan Sheppard continues to stir up questions about the temper of bike-driver relations, even after the case against Michael Bryant was dismissed. Toronto still has no public bike system, even though City Hall gave the idea of importing Montreal's Bixi bikes the go-ahead.

One thing that hasn't changed is that the bicycle revolution is picking up steam. Call it a mild winter and an unusually warm spring, but there are more legions of cyclists on the road that ever before. And the news from the Gulf of Mexico has horrified even more people into wondering about the sustainability of fossil fool transportation. Pedal Power lives on.]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100618-143343 Cogent/Benger Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:33:43 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090915-155216
See the article at:
Globe&Mail article Sept. 8 '09]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090915-155216 Cogent/Benger Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:52:16 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090604-110033





]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090604-110033 Cogent/Benger Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:00:33 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090307-191239 Actually Michael has 3 of the top six, according to http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/cha ... ntary.htm;
Sicko and Bowling for Columbine made 20 mill plus each. This company is a huge admirer of MM, even if we find some his ambushes breathtakingly premeditated.
I'm not sure what his greater legacy is; the death of objectivity [or the outing of subjectivity] or breaking the poverty barrier.

But clearly this recession is going to affect the documentary business. We depend on commissioning editors with budgets. Once those budgets disappear( as happened this past week with the regrettable demise of Bob Culbert at CTV) we have one less buyer for Canadian network documentaries. The rumours are that Global and its cluster of channels is in serious financial straits. We were never able to have an intelligent conversation with anyone at Global despite three tries.

It will also be interesting times as budget-slashers "prioritize". How central or peripheral are documentaries to the national cultural scene? When politicians are faced with saving farms and hospitals and schools, how receptive will they be to an argument to save something as ephemeral as a film.

There are two factors that give me hope, neither of them financial. Documentaries record the times, and we have an historic obligation to document this major collapse. In terms of its culprits (Enron) its victims (We are currently shooting Adjustment City; about laid off auto workers in the windsor detroit area) and its social ramifications. We may need to work for nothing or very little, but documentary can be an important mobilising and informative influence in times like these.

The second factor relates to what people need in times of crisis. Think of Woody Guthrie and the Great Depression. The incredible generation of British comedians and singers (Vera Lynn; Peter Sellers; Spike Milligan) who came out of the world war years; Jimi Hendrix and Vietnam; Shosholoza and Hugh Masekela's Stimela , anti-apartheid music generally during those dark times.

Nothing can really stop a committed filmmaker now. It may mean a lot of soft practitioners should start re-training themselves, but documentary is built for rough rides, and will serve these times and find its audience.

This may mean that the next few cogentbenger productions will be displayed on a sheet behind our office on Queen Street West. A cup will be passed. Local establishments will provide hot chocolate.


]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090307-191239 Cogent/Benger Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:12:39 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090102-190338
In South Africa 1969 I joined a delegation of Christian students from Wits University on a trip to the University of the North at Turfloop, a three hour drive north of Johannesburg. It was a so-called tribal college, the result of the apartheidisation of the Universities. We had planned a day of prayer and discussion about Christianity and Apartheid.

The day started with a service. During the first hymn the police burst in. Women screamed. We were all arrested, about 30 black theological students and eight white students. We were charged with a breach of the General Assemblies Act, which made illegal any gathering of the races for political discussion and for being on Bantu Trust Territory without a permit. At the age of 18 I was accused of being a political criminal.

We were escorted back to Johannesburg in a police convoy. On the way back we passed a forbidding looking building my companion, Jeannette Curtis, described as Pretoria Central. "Winnie Mandela is in there," she said, " and its her birthday" We sang Happy Birthday Winnie. I was too embarassed to ask her who Winnie Mandela was.


We were released at the house of a priest. I remember sitting in a state of shock; too chicken to call my parents. It was midnight on a Sunday. The priest [Father Colin Collins] was suddenly on the phone describing the day with great intensity and urgency. "Its Helen Suzman, in Cape Town."

The next morning my horrified father tossed the morning newspaper on my bed. There on the front page of the Rand Daily Mail, the story with my name among the white students who'd been arrested. My mother dramatically proclaimed that it was the end of everything, a catastrophe.

Later that day, in Parliament, Helen Suzman stood and laid into Prime Minister Vorster for allowing his police to enter a place of worship and arrest concerned young South Africans. It was a stinging speech, but met with the same condescension and derision I was encountering.

For the blacks in our group it meant the beginning of twenty years of serious harassment, imprisonment, torture and worse (several founded the black consciousness movement with Steve Biko, who was beaten to death in police detention). In 1984, Jeannette Curtis, and her baby daughter, were blown up by a parcel bomb sent by South African agents.

I learned life lessons from that experience. One, arrest people who stand for a just cause and they will dig their heels in for life. Secondly, one person can be right, the vast majority wrong. Suzman personified George Bernard Shaw's "the minority is wlways right" What she did for me was to buy me the time I needed to figure out how to help bring this system down in my own way. It took many more years but in the end my late parents understood, too.

Suzman was one tough broad. This was a pitbull, Governor Palin. She was the only MP to be right onto Nelson Mandela, fighting everyone to go out to Robben Island very early. I believe she saved probably millions from worse persecution than I experienced by badgering and berating the government on detention without trial, forced removals, property rights, the whole demented architecture that was apartheid. She was at the sharp end of one of the most sneering forms of sexism from white South African politicians, and she never buckled, never gave an inch. Later she fought against sanctions, which I thought was tactically wrong, but she was the sitting member for one of the richest constituencies in South Africa, so she was speaking, just as fiercely, for the business sector, representing those who voted her in election after election.

Years later, booking double-enders at The Journal, I used to hook her up with an equally formidable woman with as strong a nose for justice and bs in Barbara Frum, ..In this era of gushing, celebrity interviews these two sharp, focussed and deeply humane women were interlocutors of the highest calibre. When after 22 years of forced exile I returned to South Africa and produced Brian Stewart's CBC interview with her in her beautiful gardens, I thanked her for staying the hand of the Nationalist Government after the church arrests. I don't remember any mushy interchange about that. What I remember from that interview was her rock-solid, deep, deep respect for Mandela and her disturbing, but prophetic misgivings about his political successors. And those diamond-hard eyes.

Hamba gahle Mrs Suzman..heaven has a place for those who fight.


]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090102-190338 Cogent/Benger Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:03:38 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090102-115812
"I like the fact that Dr Thirsk will be travelling on the Soyuz, a Russian craft, as the Russians were the only world power to support Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress in the bleak early days of the struggle against apartheid. Also, Mandela, who may not be here on earth with us much longer, deserves a place among the stars. Perhaps if all goes kerblooey here on earth some alien entity will discover the doc, play it, and start all over again the Mandela way, with love, forgiveness and respect for all."(Robin Benger)

'Madiba' has been broadcast all over the world, and won a Gemini for best music, a Gabriel, and awards at the New York and Chicago film festivals. The Globe and Mail described it as the best Life and Times ever.

Documentary Description]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry090102-115812 Cogent/Benger Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:58:12 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081203-115958 "Ever since a blue pill called Viagra started getting a rise out of men – and became a billion-dollar pharmaceutical "blockbuster" in the process – it was just a matter of time (and scientific engineering) before a drug to enhance or restore the flagging libidos of women would be developed."

Pharma Sutra, a documentary by Cogent/Benger Productions (airing on CTV Saturday at 7 p.m.) takes a broad, almost clinical look at the issue: the multinational pharmaceutical companies, the approval process, the "sex" doctors, the feminists and, most important, the women and their spouses.

Documentary-maker Robin Benger said the film raises a raft of ethical issues. It all started with a statistic reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1999, which said that 43 per cent of women suffer from female sexual dysfunction.



"We spoke to an awful lot of women on this and we found a reasonable percentage of them saying, yeah, they did feel the need for a drug like this," Benger said, including one particularly vocal woman from San Diego in the film who feels she has a "right" to such a drug and even muses about going to the "black market" to find it.

The counterpoint – and a persuasive one – comes from the feminist perspective, embodied by New York sex therapist Dr. Leonore Tiefer, who worries about the "medicalization of sexuality" and is dubious about whether female sexual dysfunction even exists.

Then there are pharmaceutical giants earnestly seeking the female equivalent of Viagra.

The documentary focuses on three products in the trial phase: a pill, a testosterone patch and a nasal spray.

While project partner Marion Gruner tracked down the human interest side, the women, it was Benger's job to penetrate the highly secretive pharmaceutical industry, which proved to be a surprisingly difficult challenge.

"I've done all sorts of documentaries on investigative stuff, on intelligence and the CIA and all that kind of stuff. And I thought at one point, it's easier to find out about new weapons in development than it is about new drugs," Benger said.

Benger called the race to develop what he cheekily described as the modern-day "mother's little helper" – with respect to the Rolling Stones – a high-stakes one, with millions and potentially billions in profits at stake.

"I think a drug is inevitable, but I can go into a subject and come out slightly ambivalent about it," Benger said.

"For me myself, I think it's sort of ridiculous. But you've got to respect the fact that for tens of thousands of women ... (a libido drug) would be a very good thing," he added.

If nothing else, Benger said confidently, Pharma Sutra is going to get the conversation flowing on the whole issue of sexual politics, identity and desire.

"I think it's a good `water cooler' doc," he said.

The Toronto Star Review]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081203-115958 Cogent/Benger Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:59:58 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081114-131251 The compelling one-hour documentary takes an in-depth look at the debate surrounding the multi-billion dollar race to approve the first female sex drug.


Toronto, ON (November 13, 2008) – Ten years after the introduction of Viagra, pharmaceutical companies are on the verge of introducing a new sex drug for women. But is “female sexual dysfunction” a reality – or a brilliant marketing ploy? In the new CTV Original Documentary, PHARMA SUTRA, Toronto filmmakers Marion Gruner and Robin Benger follow the multi-billion dollar race to produce the next “female Viagra.” Airing Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV (visit CTV.ca to confirm local listings), meet the doctors, critics, pharmaceutical reps and, of course the women, who debate the merit of treating low libido.

In 1999, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report that stated that 43% of women suffered from Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). Some critics opposed the notion of labelling a woman’s sexual problems as a “disease,” viewing it as another ploy by the drug companies to profit off of a “cure.” Others believed that sexual dysfunction is a genuine concern for millions of women and that medical intervention can help.

With FSD identified, the pharmaceutical companies have poured billions of dollars into research to come up with the winning formula that will allow women to attain sexual satisfaction. In the running for FDA approval are a nasal spray, a skin patch and a daily pill, each formulated to supercharge women’s sex drives. While the pharmaceutical companies behind these drugs attempt to get approval, some women would give anything to boost their libido.

PHARMA SUTRA follows a trio of women considering taking these drugs: a 50-year-old empty nester, a grandma battling a depleted libido who's looking to maintain her youth and a mother in her 40s looking to revive her marriage.

With these new sex drugs on the horizon, PHARMA SUTRA looks at the forces surrounding this hot-button issue, including the controversy surrounding FSD, women with genuine libido concerns, doctors supporting the need for these products, the pharmaceutical companies spending millions on the competing drugs and the increasing problem with unauthorized labs producing female libido boosters and selling them on the Internet.

PHARMA SUTRA is written and directed by Marion Gruner and Robin Benger, and was produced and developed by Cogent/Benger Productions in association with CTV Inc. Bob Culbert is Vice-President of CTV Documentaries. Robert Hurst is President of CTV News and Current Affairs. Susanne Boyce is President, Content, Creative and Channels, CTV Inc.

For more information, contact:
Beth Lockley, Publicist, CTV Inc., 416.332.4583 or blockley@ctv.ca
Cynthia Amsden, Cogent/Benger Publicist, 416.910.7740 or roundstone@gmail.com]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081114-131251 Cogent/Benger Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:12:51 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081030-124605 How To Stop A Hurricane took the 2008 Pariscience film festival by storm. Part human drama and part technological exploration, How To Stop A Hurricane is a fantastic science thriller about one of nature’s greatest forces, and Man’s attempt to contain it. The film uses an imaginative mix of computer animated scenarios and live action to “test” the theories of inventors and experts. This garnered it “The Innovation Middle Schooler’s Prize” at this year’s Pariscience film festival, the international festival of scientific films which takes place every autumn in Paris, France. And middle-schoolers have got to be the toughest audience there is.]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081030-124605 Cogent/Benger Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:46:05 GMT http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080720-124847
A Globe & Mail review states, “ It was a difficult odyssey for a team of Canadian filmmakers to shoot a documentary on religion in China because both the press and religion are sensitive issues in the Middle Kingdom. But at a time when the Holy See and Tibet are entering a moment critical to their relations with Beijing, and to the freedom of religion for millions of Catholic and Buddhist faithful, this documentary is sorely needed.”

AOL Canada says, “The current religious fervour in China is comparable to the revolutionary energy of the United States in the 1960s, but multiplied by thousands. And rather than rallies, tie-dye, and bra burning, the Chinese are clutching their Bibles and building temples. After more than 30 years of an oppressive Communist hold, China as a whole is finally embracing religious freedom. VisionTV’s new two-part documentary, China’s Leap of Faith, co-directed by Christopher Sumpton of Toronto producer Cogent/Benger Productions, dives head-first into the issue, and into the country that has kept its private affairs a secret for so long. In the film, we travel to China and witness peasants, city workers, and elite folk alike heading off to church and holding private praying sessions in their kitchen. Their closed eyes and clasped hands display an ardour previously suppressed.”

From a Globe & Mail Review section feature: “Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, China's proclaimed openness to foreign media is being sorely tested, as a Canadian documentary film crew found in the heart of Hebei province. It happened when the filmmakers were interviewing a priest on camera. As he answered their questions about the state of religious freedom in China, Father Lu Zhi Zong, a priest in the Catholic enclave of Donglu, a village 150 kilometres south of Beijing, kept glancing over at three local authorities who were monitoring his every word. Authorities keep close tabs on Father Lu because his village is a major pilgrimage site, given its shrine to the Virgin Mary. The site, honouring an apparition of Mary that was reported in 1900, annually drew huge crowds of pilgrims before a mid-1990s crackdown by authorities. During the interview, the officials videotaped the priest behind the back of Canadian filmmaker Diana Xiaoping Dai. "When I did the interview, I noticed that Father Lu was very nervous. He answered my questions, but I could tell he was nervous," she said. "Honestly, if I knew they were filming him, I would probably have asked less tough questions."’

China’s Leap of Faith can be seen July 22 and 23rd on VisionTV.]]> http://www.cogentbenger.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080720-124847 Cogent/Benger Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:48:47 GMT