recent productions

Pedal Power (2009) Bicycles don’t get no respect in an automobile-centred society. Is this about to change?[ MORE ]

Porndemic
(2008) Twenty-four/Seven, cyberspace bulges with porn. We find out about the business of internet porn - the tussle for dollars and survival; who the players are: big, small and ludicrous.
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Pharma Sutra
(2008) Pharma Sutra follows three costly pharmaceutical products as they run the marketing and scientific gauntlet to cash in on an estimated 5 billion dollar “female Viagra” market. Does the future success of these drugs depend on a disease called FSD (female sexual dysfunction) that has been merely invented? Or will they actually meet the genuine needs of millions of women who are suffering a lessening of libido in a sex-obsessed culture?
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China's Leap of Faith
(2008) China, the world’s most populous country, a booming new economic superpower. And now, after decades of official atheism, religious fervor is exploding in China, unleashed by government reforms.
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How To Stop A Hurricane
(2007) There are two things you can say for sure about hurricanes. One: they are nature’s most destructive force; and two: another big one is on the way. Can anything be done to fight them?
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Money And The Maker: The Battle for St Stephen
(2006) This two-hour doc is about the cast of characters trying to save a 150 year old Anglican Church, and the conflicts inside the Anglican community. It's also about a slightly addled, middle-aged man's search for justice truth and higher ground.
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The In-Between World of M.G. Vassanji
(2006) About the Canadian writer MG Vassanji, born in East Africa, who grew up poor in Dar Es Salaam, won a physics scholarship to MIT, a PhD in Philadelphia, then a job as a nuclear physicist at AECL in Ontario, where he read Pascal and translated medieval Hindu ghinans before writing six big, award-winning novels.
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Bowling for Canada
(2003) An unlikely group of cricketing amateurs overcomes controversy and bad financing and manages to avoid global humiliation at the World Cup of cricket in South Africa. It’s a story of impossible achievement; it’s also a story that reflects a new Canada.
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Paul Anka: Destiny
(2002) One-hour biography of one of music history's enduring stars.
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First Person Shooter
(2002) One-hour documentary investigating the effect of violent video games on children.
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Dying To Get In, Parts One & Two
(2001) Two one-hour documentaries entering the underground world of illegal immigrants and their pursuers.
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Wolverine: Devil Of The North
(2001) Everyone knows the name but few people have ever seen one. This film explores the "Devil Beast" of reputation, but also the real animal being discovered by current research. We watch two young wolverines grow up in front of the camera as a biologist gets close to her subjects trying to crack the mysteries of wolverine behaviour.
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Yamoria and the Giant Wolverine
(2001) Six-minute animated story tells how Yamoria, the mythic hero of the Dogrib people of the Northwest Territories, stops Giant Wolverine from terrorizing humans. As told by the venerated Dogrib storyteller, George Blondin, and based on the images of the famed artist, Archie Beaulieu.
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Somebody Stop Me: The Life & Times of Jim Carrey
(2000) Biography of the actor/comedian, Canada's highest-paid movie star ever.
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Jan Wong's Forbidden China
(1999) Jan Wong, pre-eminent Canadian correspondent and author, takes on the role of political and cultural tour guide in Jan Wong’s Forbidden China. Wong reveals to television viewers key aspects of a fascinating superpower, China.
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Powergame
(1999) A profile of top international squash pro Jonathon Power.
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Asylum, Parts One & Two
(1999) Two one-hour documentaries reveal what happens to the mentally ill in the "real world" after treatment in mental institutions.
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documentaries in development

outside productions

(NOT AVAILABLE FROM COGENT/BENGER).The documentaries below were directed or produced by Cogent/Benger personel for other production companies.

Nature Bites Back: The Case Of The Sea Otter
(2005) Sea otters have come back from near-death as a species. Now, where do they fit into an ecosystem that adapted to get along with them? Filmed in HD, directed and written by Christopher Sumpton for The Nature Of Things. Narrated by David Suzuki. A CBC-TV production.
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Madiba: The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela
(2004) A two-hour documentary special produced, directed and written by Robin Benger for Mark Starowicz's Documentary Unit at CBC TV. Gemini Award, best music 2005. Gemini Nomination for best Biography.
" The best Life and Times ever" John Doyle, The Globe and Mail
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Robbing The Cradle of Civilization
(2003) The story of how Iraq's museum and ancient sites are being looted by gangs working for Middle eastern smugglers and antiquities collectors based in Europe, North America and Japan. Filmmaker Robin Benger tracks looted cylinder seals from the war zones of Shia Iraq out through Jordan and Israel to London, Switzerland and New York.
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Daughters of Afghanistan
(2002) Sally Armstrong investigates the reality for women in modern Afganistan and the tremendous obstacles that they must overcome. Directed By Robin Benger. An Up Front Entertainment production.
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Inside Information: Stories from the Hill
(2001) Robin Benger directed and wrote this one hour documentary for the CBC's 50th Anniversary series. It focussed on 50 years of parliamentary journalism by the CBC from the nation's capital. From the early hard-drinking days of Charlie Lynch and Norman De Poe to the badgering scrumwork of the tireless Julie Van Dusen. CBC-TV.

East Side Showdown
(1999) Class warfare centred around one urban intersection. Directed by Robin Benger. Producer: Peter Starr. Associate Producer: Chirstopher Sumpton. A National Film Board of Canada production.
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In Security: The New Age of Policing
(1998) Examines the growing privatization of law enforcement. Directed by Robin Benger. Produced by Christopher Sumpton. A CBC-TV production.