Director, Cinematographer

(b. June 10, 1941 Sringar, India)

A passionate and diverse filmmaker, Vic Sarin has been one of Canada’s most distinguished cinematographers for more than thirty years and has carved out a career directing for television and low-budget features. Known for his stunning shots of Canada’s wintry landscape, he has been nominated for two Genie Awards and has won four Geminis, an Emmy Award and the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a cinematographer.

Sarin was born in Kashmir and spent his teenaged years in Australia, where his father was a diplomat. The gift of a 16mm camera on his sixteenth birthday kick-started his love affair with filmmaking and allowed him to discover his niche as a visual storyteller. After studying electronics at the University of Melbourne and working as a freelance cameraman for the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), he came to Toronto in 1963 and worked as a cinematographer for the CBC for seventeen years. He then turned to directing television movies for CBC and episodes for such series as “Spencer: For Hire” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

With more than 150 films to his credit, Sarin has worked as a cinematographer with a number of top directors on such features as Don Shebib’s Heartaches (1981), Anne Wheeler’s Loyalties (1986) and Bye Bye Blues (1989) and Mort Ransen’s Margaret’s Museum (1994). In 1989, he made a strong feature film directing debut with Cold Comfort.

Film and video work includes

The Insurance Man from Ingersoll, 1975 (cinematographer; TV)
The Naked Peacock, 1975 (cinematographer)
The Fighting Men, a.k.a. Men of Steel, 1977 (cinematographer; TV)
Someday Soon, 1977 (cinematographer; TV)
Crossbar, 1979 (cinematographer; TV)
Riel, 1979 (cinematographer; TV)
Passengers, 1980 (director; TV)
War Brides, 1980 (cinematographer; TV)
Bix, a.k.a. Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet, 1981 (cinematographer)
Hugh MacLennan: Portrait of a Writer, 1982 (cinematographer)
Spasms, 1982 (second unit camera operator)
Gurkhas of Nepal, 1983 (director)
Rumours of Glory, 1983 (cinematographer; TV)
Charlie Grant's War, 1984 (cinematographer; TV)
The Other Kingdom, 1984 (director; TV)
The Canadian Observer: An Introduction to Hugh MacLennan, 1985 (cinematographer)
Dancing in the Dark, 1985 (cinematographer)
Going to War, 1985 (cinematographer)
Spenser: For Hire series, 1985 (director; TV, one episode)
The Suicide Murders, 1985 (cinematographer; TV)
Turning to Stone, a.k.a. Concrete Hell, 1985 (cinematographer; TV)
The Last Season, 1986 (cinematographer)
Loyalties, 1986 (cinematographer)
Island Love Song, 1987 (director; TV)
Nowhere to Hide, 1987 (cinematographer)
So Many Miracles, 1987 (director)
Family Reunion, 1988 (cinematographer)
Norman's Awesome Experience, a.k.a. A Switch in Time, 1988 (cinematographer)
Divided Loyalties, 1989 (cinematographer)
Hippocritic Oath, Alfred Hitchcock Presents series, 1989 (director; TV)
The Long Road Home, 1989 (cinematographer)
Love and Hate: The Story of Colin and Joanne Thatcher, a.k.a. Love and Hate: A Marriage Made in Hell, 1989 (cinematographer; TV)
Neon Rider series, 1990 (director; TV, one episode)
Artemisia, 1992 (cinematographer; TV)
The David Milgaard Story, 1992 (director; cinematographer; TV)
Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World series, 1992 (director; cinematographer; TV)
On My Own, 1992 (cinematographer)
The Burning Season, 1993 (cinematographer)
Cold Sweat, 1993 (cinematographer)
God's Dominion: Shepherds to the Flock, 1993 (cinematographer)
Spenser: Ceremony, 1993 (cinematographer; TV)
Tapoori, 1993 (cinematographer)
Spenser: Pale Kings and Princes, 1994 (director; cinematographer; TV)
Trial at Fortitude Bay, 1994 (director; TV)
Whale Music, 1994 (cinematographer; camera operator)
Not Our Son, 1995 (cinematographer; TV)
Spenser: A Savage Place, 1995 (cinematographer; TV)
Wounded Heart, 1995 (director; cinematographer; TV)
Urban Safari, 1995 (cinematographer)
Hearts Adrift, 1996 (director; cinematographer; TV)
The Legend of Gator Face, 1996 (director)
Salt Water Moose, 1996 (cinematographer)
Four Million Houseguests, 1997 (cinematographer)
The Hidden Dimension, 1997 (cinematographer)
In His Father's Shoes, 1997 (director; TV)
Hard to Forget, 1998 (director; TV)
The Waiting Game, 1998 (director; cinematographer; TV)
Hope Island series, 1999 (director; TV, one episode)
Sea People, 1999 (director; cinematographer; TV)
Left Behind, a.k.a. Left Behind: The Movie, 2000 (director)
Recipe for Murder, a.k.a. Murray Maguire, M.E., 2001 (director; cinematographer; TV)
Deluxe Combo Platter, 2004 (director; cinematographer)