Director, Screenwriter

(b. January 1, 1947 Penticton, British Columbia)

Sandy Wilson began her film career in 1970 with Penticton Profile, about the community in which she was raised in the Okanagan. She then wrote, produced and directed several short and feature-length documentaries and dramas, including The Bridal Shower (1972), He’s Not the Walking Kind (1972) and the promising experimental short Growing up at Paradise (1977), structured around her father’s home movies.

Her 1985 debut feature My American Cousin, a semi-autobiographical tale about a young girl’s coming-of-age in the B.C. interior in the fifties, made a splash both in Canada and major U.S. markets. Wilson went on to win two Genie awards for her screenplay and her direction of the film. However, her career was dealt a blow when the sequel, American Boyfriends (1989), floundered both critically and commercially. Harmony Cats (1993) – in which an arrogant city musician is pitted against country folk with predictable results – was an even greater disappointment.

Wilson took a hiatus from filmmaking after Harmony Cats to spend time with her two sons. She has directed for television and teaches directing and screenwriting at the Vancouver Film School, Capilano College in Vancouver, and Algonquin College in the Okanagan.

Film and video work includes

Madeleine Is.., 1970 (assistant director)
Penticton Profile, 1970 (director; writer; editor)
The Bridal Shower, 1972 (director; writer; editor)
He's Not the Walking Kind, 1972 (director)
Prairie: Passing Through, 1973 (editor)
The Twitch, 1973 (editor)
Pen-Hi Grad, Pacificanada series, 1975 (director; writer; co-editor with Claude Duquette)
Going All the Way, 1976 (director; writer; editor)
Raising the Gilhast Pole, 1976 (director; editor; TV)
Growing Up at Paradise, 1977 (director; writer; editor; producer)
Teenage Money, 1977 (director; writer; editor)
Coming Down, 1979 (director; writer; editor; producer)
Mount Chopaka Easter Sunday Jackpot Rodeo, 1980 (director; writer; editor; producer)
Moving Day, Trying Times series; 1987 (director, TV)
Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird, 1987 (director; TV)
American Boyfriends, 1989 (director; writer; co-producer with Steven DeNure)
Harmony Cats, 1993 (director)
Model Perfect, Ready or Not series, 1993 (director)
Where the Boys Are, Hi-Tech Culture series, 1995 (director; TV)
My Life in a Few Minutes, 2000 (director, writer)