Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1999-2000 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Located in downtown Toronto, Cogent/Benger Productions was founded in 1998 and has produced a large variety of documentaries and specials. The focus on many of their documentaries are major social issues, thus creating a large appeal to their work. Robin Benger and Christopher Sumpton are the founding partners of the company. Benger had experience in Canadian journalism and documentary filmmaking, and Sumpton had worked at CBC editing and working on documentaries. Together they made In Security (Hot Docs 1998 nominee best political/social issue documentary) and Eastside Showdown (Gemini Awards 1999 nominee best social/political documentary) before finally teaming up to make Cogent/Benger Productions.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
One hour documentry. First aired on Discovery in 1999.
Following author Jan Wong, the documentary looks at China and the many aspects of the superpower. Filming was done at the same time as Wong was researching for her book Jan Wong's China, Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent. Wong disguises herself as a tourist and searches out many hidden aspects of life in China: revisiting Tiananmen, a regular location for her when she was a reporter for the Globe and Mail; Gay culture and Hooker Ally; the new levels of poverty juxtaposed with the new level of wealth; and China’s most famous American Maoists.