Nicholas Friesen

Nicholas Friesen (writer/editor/director/actor) is a graduate of the Theatre & Film program at the University of Winnipeg. During his time there, he was elected President of the Theatre Students Association and successfully lobbied to have the name of the program changed from the Department of Theatre & Drama to Theatre & Film. In addition, Friesen wrote, edited and directed over twenty short films, many of which won awards at the Student Film Festival in 2006/07, and have screened across the province. In addition to working behind the camera, he studied in the acting program for three years prior, to fully understand how to direct his actors, along with appearing in several shorts. Since graduating from the program, Friesen has written and produced numerous short films, including 2009's A Reasonable Man. The half hour short is a period film loosely based on the life of notorious record producer Phil Spector. The film was shot on numerous formats (16mm, VHS, HD) to convey the different time periods (1958-1991). Friesen is a regular contributing photographer and writer to Winnipeg's street weekly, Uptown Magazine, with his photos accompanying live reviews and appearing on covers. Additionally, his work has been featured in One Magazine, Rogers' UR Magazine (National), The New Pollution (Toronto) and was a founding writer of pop-zap.com. His photography work found him experimenting with stop motion animation, and in 2009/10 he produced several videos for one of Winnipeg's favourite indie bands, Enjoy Your Pumas. A lifelong music lover and collector, Friesen has been hosting and producing his radio show (the.mix.tape.) on 92.9 Kick FM in Winnipeg since July, 2006. In 2008, filmmaker Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments) contacted Friesen to head the writing on a new web based project surrounding the sequel to the 1996 film Hard Core Logo. In addition to writing reviews about the fictional punk band (fronted by Hugh Dillon), he was in charge of creating a "band bible" - the band's complete history from inception to break up and beyond. The result found McDonald declaring Friesen his "new favourite writer." Actors Callum Keith Rennie, Hugh Dillon and John Pyper Ferguson also signed off on the writing. The web project will be released in the time leading up to the release of Hard Core Logo's sequel. In 2009, Friesen was tapped by Vancouver band Bend Sinister to edit/co-direct their documentary about Canadian touring bands, featuring such acts as Woodhands and Azeda Booth. The film will see release in late 2010 with support from CBC Radio 3. In 2010, Friesen's feature film project (Mr Writer) was a top 8 finalist in the Rogers/Telefilm $15,000 Pitch Contest at the Gimli Film Festival. Though the un-produced script wasn't chosen for the grand prize, it continues in a state of heavy pre-production. Friesen joined the Shaw TV family in 2011 as the host of The Next Reel, a weekly segment showcasing his own short films and music videos (as well as the works of others). Every Tuesday and Thursday catch the show that takes you behind the scenes of local filmmaking.