Scott Jones (filmmaker)

Scott Jones is a Canadian writer and filmmaker. He is most noted for his theatrical play I Forgive You, a collaboration with Robert Chafe which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2024 Governor General's Awards.[1]

Background

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On October 12, 2013, Jones, a gay resident of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, was stabbed by a knife-wielding man after leaving the Acro Lounge.[2] The attack left Jones paraplegic.[2]

During his recovery, Jones participated in the creation of Don't Be Afraid, a province-wide campaign to combat homophobia,[3] and was selected as the grand marshal of the 2014 Halifax Pride parade.[3]

His attacker, Shane Matheson, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison in June 2014.[4]

Career

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In 2018, he was the subject of Laura Marie Wayne's documentary film Love, Scott.[5] At the time, he was a music student in Toronto, whose stated goals included creating something positive out of his experience by using choral music as a tool of healing and social change education;[6] he subsequently launched Vox, a community choir dedicated to social change through artistic performance in Halifax.[5]

In 2022, Jones released his own short film, Coin Slot, about the impending anniversary of his 2013 attack.[7] It was the winner of the Best Atlantic Short Film award at the 2022 Atlantic International Film Festival.[8] He previously won the festival's RBC Script Development Award in 2020 for a feature screenplay titled It's the Fear That Keeps Me Awake.[9]

His second short film, Freedom, was screened at the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival.

I Forgive You premiered in 2022, in a production by the Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland theatre company in St. John's.[10] It was subsequently staged at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2023, in a production directed by Jillian Keiley.[11]

References

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