About the Film
Filmmakers’ Statement
“This is not the film we would have liked to make about Calgary, the city where we were born and raised. Throughout the five years spent working on this film, we’ve been profoundly disturbed by the violence and dysfunction of the Calgary Police Service, and the devastating impacts on the victims and their families of a justice system that refuses to hold police officers to account for their actions.
It’s clear that many of the underlying problems exposed in the film are echoed in jurisdictions across Canada and around the world, and we believe that the time has come to address the pervasive, systemic dysfunction that we see epitomized in Calgary.”
– Robinder Uppal & Marc Serpa Francoeur
Synopsis
Calgary is Canada’s fourth largest city, known as the centre of the country’s oil industry and a gateway to the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, Calgary has also become known for the violence and dysfunction of its police department.
Recent years have seen the Calgary Police Service (CPS) shoot and kill disproportionately high numbers of people. In 2018, CPS was involved in more fatal shootings than the Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton police departments combined. In a scathing exposé of a deeply troubled police department, No Visible Trauma reveals the devastating consequences of police officers not being held to account for violent behaviour.
Through dogged investigation, never-before-seen evidence, and disturbing police video recordings, the film unravels the intertwined stories of three individuals who suffered severe violence at the hands of Calgary police officers: in 2013, Godfred Addai-Nyamekye (pictured above) was kidnapped and abandoned in -28°C (-18°F) weather by two officers before being brutally beaten and tasered by another; eighteen months later, the same officer who assaulted Godfred viciously punched and flung Daniel Haworth to the ground while handcuffed, causing permanent brain damage; and in 2015, Anthony Heffernan was shot four times and killed after five officers broke down the door of his hotel room during a “welfare check”.
Exclusive interviews with police executives, whistleblowers, lawyers, victims’ families, and one brave survivor reveal systemic failings in the government oversight bodies who are supposed to safeguard the public from the abuse of power. From glaring double standards in the justice system, to shocking levels of bullying, harassment, and intimidation within the police force itself, No Visible Trauma makes clear that the police accountability issues in Calgary are not simply the case of a few bad apples, but rather the predictable outcome of a much deeper rot.
Trailer
The feature-length No Visible Trauma (98 min) had its World Premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival (2020), and its International Premiere at DOK.fest München (2021)
The television version Above the Law (44 min) first broadcast on CBC Docs POV in July 2020, followed by presentations on CBC News Network and documentary Channel.
Press
Selected press coverage of Above the Law and No Visible Trauma
About the Team
Directors, Editors, Producers – Marc Serpa Francoeur & Robinder Uppal
Marc and Robinder are documentarians whose work builds on lifelong interests in social justice issues. They are the co-founders of Lost Time Media, which has produced a wide range of linear and interactive documentaries since 2013. Their interactive documentary The World in Ten Blocks (2016) was featured at Hot Docs, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and launched episodically in partnership with The Globe and Mail. Their short documentary The Head & the Hand (2018) was listed by DOC NYC as one of the top twelve contenders for the Oscars’ Documentary Short category. In 2020, they released Above the Law (CBC Docs POV) in tandem with the feature-length No Visible Trauma, a scathing exposé of police brutality and accountability issues in their hometown of Calgary. In 2022, they co-produced Love in the Time of Fentanyl in partnership with ITVS and with the support of the Sundance Institute. Following its premiere at Vancouver’s DOXA, where it won the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director, the film had its US Premiere at DOC NYC 2022 and broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens in early 2023.
Producer – Geoff Morrison
Geoff Morrison is a Toronto-based producer and founder of Big Cedar Films. Working primarily in documentary and interactive media, his work has screened at the Berlinale, TIFF, Rotterdam, SXSW, Hot Docs, and the MoMA in New York. Recent projects include the CSA and Banff-nominated doc series / format, Farm Crime (CBC), short-form anthology, Brand Canada (CBC), and acclaimed mystery doc, The Missing Tourist (CBC POV). Previously, as a principal at FilmCAN, Geoff co-created the multiplatform documentary project, The National Parks Project. He won a Genie Award for producing Zacharias Kunuk’s short doc, Sirmilik, and a Gemini Award for producing and co-creating the National Parks Project doc series for the Discovery Channel. He was also a creator of the Banff Award-winning cross-platform doc, Northwords. Geoff has been very active in the Canadian new media and documentary industry, sitting on the digital media jury for the Canadian Screen Awards, teaching workshops at the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, and as a mentor for the DOC “Breakthrough” program.
Cinematographer – Daniel Froidevaux
Composers – Christine Bougie and Joel Visentin
Impact Team – Story Money Impact
International Sales – CAT&Docs
Produced by Lost Time Media & Big Cedar Films in participation with CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), CMF (Canada Media Fund), and the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund
