By Brenda Malley

If you are fortunate enough to meet and talk to long-time NB Film Co-op member Christine McLean, it becomes immediately apparent that her staying power as a Canadian journalist and filmmaker over the last two decades is primarily the result of her tenacity, hard work, and ability to recognize interesting stories from her natural surroundings.

This sweetheart of the Maritimes hails from Nova Scotia, where she currently resides. However, she spent years early in her career living and working in New Brunswick, a time and place she recalls with fondness and gratitude.

As a young child, Christine was not thinking about pursuing one of the more traditional career choices. Instead, because of her love of literature, storytelling, and visual arts, by the age of 10, she knew that she wanted to become a photojournalist someday.

Following high school graduation, Christine obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Dalhousie University, followed by an honours degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa. She returned to school in 2008, earning a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.

Though she had initially expected that her career would involve journalism in print form, little did she know that she would diversify into other mediums, specifically radio and television.

Christine was a feature presenter at CBC Radio for more than a decade. She regularly filled in for Terry Seguin, the former host of Information AM, CBC Fredericton, while also occasionally filling in for the hosts of Information AM in Saint John and Moncton. She was also a guest host for Shift New Brunswick for several years.

From 2007-2010, Christine was a panelist on CBC’s Short Film Face Off, showcasing films from across Canada. For four months the following year, she wrote and presented a bi-weekly CBC radio column called Just Sayin’ about the use of slang. In 2013, she conceived and conducted panel discussions for Canada Reads, and in 2015 she conducted a series of feature interviews on masterworks at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Christine revealed that a series of unforeseen circumstances and associations with some amazing creatives, as well as her involvement with some phenomenal creative organizations (e.g., artsnb, WIFT- Atlantic, Women in the Director’s Chair), gave her the confidence to “talk business” and to “think big,” leading to her foray into filmmaking.

She has written, story edited, and/or directed more than thirty documentaries to date. Most of these documentaries have been nationally televised, appearing on CBC’s Land and Sea and The Nature of Things. Her work has also been televised on APTN, Discovery Canada, and National Geographic.

Some of the “one-off” documentaries that she wrote include The Paramount (2012), The Boy Who Was Bullied (2013), At the Dance (2013), and Code Kids (2014). Also, Christine directed The Girls of St. Mary’s (2016).

As well, she contributed to many documentary series including, Stones of Fate and Fortune (2003, one episode as director, consultant for three others), Frontiers of Construction (2004, wrote and directed five episodes), CBC’s Opening Night (wrote and directed two episodes), Keeping Canada Alive (2015, director of two online stories), Mega Marine Machines (2020, head writer and story editor, TV series documentary), If We Built It Today (2020, story editor and producer).

One of her most memorable documentary episodes, Wild at Heart (for Land and Sea), had a large viewing audience. It told the story of people who brought wildlife into their homes, like Ellie the Moose from Giberson Settlement, NB. Christine also contributed to other episodes that focused on urban foxes in PEI, black bears in NS, bald eagles, and bats in the Maritimes with white-nose syndrome. Christine’s most inspirational documentary was The Power of Play for The Nature of Things that can still be viewed on CBC Gem. This show examined research on the benefits of free, risky play in nature and its impact on children’s mental and emotional development. She and her crew visited a daycare program in Norway where children between 2 and 4 years old spent their entire day outdoors where they ate, played, and slept.

For the last year, Christine and Tim Hogan (an Emmy award-winning producer whom she enjoyed collaborating with on past projects) co-produced a “visually rich” and fun documentary, The New Human, for The Nature of Things. It aired on November 26, 2021, and is still running on CBC Gem. The New Human explores how the human body will biologically develop in the near and far future. This is because of evolution, technology, and changes in our culture. Some examples of these changes are our hair colour, height, and physical strength.

Christine hosts and presents at various venues and events within the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia artistic communities if all this filmmaking is not enough. These include In Conversation, a public interview series presented by the Fredericton Playhouse, keynote conversations for Women Making Waves, public interviews with Canadian authors at Fry Literary Festival, discussion panels at Silver Wave Film festival, and Lunch and Learn events through Doc Talks (2015).

She also taught senior television workshops at the University of King’s College in 2011-12 and was a full-time assistant professor at St. Thomas University from July 2009 until May 2011 in the journalism program.

What does Christine plan to do next? She and Tim Hogan hope to work on another episode of the Nature of Things that could involve filming in Africa, Western Europe, and/or the Canadian North. Also, given that she has significantly benefitted from other females and female organizations throughout her career, she intends to continue supporting women in film whenever she can, including employment and mentorship opportunities.

Her significant contribution to film and television was recognized by WIFT Atlantic in 2017 when she was one of three women that year selected for the WAVE Award.