OPUS 59 FILMS is the production company of John Bolton, an award-winning filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada focusing on performing arts pieces, literary adaptations, sports films and the occasional disaster flick.

Most recently, John produced and directed a documentary about the making of Fallujah, the first opera about the Iraq War and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); a series of classical music shorts for Knowledge Network’s performing arts strand Radio City; and the classical music performance piece Phobos And Deimos Circling, featuring pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa performing the music of composer Jocelyn Morlock.  Other recent works include the broadcast documentary 12 Takes (for Knowledge Network), a series of profiles of BC-based artists which was nominated for a Gemini Award, a Golden Sheaf Award and the Delphic Art Movie Award; the classical music hockey movies Flame / Through Walls (for Bravo!FACT), featuring the UBC Women’s Hockey Team skating to the music of composers Jordan Nobles and Jennifer Butler, as performed by the Turning Point Ensemble, which screened at “containR” at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and which won a Golden Sheaf Award; and the disturbing black comedy The Closer You Get To Canada (for the National Screen Institute), based on the short story by Canadian author Thomas King, and featuring one of the final onscreen performances of the late Gordon Tootoosis, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which had its broadcast premiere on CBC’s Canadian Reflections and which won the Leo Award for Best Actress.

John’s other short films include the classical music performance pieces Beethoven Opus 59 No 3 Allegro Molto (featuring the Borealis String Quartet) and Christus Vincit (featuring the vocal chamber ensemble musica intima), both of which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival, both of which aired on Bravo! Television and both of which were nominated for Golden Sheaf Awards; the disquieting drama Valentines, based on the short story by Canadian author Nancy Lee, which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival, which won Best Film at the Real 2 Reel International Film Festival and which won the Leo Award for Best Actress; and the Crazy8s comedy Breakdown, featuring a who’s who of Canadian television, including Christopher Shyer, Amanda Tapping, Carly McKillip, Sonya Salomaa and Winston Rekert, which premiered at the Whistler Film Festival and which won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Actress.

John is currently developing several feature length projects, including the feature film E Day Is Coming, a seismic comedy about earthquake preparedness and real estate anxiety in Vancouver (with support from Telefilm Canada), and the musical docudrama Aim For The Roses, about Canadian musician Mark Haney and Canadian daredevil Ken Carter (with support from the British Columbia Council for the Arts).

John is also an associate producer at Sepia Films, where he most recently associate produced the feature films A SHINE OF RAINBOWS, IN THEIR SKIN and A MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE, as well as the documentary HUE.