Alum Premieres Film at Toronto International Film Festival

Congratulations to producer Monica Berra (MFA ’16) on the premiere of her film Paul Anka: His Way at the Toronto International Film Festival! Directed by John Maggio, and produced by Berra, the film offers a candid and celebratory look at the life and career of Paul Anka, one of the world’s most prolific and successful singer-songwriters. 

In a conversation with The Video Consortium, Berra provided insight into what drew her to this film:

“What draws me to specializing in historical films is my love of working with archival material. This is when the story comes to life for me — when we secure little nuggets of never-before-seen moments otherwise lost to history that wind up shaping the entire visual and editorial treatment of the film. So when my long-time collaborator, John Maggio, approached me to produce his feature film about an artist whose work spanned seventy years of music history, I knew I was in for a treat. Though I was already excited about this story as an archival-obsessed music lover, it was the intimate, candid access Paul Anka gave us throughout the course of filming that most surprised me — particularly during his 2023 world tour — and enabled us to hop between past and present to tell a larger story about creative pursuit and self-fulfillment.”