Who We Are

The talents behind Musical Pawns, 1921: The War Against Music and Lost Music Productions are:

Ron Graner

Ron has been an actor since the age of 5 and a professional opera singer since the age of 19. After graduation from the Royal Conservatory Opera School,  and summers at Banff School of Fine Arts where he had scholarships, Ron studied theatre and film-making at Toronto’s York University. During this time he was also Theatre and Film critic  for Excalibur Magazine. In his final year he engaged in a UNESCO/IMDT sociological research project comparing the audiences for live and broadcast opera productions working under Professor R. Murray Schaefer. (Louis Riel: a case study was published in 1973 in Vienna). His greatest influences during this period were teachers: Canadian Opera Company Founder Herman Geiger-Torel, film-maker James Beverage and writer-producer Mavor Moore.

After a 20 year career as a vocal soloist abroad (permanent soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra of Israel and featured soloist with major Orchestras, Israel Radio/TV) , concert-producer and 10 years as a Cantor and Educational Director, Ron brushed up on his film-making skills by taking production courses at Trinity Square Video and film-script writing at George Brown College.

The short film “A Forgotten Master” (2006) and the stage production of “Musical Pawns” (2012) both won audience choice awards at their respective festivals

Kalli Paakspuu

Kalli Paakspuu earned her doctorate from the University of Toronto in Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice in Education. An award winning filmmaker, theatre director, writer, educator and new media creator, she teaches film and cultural studies at York University. Her films have been broadcast on P.B.S, C.B.C., TVOntario, Bravo and other networks. At the Canadian Film Centre she was a co-creator of the interactive installation, “World Without Water”, exhibited at the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver in 2010. Her current projects include the documentary, “1921 – The War Against Music” and the interactive documentary, “Moment of Contact” based on her doctoral research.

Peter Gugeler

After graduating from York University with degrees in psychology and creative writing, Peter Gugeler founded Pipal Tree Productions in 1998 to pursue media poetry and digital visual narratives using performance, the Web, film/video media and installation as areas of distribution. Born in Kathmandu, Nepal, he has been influenced by Eastern storytelling traditions and spiritual practice. Pipal (pronounced “pee-pul”) is the Nepali name for the revered bodhi tree, under which Siddhartha Gautama gained enlightenment. The pipal tree provides a community-gathering place, a place to tell stories. Focusing these elements of philosophy and narrative through a poetic framework allows Peter to translate the ephemeral experiences of out-of-Timeness from sensed impressions to linguistic and mediated experiences that build human connections, and ultimately, contribute to community.

“1921: The War Against Music” is his first experimental film collaboration with Ron and Kalli, though he has edited Ron’s work in the past.