Circus of Books was a bookstore and gay pornography shop, opened in the 1960s by an unlikely and unassuming straight couple who kept their business from their personal lives a secret. The documentary explores the challenges they faced, edited, written and produced by Kathryn Robson who was nominated for an Emmy (Outstanding Writing in a Nonfiction Program) for her work on the film. Find out more below!

Congratulations on your Emmy nomination for Circus of Books, Kathryn! How are you feeling? Did you know while working on this documentary as editor, producer and writer that you had something special in your hands?

Thank you so much!  I’m feeling all the things– thrilled, surprised, excited, and really humbled. I knew Circus of Books was a really special story, and while I was working on it, I definitely felt if we could get the film out, we would find an audience who loved the story as much as we did.  But getting an Emmy nomination is really beyond what I imagined. Just getting a documentary made and into the world feels like a minor miracle, so this is really rewarding.

Jordan Canning fell in-love with directing and has directed more than a dozen short films that have been featured in festivals including Tribeca, the Toronto International Film Festival and Interfilm Berlin. She talks to Defective Geeks about her journey into becoming a director and her inspiration.

What kind of journey led you to becoming a director? When did you know it was something you wanted to pursue as a career? 

As a kid I was always watching movies. That was usually what me and my parents did every night after dinner– that, or watch Star Trek: The Next Generation. When I was alone, I would make up stories and little scenes and play them out in my room (did I mention I was an only child?). I went to university in Montreal for creative writing, working mainly in short fiction. After I graduated I moved back to St. John’s and started working at a production company, writing for a docu-drama series about ghost stories and shipwrecks. (Think Creepy Canada, but on the East Coast.) I started conducting the on-camera interviews, and eventually I began directing the dramatic reenactments.