Abby, I Hardly Knew Ya Explained

Abby, I Hardly Knew Ya
Director:Lindalee Tracey
Producer:Peter Raymont
Lindalee Tracey
Cinematography:Douglas Kiefer
Studio:White Pine Pictures
Distributor:TVOntario
Runtime:57 minutes
Country:Canada
Language:English

Abby, I Hardly Knew Ya is a Canadian short documentary film, directed by Lindalee Tracey and released in 1995.[1] The film is a portrait of her own search for information about the life of her biological father Albert "Abby" Tracey, whom she had never really known as he left her mother when she was only a baby, and made contact with her only one further time before dying, impoverished and living on skid row in Ottawa, in 1971.[2] It features interviews with Abby's surviving friends and family, and concludes with Lindalee visiting his grave.

Tracey described the film as having little effect on her view of her father himself, but as having the positive side effect of enabling her to develop relationships with the paternal cousins she met through the film's production.[3]

The film had various film festival screenings, but was distributed primarily as an episode of TVOntario's documentary television series The View from Here.[4]

The film received a Genie Award nomination for Best Short Documentary at the 16th Genie Awards in 1996.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Ken Becker, "A doomed life: Filmmaker searches for clues to dead father". Hamilton Spectator, May 3, 1995.
  2. Tony Atherton, "Honest emotions on display; Film-maker's search for facts about her skid row father creates moving portrait". Ottawa Citizen, May 3, 1995.
  3. Ted Shaw, "Shedding light on a dark past". Windsor Star, May 2, 1995.
  4. Greg Burliuk, "Alcoholic dad comes back to life". Kingston Whig-Standard, May 3, 1995.
  5. Rob Salem, "Lepage movie tops Genie list: Le Confessionnal nabs a dozen nominations as first-time directors dominate". Toronto Star, November 8, 1995.