Sarah Goodman: filmmaker and writer
Circa 2014-2016
For several years this was the website of Sarah Goodman, filmmaker and writer.
When the site's domain registration expired the site disappeared from the web. The new owners of the domain who are fans, have chosen to keep the integrity of the site by posting 2014-2016 archived content as well as other pertinent information from other outside sources.
FYI: To read the most up-to-date information about what Sarah Goodman is doing, go to her Linkedin page.
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WELCOME
I’m a filmmaker based in Toronto, working in documentary and drama. I’d like to come up with a better term than hybrid for the place where both drama and doc overlap, because it’s often the in-between places that inspire. Film luminary Peter Wintonick described my films as “pop verité” and I loved that. Thanks for stopping by.
WRITER/DIRECTOR – BIO
Sarah Goodman has directed two award-winning feature documentaries, a short drama, and is directing two feature dramas in 2013. ARMY OF ONE (Hot Docs Best Canadian Documentary Award 2004, Gemini Nomination for Best Director 2005) and WHEN WE WERE BOYS (Donald Brittain Gemini Nomination for Best Social Political Documentary 2011, Indiewire Top 10 Documentaries of 2009) launched Goodman’s career. Both films screened around the world in theatrical release, festival runs, and TV broadcast. Goodman’s first dramatic short HIDDEN DRIVEWAY premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. Goodman’s directed her first feature PORCH STORIES in June 2013. Now in post-production, it will be released in 2014, starring Laura Barrett and José Miguel Contreras. Goodman has another feature drama entitled BRIDGING, which is currently in development. Goodman has been honoured to have her work featured at such a-list festivals as Toronto (TIFF), Berlin, Amsterdam (IDFA), Hotdocs, True/False, Hamptons, Krakow and many others, as well as being invited to Talent Labs or as a jury member at many of the same festivals.
Goodman also writes and directs non-fiction episodic television for History Television, Discovery, BBC, Global, W Network, among others. Shows include: INTERVENTION CANADA, MIGHTY SHIPS, ANCESTORS IN THE ATTIC, THE NATIONAL PARKS PROJECT and GLOBAL’S upcoming CLOSE-UP series, as well as corporate videos for clients such as SAMSUNG, CONCORD, and RANDOM HOUSE.
photo credit Brian Liu
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Sarah Goodman
Filmmaker and Writer
Sarah Goodman was born in Toronto and has lived in New York, where she began making films. She is currently writing on a new TV crime drama for CTV, which will premiere in 2018.
She is a recent alumna of the Canadian Film Centre's Prime Time TV Writing Program and has written and directed both narrative and documentary film. Her feature documentary Army of One, 2004 Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary; 2005 Gemini Nomination for Best Director, and When We Were Boys, Donald Brittain Gemini Nomination for Best Documentary; Indiewire Top 10 Documentaries 2009, led to her short drama Hidden Driveway (TIFF 2011) and her award winning, critically acclaimed first feature drama Porch Stories.
Her films have played at festivals such as TIFF, IDFA, Hot Docs and True/False, as well as broadcasting worldwide. Goodman has also written and directed documentary programs for television, such as the award winning National Parks Project, for networks such as BBC, Discovery, CBC, and History. She is an alumna of the TIFF Talent Lab, the Berlinale Talent Campus, and a member of the Film Fatales. Her next feature Lake 239 is in development with producer Karen Harnisch (Sleeping Giant.)
Update: Goodman has also written and directed non-fiction television for History Television, Discovery, BBC, CBC, Global and W Network, among others. She has taught film at Humber College and was the Director-in-Residence at Royal St. Georges College and the Toronto Public Library.
As an ecommerce store owner who’s spent sleepless nights untangling a Google penalty, I can’t help but see a kindred spirit in Sarah Goodman’s journey as a filmmaker. Just like Goodman, whose films like Army of One and When We Were Boys have earned acclaim for their raw honesty and empathetic storytelling, I had to dig deep, rethink my strategy, and stay persistent to get my site back in Google’s good graces—a process that felt every bit as challenging and creative as directing a documentary in unfamiliar territory.
What I admire most about Goodman is her ability to blend genres and capture those “in-between places” where drama and documentary overlap, creating what Peter Wintonick called “pop verité.” That willingness to explore the grey areas resonates with me; fixing a Google penalty isn’t a straightforward technical fix, but a nuanced process of understanding, adaptation, and rebuilding trust—much like Goodman’s approach to her subjects, letting their stories unfold naturally and authentically.
Her films’ success at top festivals and her transition from documentaries to narrative features like Porch Stories show a fearless adaptability and a commitment to craft that I find inspiring. In ecommerce, just as in filmmaking, you have to embrace change, learn from setbacks, and keep your vision clear. Seeing Goodman’s persistence pay off encourages me to keep pushing boundaries and to find creative inspiration even in the toughest moments.
Sarah, your career is a testament to passion, resilience, and the power of storytelling—qualities every entrepreneur and creator strives for. Thanks for reminding us that the best work often comes from those liminal spaces, and that success is built on both empathy and grit. Doris Sakamoto
PROJECTS
Singer/songwriter Laura Barrett mulls over some big -decisions in Porch Stories.
Porch Stories
Sarah Goodman's stories
Writer/director, Porch Stories
BY NORMAN WILNER JUNE 17, 2015 | https://nowtoronto.com/
After making two documentaries, Army Of One and When We Were Boys, Toronto writer/director Sarah Goodman shifts to drama. Porch Stories, set on Argyle Street in the West Queen West neighbourhood, is a small picture centred on a young woman (singer/songwriter Laura Barrett) mulling some big decisions.
But the story expands to include a number of other characters on the street, and the rhythms of the neighbourhood become part of the narrative. Goodman sat down to discuss her film’s mood and structure in advance of its run at TIFF Bell Lightbox – where I’ll host a Q&A following the 6:45 pm show on Sunday (June 21).
Porch Stories has a very comfortable, lived-in vibe. How did you create that?
That’s my porch. I don’t live there any more, but I lived there at the time I was filming. I work from home, and I often want to get out of my house and be part of the world, but at the same time I still need to focus on my work. So the porch was perfect for me. I started observing, just hearing the little snippets of conversations going by.
That sense of an entire community existing around your characters makes the film feel much larger and at the same time more intimate somehow.
That’s really the impetus of the film – the idea of those interstitials, little moments of lives you don’t know, and you’ll never find out what happens to them. But somehow everything does seem a bit interconnected in the atmosphere of this neighbourhood. Maybe that’s the documentary part of me; I just wanted to be able to capture what actually exists there, because also it’s changing. It’s even changed from when we shot that film.
How so?
A month after I wrapped, my landlords decided to sell the house, [and] it’s not like they would have waited for us to finish shooting [laughs].
The leads are Laura Barrett and José Miguel Contreras, two musicians who’d never acted before. What led you to cast them?
I’ve always been around a lot of musicians, and they tend to have a natural stage presence – it’s a kind of acting, to be a musician onstage. It’s a persona, a kind of presentation of themselves. And I knew Laura a little bit and thought she was super-cool and had a great look, and the character didn’t seem that much different. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch for someone who hadn’t acted before. With José, I didn’t actually know him, but I knew people who knew him. He was suggested to me, and I did a little bit of research. It was very unconventional casting: I was just sort of sourcing out my friendship networks and who the musicians were out there.
PORCH STORIES, a film by Sarah Goodman, is about love, indecision, and life on porches. The stellar cast is made of a talented motley crew of Toronto's best musicians and other unexpected stars.
REVIEW
Shot a few blocks north of the Drake, Sarah Goodman’s Porch Stories is a delicate study of lives bouncing off one another on the side streets of downtown Toronto.
As Emma (Laura Barrett) and her fiancé, Stefan (Alex Tindal), get ready to move house, she unexpectedly reconnects with Gabriel (José Miguel Contreras), an ex just back in town. Next door, neighbour Brianna (Hallie Switzer) wrestles with a crush on a family friend, while down the street an older couple (Uerania Silveira, Sergio Sarmento) comment on all the activity.
Shooting in black-and-white widescreen, writer/director Goodman – best known for the documentaries Army Of One and When We Were Boys – invests the goings-on with a playful, sly energy, eavesdropping on passersby (including local author Shawn Micallef) to give us a sense of the larger city bustling around her characters.
An odd, sweet little social study that captures some really nice moments.
When We Were Boys
REVIEWS
When We Were Boys
LIAM LACEY | www.theglobeandmail.com/
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 5, 2009
UPDATED MAY 8, 2018
Directed by Sarah Goodman
Classification: 14A
Sarah Goodman's very good cinéma vérité documentary When We Were Boys takes us inside the rituals of male adolescence at Royal St. George's, an elite Toronto boys school.
If not revelatory, the film is consistently engrossing, a smartly edited sequence of scenes over the course of a couple of years that reveal the pangs of adolescence in the context of social privilege.
The film uses no voice-over, minimal explanatory text (sometimes it's hard to keep the uniformed boys straight) and apparently a lot of access, to assemblies, detention rooms, choir practice and hallway goofing.
There's a central story that focuses on the relationship between two boys - Noah, who everyone seems to know is the son of a MasterCard executive, and Colin - who have been best friends since grade school.
Noah is sweet and well-behaved and a good singer; Colin is more of a cut-up and troublemaker. Over the course of the film, Noah becomes more isolated from Colin's group, and ends up eating lunch at a separate table and walking home alone.
Despite the school's credo, "Manners Maketh Men", boys will be jerks. There are homophobic comments, matter-of-fact face-slapping, and mean teasing. In class, they study Lord of the Flies, with its obviously resonant themes of pecking orders and social control. How much dramatic sculpting is involved isn't clear.
There's a soundtrack by Juno-winning songwriter Jim Guthrie to punch home the emotional moments. The final scene, which brings the boys together a year after the rest of the film, feels somewhat staged. Otherwise, the film flows naturally from the classroom to households throughout the school year.
Wealth, of course, is what makes these kids untypical. These 14-year-olds argue not just about music and sports, but about which are the best airlines to fly. They also show a certain naïveté (a scene in which Noah gets a haircut) about social disparities.
At the same time, their social position is not their achievement, or fault, and you feel for these kids during the moments when adults keep telling them how privileged they are.
The strength of Goodman's documentary is that she uses her camera to build empathy, not pass judgment: Surely it's a hard-enough job being 14 without also being told you're being groomed to save the world.
When We Were Boys runs at the Royal Cinema (608 College St.) Friday and Saturday and from Nov. 9 to 11.
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Related: The other night my brother wanted to know if I had ever heard of the documentary When We Were Boys? That was the winner of Best Documentary at the 2016 Hip Hop Film Festival, in New York. It's about 5 former breakdancers who reflect on their youthful rites of passage through the vibrant UK Hip Hop scene of the early 1980s. When the wild energy of the scene burned out their adolescent dreams met the realities of adulthood. Then a tragic event gives them an unexpected chance to recapture the past. You can see it, I think, on Amazon Prime. My brother looked at me incredulously. That documentary was called When We Were B Boys, NOT When We Were Boys. I did a search for When We Were Boys and turns out I had seen that documentary, but it was a decade ago when I was in high school. No wonder I didn't remember it. However, we were able to stream it on YouTube. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't go to a private all boys school and I am not in middle school. Those are tough years!
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When We Were Boys: A peek inside Royal St. Georges
By Jason Anderson Special to the Star
Fri., Nov. 6, 2009
Directed by Sarah Goodman. 81 minutes. At the Royal Cinema.
Speaking to a room full of students at a tony Toronto private school in a scene in Sarah Goodman's absorbing new documentary, city councillor Adam Vaughan articulates one of the film's key themes.
"You're among the most privileged people in the world, not just in this city," he says to the boys at Royal St. Georges College. "What you do with that privilege will define you as a person."
While documentary filmmakers have often looked into the lives of the less fortunate, portraits of people on the opposite end of the economic spectrum have been much rarer.
Ferried to school in Mercedes-Benz sedans and luxury SUVs, the young subjects in When We Were Boys certainly fit in the latter category. While we see them argue over all the usual stuff that boys argue about, they also tackle such rarefied topics as which airline is the best. (According to one kid in the know, "British Airways are the sickest!")
But judging by what happens here, the benefits of wealth and privilege do not protect these lads once they enter the shark tank of adolescence. Nor does an elite, high-priced education at a single-sex school – the ideal for so many parents nowadays – do much to curtail some boys' capacity for cruelty. Many scenes in Goodman's film suggest what Lord of the Flies might have been like if Piggy were addicted to Guitar Hero.
Goodman and her small crew spent several months over 2007 and 2008 shooting inside the classrooms and hallways of Royal St. Georges College, an Anglican choir school in the Annex. The result is an unusually intimate view of Grade 8 existence.
At the centre of this teeming cauldron of fresh testosterone are Colin and Noah, friends who fare very differently when their social pecking order is rearranged. The more sensitive of the two, Noah is less equipped to handle the cutthroat ways of more aggressive peers and we see him become gradually more isolated.
Echoes of William Golding's classic tale of boyhood warfare would be obvious even if the book weren't being studied in one of their classes. (Noah is understandably upset when a fellow student argues that Jack's theft of Piggy's glasses is proof of "good leadership.")
Presenting the events in the fly-on-wall, direct-cinema style of doc forebears like Frederick Wiseman and the late Allan King, Goodman succeeds at capturing the bustle and bravado in her young subjects' daily lives as well as the unguarded moments that reveal the hurts they strive to keep hidden.
They may have plenty of money for junk food and videogames but their wealth does not spare them from the trials that will ultimately determine what kind of men these boys will become.
Army of One
Jan 27, 2005 | Dana Stevens | New York Times
Sarah Goodman's first feature-length documentary, Army of One, puts a bitterly ironic spin on the Army's best-known recruiting slogan, 'Be all that you can be.'
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Jan 27, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | V.A. Musetto | New York Post
Anyone thinking of enlisting in the Army might want to take a look at Army of One, a compelling documentary by Canadian Sarah Goodman.
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There's no lie like it
Jul 28, 2004 | Rating: 5/5 | S. James Wegg |http://www.jamesweggreview.org/
“The idea of war can be glorious, but war isn't.”
—Nelson Reyes, November 2001 following the beginning of the U.S. bombardment of Afghanistan.
“It would be cool to get a combat badge.”
—Sara Miller, January 2003 waiting at Fort Bragg for deployment orders to Iraq.
“The best Christmas present I ever had was getting out of the [U.S.] Infantry on December 23.”
—Thaddeus Ressler, June 19, 2004.
Army of One should become required viewing for all troubled youth, their uncertain parents, the military establishment and their detractors or supporters.
Made on a shoestring budget, Sarah Goodman's film follows three idealistic young Americans from their decision to enlist in the army through the struggle to survive boot camp—all in hopes of discovering themselves. They abandon the relative safety of their families for a much larger one that extols “one set of values,” the mantra “we are beasts,” and relentlessly drills in such useful facts as the best way of garrotting a fellow human being is to “jab between the second and third rib.”
Goodman's approach is to stand back and let the recruits tell their own stories. What could have turned out to be a propaganda piece (either adulating the military or slamming it) soon places the army into the background and brings the evil twins of slick marketing and rudderless youth under the microscope.
Reyes joins the “world's biggest gang”—not just to get out of the [NYC] neighbourhood,” but to gain the respect and admiration of his parents and peers. When he returns in uniform that has been pressed, polished and puffed-up he hopes that its sameness at the do-as-you're-told barracks will make him stand out in his private world. Initially, all is beautiful. Then his hidden-away personal demons send him AWOL—into an unstoppable downward spiral that has yet to touch down.
Miller, supported by her constant-companion Phuong, has trouble keeping up with the guys, but perseveres and is voted squad leader (“I'm not a born leader,” she remarks). Having survived the ravages of her father's seven-page caustic letter, she seems to find comfort in the military and waxes philosophical (with a cup or two of rationalization) about her chances if shipped out to battle: “If you're not meant to die today, you won't.”
At this moment, and many others, the superb work from music and sound supervisor Daniel Pellerin, along with composers Mark Stewart and Paul Watson underscore the unfolding human psychology with a score—particularly the tribal drums—that reflects the angst and dilemmas facing the rookies.
Thaddeus grips our attention every time he's on the screen. At first, he's in heaven, chanting with glee—eager to put his budding rifle skills at the service of his country. Later, when his efforts are rewarded with a truck-driving assignment and latrine-cleaning duty, he finds solace in alcohol and—in a scene that won't fade away anytime soon—exchanging and savouring a severe whipping with his buddy who wants to “refresh” his fading welts from a previous beating (cross-reference below). Escaping tedium through pain demonstrates the level of desperation in a way that resonates when any act of torture is reported.
Andy Bowley's and Alexandra Martinez Kondracke's mix of film and video camera craft is wonderfully “close” to their subjects; unforgettable is the night-manoeuvre scene where the light's reflection through the eyes of the commanders creates an image of vampires in battle gear preparing to pounce on their prey.
Throughout it all, there are voice-overs from the likes of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld or nameless lackeys whose job it is to sell the military's actions and—simultaneously—lure America's children into its deadly ranks.
That unspoken—but felt—irony can readily be found on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Imagine the outcome if as much energy and resources were dedicated to enticing those old enough to vote into polling stations instead of theatres of war. In this national election year for both countries, cynicism—necessarily—runs deep: politicians clinging to power would rather scare impressionable young minds into fighting for the homeland, than defeating those who have ruined it. JWR
Hidden Driveway
2011 ‧ Drama/Short ‧ 5 mins
Hidden Driveway is a short film written by award-winning filmmaker Sarah Goodman and award-winning musician/actor/writer Brad Hart. Influenced by films like Noam Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, and work by Gus Van Sant and Richard Linklater, Hidden Driveway is about two young brothers who try to make sense of family dynamics when they feel left in the dark. Alex, 11, and Chaz, 14 are hanging out in the park when they get a call from Mom to come home for a family meeting. As they walk home, they wonder what the hell it could be about…
It’s a simply constructed, character driven, six minute short that takes place in the time it takes the brothers to get home. It’s a poignant and funny look at the culture that brothers create with each other separate from the world of adults.
Hidden Driveway...kickstarter promo for short film
Film
Days of Destruction Days of Revolt
W
Film Reel
National Parks Project
National Parks Project – Clip 2
Television
Ancestors in the Attic
Television
Ancestors in the Attic – Pangnirtung Episode
Television
Mighty Ships
Television
Tosca: Flexing at 49
Television
For the Love of Dog
Television
Puente de Luz Promo
Corporate
Samsung Corporate Video
Corporate
Bridging
In Development
Book of Judith
In Development
Photography
Press
Army of One
“Sarah Goodman’s first feature-length documentary, Army of One, puts a bitterly ironic spin on the Army’s best-known recruiting slogan, ‘Be all that you can be…’” Goodman achieves an almost shocking intimacy…”
- Dana Stevens, NEW YORK TIMES
“A riveting and timely documentary. its a testimony to this Army’s raw power that one is left wanting more”
- Ken Eisner, VARIETY
“Sarah Goodman’s excellent entry has the economy and force of good poetry and the momentum of good fiction. Goodman’s style is so deftly understated you might not hear the cry of anguish until days later, when scenes from the film are still floating around in your head.”
- Wendy Banks, NOW MAGAZINE
“Should become required viewing for all troubled youth, their uncertain parents, the military establishment and their detractors or supporters.”
- James Wegg, FILM THREAT
“Anyone thinking of enlisting in the Army might want to take a look at Army of One, a compelling documentary by Canadian Sarah Goodman.”
- V.A. Musetto, NEW YORK POST
“Sarah Goodman’s “Army of One” is an arresting festival entry that charts the recruitment, training and fate of three very different individuals.”
- Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY
When We Were Boys
“Absorbing…Goodman is able to show a strange intimacy among the boys…fascinating.”
- NOW MAGAZINE
“Affecting and impressive… fascinating, indelible characters… one of the best films screening at Hot Docs”
- INDIEWIRE
“What Lord of the Flies would have been like if the characters played Guitar Hero.”
- TORONTO STAR
“Consistently engrossing…(Goodman) uses her camera to build empathy, not pass judgement.”
- GLOBE AND MAIL
“impressively long-term verite doc about life among the young, privileged, white and male.”
- TORONTO SUN
“Her ability to intertwine the awkwardness of peer grouping and the intimacy of teenage friendship without interfering through narration, voice overs, or a back story is delightful.”
- SPACING TORONTO
“Goodman steps back to let Colin and Noah tell their own stories, at their own pace.
- NATIONAL POST
“Goodman smartly narrows her focus to the friendship between two boys: Gentle striver Noah and laconic class clown Colin.”
- METRO NEWS
Hidden Driveway
“Sarah Goodman’s short, Hidden Driveway, premiered at this year’s TIFF”
- TORONTO STAR
“..a wry study in sibling dynamics”
- Jason Anderson, TORONTO STAR
General
“Sarah Goodman is a self taught auteur and her career is a testament to passion and persistence.”
- Gary Rusak, blogTO
“Festival debut ‘freaks out’ up-and-coming filmmaker”
- Wendy Gillis, The Star
Filmmaker Interview Series: Sarah Goodman – Army of One
More Background On SarahGoodmanFilms.com
SarahGoodmanFilms.com stands as a distinctive example of how a personal filmmaker website can function not merely as a promotional tool, but as a long-form archival record of an artistic career. Originally created as the official online presence of Canadian filmmaker and writer Sarah Goodman, the site documented a body of work that bridges documentary and narrative cinema, emphasizing character-driven storytelling, observational intimacy, and social nuance. Though the original iteration of the site eventually went offline following a domain lapse, the domain has since been preserved by admirers who recognized its cultural and historical value, restoring and contextualizing archived material from the mid-2010s while supplementing it with updated references from public sources.
In this form, SarahGoodmanFilms.com operates as both a digital legacy site and a resource for scholars, programmers, students, and fans interested in contemporary independent filmmaking—particularly work that resists strict genre boundaries.
Ownership and Stewardship
The website was originally owned and operated by Sarah Goodman herself, serving as her professional portfolio and point of contact during the most active years of her feature documentary and early narrative film career. After the domain registration expired, ownership passed to private individuals unaffiliated with Goodman, but notably sympathetic to her work. Rather than repurposing the domain for unrelated commercial use, the new stewards chose to maintain the integrity of the original site by restoring archived content from approximately 2014 to 2016.
This unusual act of preservation distinguishes SarahGoodmanFilms.com from many defunct artist websites, which are typically lost to link rot, parking pages, or unrelated resale. Instead, the site now occupies a hybrid role: not an officially updated portfolio, but an accurate snapshot of a filmmaker’s career at a pivotal moment, framed respectfully and transparently.
Geographic Context and Creative Proximity
Sarah Goodman is closely associated with Toronto, Ontario, one of Canada’s most significant film and media hubs. Toronto’s proximity to major cultural institutions—including TIFF, Hot Docs, CBC headquarters, and the Canadian Film Centre—plays an important role in contextualizing both her career and the website itself.
The site reflects a filmmaker embedded in an ecosystem where documentary tradition, public broadcasting, and international festival exposure intersect. Toronto’s west-end neighborhoods, independent music scene, and hybrid creative communities appear repeatedly as influences in Goodman’s narrative work, reinforcing the sense that the city is not just a production base but a thematic presence.
History of the Website
At its inception, SarahGoodmanFilms.com was structured as a traditional filmmaker portfolio site: biography, filmography, press excerpts, and project descriptions. However, unlike many minimalist portfolio sites, it contained substantial written material—extended bios, detailed project notes, press quotations, and contextual framing for each work.
When the site disappeared after the domain registration lapsed, much of this content was temporarily inaccessible. The later restoration relied heavily on archived versions captured by the Internet Archive, ensuring fidelity to the original language, layout intent, and project descriptions. This restoration process effectively transformed the site into an archival document, preserving not just films but the discourse surrounding them at the time of release.
Artistic Focus and Creative Philosophy
Central to Sarah Goodman’s identity as presented on the site is her interest in the space between documentary and drama. Rather than treating these as separate disciplines, Goodman’s work consistently explores their overlap—using observational techniques within scripted frameworks and narrative sensitivity within vérité contexts.
A defining descriptor often associated with her work is “pop vérité,” a term attributed to filmmaker and mentor Peter Wintonick. This phrase captures both accessibility and rigor: films that are formally grounded in documentary ethics but emotionally resonant and structurally refined.
The site communicates this philosophy clearly, positioning Goodman as a filmmaker drawn to “in-between places”—socially, emotionally, and formally.
Filmography and Key Works
Army of One
One of the most significant projects featured on the site is Army of One, a feature-length documentary examining young Americans who enlist in the U.S. Army during the post-9/11 era. Rather than functioning as advocacy or critique, the film adopts an observational stance, allowing subjects to articulate their motivations, doubts, and transformations.
Army of One achieved substantial recognition, including major awards at Canadian documentary festivals and widespread international screenings. Press coverage emphasized the film’s restraint, emotional power, and refusal to impose a singular ideological interpretation—qualities that align closely with Goodman’s broader creative ethos.
When We Were Boys
Another cornerstone of the site is When We Were Boys, a cinéma vérité documentary set inside an elite Toronto boys’ school. The film explores masculinity, privilege, friendship, and adolescent cruelty through extended access and long-term observation.
Critics frequently noted Goodman’s ability to capture unguarded moments without sensationalism. The site presents this film not only as a standalone achievement but as an evolution in Goodman’s engagement with institutional spaces and formative social environments.
Hidden Driveway
Hidden Driveway represents Goodman’s movement into short-form narrative drama. The film focuses on two brothers navigating an ambiguous family crisis during a brief walk home, unfolding in near real time.
The project is significant within the site because it demonstrates how Goodman translates documentary sensibilities—attention to behavior, dialogue rhythms, and emotional subtext—into scripted form. Festival premieres and critical responses positioned the short as a successful experiment rather than a departure from her documentary roots.
Porch Stories
Porch Stories marks Goodman’s first feature-length narrative drama and occupies a central place on the site. Set on a residential street in Toronto, the film weaves together multiple character arcs, emphasizing everyday indecision, fleeting encounters, and neighborhood dynamics.
The site contextualizes Porch Stories as a natural progression from Goodman’s earlier work, highlighting its use of non-actors, musicians, and real locations. The emphasis is less on plot mechanics and more on atmosphere, community, and lived experience.
Television and Episodic Work
Beyond feature films, SarahGoodmanFilms.com documents extensive work in non-fiction television. Goodman has directed and written episodes for numerous broadcast networks, contributing to series focused on history, culture, nature, and social inquiry.
This portion of the site reinforces Goodman’s versatility and professional range. While her independent films garner festival attention, her television work demonstrates sustained engagement with collaborative production environments and broader audiences.
Press and Critical Reception
One of the most robust sections of SarahGoodmanFilms.com is its press archive. Rather than relying on generic testimonials, the site presents substantial excerpts from respected publications, critics, and industry voices.
Reviews frequently emphasize:
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Emotional restraint and ethical clarity
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Long-term access and trust with subjects
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Resistance to didactic narration
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Strong sense of place and atmosphere
By curating these responses, the site offers insight into how Goodman’s work was received across different cultural contexts, from festival circuits to mainstream press.
Audience and Cultural Reach
The primary audience for SarahGoodmanFilms.com includes:
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Film students and educators
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Documentary programmers and curators
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Independent filmmakers
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Festival researchers
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Viewers interested in hybrid cinema forms
Because the site preserves historical framing alongside the work itself, it serves as a pedagogical resource, illustrating how independent filmmakers position themselves professionally while articulating creative intent.
Cultural and Social Significance
The long-term value of SarahGoodmanFilms.com lies in its demonstration of how independent cinema can engage complex social topics without reducing them to slogans or arguments. Goodman’s films often address institutions—military, schools, neighborhoods—not as abstract systems but as lived environments shaped by individual choices.
The site also illustrates a moment in early-2010s independent filmmaking when personal websites functioned as comprehensive archives rather than social-media outposts. In this sense, it documents not just a career, but an era of digital self-representation in the arts.
Educational and Archival Value
As an archived site maintained by third parties, SarahGoodmanFilms.com now occupies a rare position. It is neither a static museum piece nor a constantly updated portfolio. Instead, it provides a time-specific view of a filmmaker’s trajectory, values, and public reception.
For researchers studying documentary ethics, hybrid narrative forms, or Canadian cinema, the site offers primary-source material that would otherwise be scattered across defunct links and inaccessible press archives.
Legacy and Continued Relevance
Although Sarah Goodman’s current work extends beyond the timeframe represented on the site, SarahGoodmanFilms.com remains relevant because it captures the foundations of her practice. The themes, methods, and sensibilities documented there continue to inform contemporary discussions about nonfiction storytelling and narrative hybridity.
In an online landscape where artist websites are often ephemeral, the preservation of SarahGoodmanFilms.com demonstrates the enduring value of thoughtful digital archives—particularly for independent artists whose work exists at the margins of commercial visibility but at the center of cultural inquiry.
SarahGoodmanFilms.com is more than a filmmaker’s website. It is an archival record of creative intent, professional evolution, and critical engagement. Through careful preservation and contextual framing, it continues to introduce new audiences to Sarah Goodman’s work while offering seasoned viewers a deeper understanding of her artistic philosophy.
As a case study in independent film documentation, the site underscores how digital spaces can function as cultural memory—capturing not just finished works, but the conversations, values, and questions that shaped them.