Anne Wheeler

Directing

Anne Wheeler

Born

1946-09-23 (80)

Place of birth

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Known for

Directing

Credits

46 titles

Anne Wheeler, OC (born September 23, 1946 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian film and television writer, producer and director. Graduating in Mathematics from the University of Alberta she was a computer programmer before traveling abroad. Her years of travels inspired her to become a storyteller and when she returned she joined a group of old friends to form a film collective. For most of the seventies, she made documentaries, including A War Story for the National Film Board which was about her father, Ben Wheeler and his time as a doctor in a P.O.W. camp. In the eighties she turned to dramatic films, beginning with Teach Me to Dance, about an unlikely friendship between two girls from di…

Known for

Wedding of a Lifetime poster
6.8

An engaged couple who have been together since their days as high school sweethearts in a close-knit mountain town, but have found themselves in a rut and out of love.

Wedding of a Lifetime

2022

A Country Wedding poster
6.8

A famous country singer set to marry a glamorous Hollywood actress returns to his small town roots. When he crosses paths with his childhood sweetheart and finally feels inspired to write songs again he reevaluates his life, his values and his opinion of true love. As his wedding day approaches, he must decide if he has chosen the right woman to be his wife.

A Country Wedding

2015

Knockout poster
5.4

Outsider and new kid Matthew desperately wants to join his high school's boxing team, but resident bully and boxing champion Hector stands in his way. Facing constant torment, Matthew finds an unlikely ally in Dan, the school's janitor and one-time amateur boxer. Together, they train for the biggest boxing match of Matthew's life and discover what it truly means to be a winner.

Knockout

2011

Better Than Chocolate poster
6.0

Not long after moving into her own place, Maggie finds herself with two unsolicited roommates: her recently divorced mother, Lila, and her young brother. The timing is especially bad, considering Maggie has fallen hard for an attractive woman, Kim, only hours before they move in. What could be a nonissue becomes increasingly complicated -- since Maggie's family is unaware of her sexual orientation, and Maggie is not open to sharing that information.

Better Than Chocolate

1999

The Color of Rain poster
6.4

After cancer claims Matt Kell's life on Christmas Day 2005, his widow, Gina and two young boys are left to cope with the pain of his loss while their close church community gathers around them for support.

The Color of Rain

2014

Christmas on Chestnut Street poster
4.7

A store decides to start a contest to sell off 60,000 Christmas lights, ordered by accident. The competition soon causes unrest among the locals, but the store's owner, Diane, wants to keep what has become a very profitable competition going, at all costs.

Christmas on Chestnut Street

2006

Film credits

Behind the camera

Wedding of a Lifetime poster
6.8

An engaged couple who have been together since their days as high school sweethearts in a close-knit mountain town, but have found themselves in a rut and out of love.

Wedding of a Lifetime

2022

A Country Wedding poster
6.8

A famous country singer set to marry a glamorous Hollywood actress returns to his small town roots. When he crosses paths with his childhood sweetheart and finally feels inspired to write songs again he reevaluates his life, his values and his opinion of true love. As his wedding day approaches, he must decide if he has chosen the right woman to be his wife.

A Country Wedding

2015

Knockout poster
5.4

Outsider and new kid Matthew desperately wants to join his high school's boxing team, but resident bully and boxing champion Hector stands in his way. Facing constant torment, Matthew finds an unlikely ally in Dan, the school's janitor and one-time amateur boxer. Together, they train for the biggest boxing match of Matthew's life and discover what it truly means to be a winner.

Knockout

2011

Better Than Chocolate poster
6.0

Not long after moving into her own place, Maggie finds herself with two unsolicited roommates: her recently divorced mother, Lila, and her young brother. The timing is especially bad, considering Maggie has fallen hard for an attractive woman, Kim, only hours before they move in. What could be a nonissue becomes increasingly complicated -- since Maggie's family is unaware of her sexual orientation, and Maggie is not open to sharing that information.

Better Than Chocolate

1999

The Color of Rain poster
6.4

After cancer claims Matt Kell's life on Christmas Day 2005, his widow, Gina and two young boys are left to cope with the pain of his loss while their close church community gathers around them for support.

The Color of Rain

2014

Christmas on Chestnut Street poster
4.7

A store decides to start a contest to sell off 60,000 Christmas lights, ordered by accident. The competition soon causes unrest among the locals, but the store's owner, Diane, wants to keep what has become a very profitable competition going, at all costs.

Christmas on Chestnut Street

2006

Heaven Down Here poster
7.7

Inspired by Mickey Guyton’s song of the same name, “Heaven Down Here” tells the story of four disparate people who find themselves stranded in a local diner on Christmas Eve when a snowstorm hits the town.

Heaven Down Here

2023

Friends & Family Christmas poster
6.5

Daniella has recently moved to New York to pursue an art career and decides to stay in town to share the holidays with her circle of artist friends, instead of going home to see her sweet, if overbearing, parents. Amelia is a talented entertainment lawyer trying to stay focused on her work after a broken engagement. When Daniella and Amelia are set up by their parents, they agree to pretend that they are dating, to appease them for the holidays. However, as they spend time in each other’s worlds, they soon build a connection that is deeper than either of them could have hoped for.

Friends & Family Christmas

2023

The Investigation poster
6.7

Tells the true story of a bungled and obstructed police manhunt for a serial killer who could and should have been imprisoned after his first crime. Two young RCMP officers, each separately investigating a rape and murder, captured the culprit, but because of legal red tape, jurisdictional chaos and incompetence, the suspect was allowed to continue his rampage until he was finally arrested and imprisoned - several murders later.

The Investigation

2002

The Horses of McBride poster
5.8

When Nicki finds two horses stranded deep in the Rocky Mountain snow, she makes it her mission to find a way to get them to safety. With no other options, she picks up a shovel and starts to dig out the mile-long path, inspiring her father, Matt, and the rest of the community to join together and save the horses in the spirit of Christmas.

The Horses of McBride

2012

The Horses of McBride poster
5.8

When Nicki finds two horses stranded deep in the Rocky Mountain snow, she makes it her mission to find a way to get them to safety. With no other options, she picks up a shovel and starts to dig out the mile-long path, inspiring her father, Matt, and the rest of the community to join together and save the horses in the spirit of Christmas.

The Horses of McBride

2012

The Diviners poster
8.0

Morag Gunn, a writer who is having trouble with her teenage daughter, examines her own relationship history, which includes a period of turbulence with Jules. While she and Jules have known each other since childhood, he is no rock of stability. In addition, he is white, while she is part Native American, so the teenage Morag experienced racism he can only imagine. Even after they have a daughter, she struggles against the emptiness within her.

The Diviners

1993

The Bouquet poster
5.0

Two estranged sisters torn apart by their differences suddenly find themselves working together towards a common goal in this heartwarming drama...For years, overachiever Terri (Kristy Swanson) and her idealistic sister, Mandy (Alberta Mayne), have kept their distance from each other, as well as from their parents' struggling florist business. But when a tragic turn of events brings both women home, they discover just how much they need one another in order to continue their family legacy. Filled with romance, humor and hope, it's an endearing story about making time for the ones you love.

The Bouquet

2013

Loyalties poster
6.7

Lily and her three youngest children join her husband David Sutton, a doctor in an isolated northern Alberta town. Their eleven-year-old son arrives later from boarding school. David conceals a dark secret which caused the family to leave England without telling anybody. They befriend a neighbor Rosanne, who throws out her boyfriend after he beats her up in a bar. Lily, who is very English and out of place in the town, hires the half-Native Rosanne as a housekeeper, and eventually the two women become good friends, until the secret emerges again.

Loyalties

1987

Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury Story poster
7.0

Real-life account of a Canadian hero, a determined female truck driver who took on the mob-controlled leadership of the International Teamsters Union.

Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury Story

1996

Mom, Dad and Her poster
4.5

Sydney is a troubled teen heading for trouble. After being caught shoplifting and a case of alcohol poisoning, Sydney's desperate single mother sends her off to the country to live with her father, Ben, and his new pregnant wife, Emma. Sydney misses her boyfriend, her city life and doesn't get on with her dad or stepmom. Slowly she starts to settle in as she makes friends with Jess, a local girl whose mother died of cancer. Sydney makes a couple of mistakes but after her grandfather's death the extended family start to heal.

Mom, Dad and Her

2008

Suddenly Naked poster
4.6

A famous 'Jackie Collins' type novelist falls for a quirky twenty year old kid.

Suddenly Naked

2001

Preludes poster
NR

Commissioned by the Toronto International Film Festival to mark the event's 25th anniversary in September 2000, the "Preludes" program consisted of ten short films by Canadian directors which were inspired in some way by the festival. Each film screened as a prelude to a feature film in the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival program. The full "Preludes" anthology was screened on the web in November 2000, and was given theatrical retrospectives at the TIFF Lightbox in the subsequent years.

Preludes

2000

Cowboys Don't Cry poster
8.5

A father and son struggle to make ends meet on the rodeo circuit.

Cowboys Don't Cry

1988

Stop the Wedding poster
5.8

A meddling man and woman determined to stop a wedding for the good of the bride and groom instead wind up falling in love with each other.

Stop the Wedding

2016

Mail Order Bride poster
6.5

Diana McQueen notorious con-woman has had enough. She leaves town and her boss, Tom Rourke, behind. She takes the place of her dying friend, who was to become some man's mail-order bride. Can she pull off this last con?

Mail Order Bride

2008

A Beachcombers Christmas poster
7.0

While Donna MacGonigal is tempted by a business offer by an old love, her father and friends decide to put on an old timers celebrity hockey game and auction for charity, only to find themselves cheated by con artists.

A Beachcombers Christmas

2004

Teach Me to Dance poster
10.0

In this drama, Lesia convinces her English-Canadian friend Sarah to perform a Ukrainian dance with her as part of their school's Christmas pageant. Sarah's father, angry at the growing number of Ukrainian settlers, won't allow his daughter to participate. Despite the prejudices of their parents, the girls' friendship remains strong, and they meet in Sarah's barn to celebrate Christmas Day together. Part of the Adventures in History series.

Teach Me to Dance

1979

The Gambler, The Girl and The Gunslinger poster
4.5

Two mortal enemies must band together to defend the ranch they've both staked their claim on.

The Gambler, The Girl and The Gunslinger

2009

A War Story poster
8.3

Based on the diaries of Canadian doctor Ben Wheeler during his internment in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, this feature-length docudrama is a glowing account of the spirit and its will to survive physical and mental suffering. The film is comprised of newsreel footage, interviews and dramatic re-enactments.

A War Story

1981

A War Story poster
8.3

Based on the diaries of Canadian doctor Ben Wheeler during his internment in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, this feature-length docudrama is a glowing account of the spirit and its will to survive physical and mental suffering. The film is comprised of newsreel footage, interviews and dramatic re-enactments.

A War Story

1981

Dancing Trees poster
1.0

Martha (Katie Boland), 18, sees the world as animated and fun. She has a form of autism that means she is a mathematical genuis whilst incapable of looking after herself. Living in a dull routinewith her cousin Nicole (Brooke Burns), and mother Josephine (Amanda Tapping), she sees the good in everything and everyone. But suddenly, her mother is the casualty of a brutal crime before her eyes and Martha is sent to a foster home. Nicole is distraught and battle for custody of her cousin, but the police constantly block her requests. Finally, Detective Velez relents, on one condition: Martha must help solve the crime and find justice for her fallen mother.

Dancing Trees

2009

Angel Square poster
8.0

A Canadian boy comes of age and investigates a mystery in 1945.

Angel Square

1991

Angel Square poster
8.0

A Canadian boy comes of age and investigates a mystery in 1945.

Angel Square

1991

Chi poster
6.2

Director Anne Wheeler joins actress Babz Chula on a trip to India to rid herself of cancer.

Chi

2013

Edge of Madness poster
5.6

1851, Manitoba's Red River Valley. As winter sets in, a young woman on the edge of madness arrives exhausted at the fort, a wilderness station, claiming she murdered her husband. She's placed in a cell; for the next several months, she sews while the local prefect, Henry Mullen, investigates.

Edge of Madness

2002

Edge of Madness poster
5.6

1851, Manitoba's Red River Valley. As winter sets in, a young woman on the edge of madness arrives exhausted at the fort, a wilderness station, claiming she murdered her husband. She's placed in a cell; for the next several months, she sews while the local prefect, Henry Mullen, investigates.

Edge of Madness

2002

Augusta poster
9.0

This short documentary is the portrait of an 88-year-old woman who lives alone in a log cabin without running water or electricity in the Williams Lake area of British Columbia. The daughter of a Shuswap chief, Augusta lost her Indian status as the result of a marriage to a white man. She recalls past times, but lives very much in the present. Self-sufficient, dedicated to her people, she spreads warmth wherever she moves, with her songs and her harmonica.

Augusta

1976

Other Women's Children poster
6.3

A doctor's relationship with a terminally ill child adds pressure to her already rocky marriage as she spends more time with her patient and gradually neglects her home life.

Other Women's Children

1993

No artwork available
8.0

In coming to grips with previously well-concealed information about the death of her uncle in World War I, and the emotional upheaval it continues to cause her family, a young girl begins to question the benevolence of God and the order in God's world. Based on the short story by Margaret Laurence.

To Set Our House in Order

1985

No artwork available
8.0

In coming to grips with previously well-concealed information about the death of her uncle in World War I, and the emotional upheaval it continues to cause her family, a young girl begins to question the benevolence of God and the order in God's world. Based on the short story by Margaret Laurence.

To Set Our House in Order

1985

Bye Bye Blues poster
5.0

During World War II, Daisy Cooper returns home to Canada with her children after her British husband, soldier Teddy, is assigned to Singapore. With the help of trombonist Max Gramley, Daisy's amateurish piano and vocal skills improve, and soon she is supporting her family with her performances. Unsure whether Teddy is alive or dead, Daisy is torn between staying faithful and giving in to her growing feelings for Max.

Bye Bye Blues

1989

Bye Bye Blues poster
5.0

During World War II, Daisy Cooper returns home to Canada with her children after her British husband, soldier Teddy, is assigned to Singapore. With the help of trombonist Max Gramley, Daisy's amateurish piano and vocal skills improve, and soon she is supporting her family with her performances. Unsure whether Teddy is alive or dead, Daisy is torn between staying faithful and giving in to her growing feelings for Max.

Bye Bye Blues

1989

Bye Bye Blues poster
5.0

During World War II, Daisy Cooper returns home to Canada with her children after her British husband, soldier Teddy, is assigned to Singapore. With the help of trombonist Max Gramley, Daisy's amateurish piano and vocal skills improve, and soon she is supporting her family with her performances. Unsure whether Teddy is alive or dead, Daisy is torn between staying faithful and giving in to her growing feelings for Max.

Bye Bye Blues

1989

The War Between Us poster
7.5

The Story of a Japanese-Canadian woman who finds friendship after her family is interned to a small town during World War II.

The War Between Us

1995