Canadian Filmmaker Charles Officer Dies At 48; Cause Of Death Revealed

Charles Officer was a Canadian film and television director, writer, actor, and professional hockey player. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 28th October 1975. He was the youngest one among his siblings. Officer studied communication design at the Ontario College of Arts and Design [OCAD]. But he left it to play professional ice hockey in the U.K. After a while, Officer left professional ice hockey due to injury problems and returned to OCAD.

Charles Officer Left A Legacy Of Inspiring Cinema

The Officer was the co-founder of the Black Screen Office in Canada. He was known as one of the leaders in Black Canadian independent film. His best-known film was Nurse-Fighter-Boy in 2008, which tells a thriller and romantic story. It premiered at TIFF and was nominated for 10 Genie Awards, the precursor to the Canadian Screen Awards. He also directed four episodes of ‘The Porter,’ the largest Black-led CBC drama created in Canada. The drama concerns railway workers from both sides of the Canadian–U.S. border. This CBC drama won 12 awards at the Canadian Screen Awards in April, including Best Original Music, production, Costume Design, Best Writing, and Best Drama Series. He even helmed feature-length films from the crime drama ‘Akilla’s Escape’ to the 2017 National Film Board documentary ‘Unarmed Verses,’ which expressed the story of Toronto housing community residents uprooted while their vicinities were invigorated.

Charles’s Remembered Fondly By His Friends

Officers’ work was always shared as the voices that were not always being heard in the Canadian film landscape. Even the filmmaker Romeo Candido, who had known Officer for over a decade, told CBC News that his friend set the bar for what people in the industry hoped to achieve.

Fellow director and film school classmate Sarah Polley said in an Instagram post that Officer made masterpieces. She even wrote, “This is a big loss. For all of us. And a call, in his gaping absence, to live up to his optimism, dedication, constant lifting of others, mastery of his craft….”

Even his friend and producing partner Jake Yanowski described Charles’s films and series by saying, “For Charles, it was about telling stories that matter whether that was doc, feature, or series. It was about finding the character and lifting the voices that often go unheard.”

Charles Officer Cause Of Death

According to Charles Officer’s business partner at CaneSuger Filmworks, Jake Yanowski, Charles Officer passed away on Friday, 1st December, at the age of 48 due to prolonged illness. As news of Charles’s passing away spread from Canadian film organizations and his friends, condolences poured in as the remarkable storyteller perished.

Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter |

Youtube | Pinterest | Google News |

Entertales is on YouTube; click here to subscribe for the latest videos and updates.