Evelyn Spice Cherry

Evelyn Spice Cherry
Evelyn Spice Cherry, c. 1940
Born	1906 Yorkton, Saskatchewan
Died	1990 Victoria, British Columbia
Nationality	Canadian
Other names	Evelyn Spice
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Filmmaker, Teacher. Journalist
Known for	Filmmaking, Teaching
Spouse(s)	Lawrence Cherry

Evelyn Spice Cherry (née Evelyn Spice) was a Canadian documentary filmmaker, director, and producer. She is best known for her work as the head of the Agricultural Films Unit at the National Film Board of Canada and as a member of the British Documentary Film Movement.

Evelyn Spice was born in 1904 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. She began her career teaching public school. In 1929, she graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism and started working at the Regina Leader-Post as the society columnist.

Spice moved to London, England in 1931, where she began working at the Government Post Film Unit. She worked under John Grierson, whom she would later go on to work with at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in Canada. While working at the GPO, Spice met and worked with members of the British Documentary Film Movement. She became the only Canadian and the only woman in the movement.

While in England, Spice met her fellow Canadian and future film making partner and husband, Lawrence Cherry. In 1939, after the Second World War was declared, Evelyn and Lawrence returned to Canada, where they worked as independent film makers. The couple worked as a team, both being skilled cinematographers and editors, although Lawrence often worked best under his wife's direction.

In 1941, Grierson invited Cherry and her husband to join the newly formed National Film Commission, later renamed the National Film Board. Cherry was placed in charge of the agricultural film unit, where she made films about farm life and food production. Cherry’s accession to such a high position in the NFB was unheard of at the time and is attributable to the scarcity of available talented filmmakers after the outbreak of the Second World War. Nonetheless, her work was highly influential and Cherry is regarded as a pioneer in the Canadian female documentary filmmaker movement. Cherry made 128 films at the NFB during her 10-year tenure.