Martin Katz, producer and champion of Canadian cinema, receives U of T honorary degree
Whether he’s selling screen rights or coaxing stars out of their trailers, Martin Katz says producing films often depends on the art of negotiation.
It’s a skill the producer and industry leader honed while earning his law degree at the University of Toronto. Today, he returns to his alma mater to receive an honorary doctorate in recognition of his role in shaping Canadian cinema and elevating it on the world stage as a producer, innovator and champion of the country’s creative industries.
Katz’s more than 30-year career has touched on almost every aspect of film and TV production, finance and business affairs – as well as the institutions that shape them.
As the founder and president of Prospero Pictures, he has shared Canadian stories with film festivals, awards shows and audiences around the world. His wide-ranging credits include five films with acclaimed filmmaker and fellow U of T alumnus David Cronenberg, the three-time Oscar-nominated drama Hotel Rwanda and the star-studded music talk show Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...
As former chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Katz led the launch of the Canadian Screen Awards. He’s also championed Canada’s cultural diversity as a director of French for the Future and vice-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.
Originally from Winnipeg, Katz arrived at U of T in 1981 to study at what’s now the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law. But it was at a Toronto International Film Festival screening of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva that he found the medium that would come to define his career.
He went on to earn a second law degree at the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). A member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, he was a professor at the Université de Moncton and returned to U of T as a special lecturer in intellectual property law.
Katz’s eclectic interests eventually led him to expand into more creative pursuits. But his legal scholarship still came in handy when he entered the media realm.
“When you think about making movies, you’re negotiating all day long,” he told CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos in 2014. “You’re negotiating to get people out of their trailers or you’re negotiating to sell rights to your films.”
