Witness to Yesterday: A Tribute to Patrick Watson

A Free Special Event Offered Across Canada
Available to view Sunday, September 11 – Sunday, September 18

As a tribute to the late groundbreaking television journalist, producer and documentarian Patrick Watson, the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation presents an online screening of three Jewish-themed episodes of his much-lauded Global Television series Witness to Yesterday, produced in 1974 and revived in the nineties for History Television. The selected episodes has Watson interviewing Jewish historical figures in lively two-person dramas: Marilyn Lightstone as anarchist Emma Goldman, George Gershwin as played by Steve Allen, and Al Waxman as Morris ‘Two Gun’ Cohen.

These episodes will be followed by a pre-recorded zoom panel discussing the life, work and legacy of Patrick Watson,
featuring actress Marilyn Lightstone; Former Vice President and General Manager of CBC Television and Radio, Peter Herrndorf; Entertainment lawyer and producer Michael Levine. Discussion moderated by CTV’s Evan Solomon.

Bonus content: A Witness to Yesterday episode featuring Richard Dreyfuss as Billy the Kid (made while he was filming Duddy Kravitz in Montreal) and Patrick Watson on City-TV’s The Originals. 

Co-presented with