Barry Michael Avrich is a Canadian film director, film producer, author, marketing executive, and arts philanthropist.
18 Facts About Barry Avrich
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Barry Avrich produced Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Awards as well as the Canadian Screen Awards and The Scotiabank Giller Prize.
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Besides films, Barry Avrich has authored three books and one play as well as supporting many leading cultural institutions including The Toronto International Film Festival and the Stratford Festival of Canada.
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Barry Avrich was responsible for creating a movie theatre at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.
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Barry Avrich's parents immersed him in the arts as a child.
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In school, Barry Avrich produced talent shows and started experimenting with films.
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Barry Avrich created Melbar Entertainment Group in 1998 to produce documentary films.
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Barry Avrich has directed and produced many acclaimed documentaries and television specials.
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Barry Avrich's focus is generally on the entertainment industry and television specials, including the music special, Bowfire for PBS, One x One Gala for CTV and Caesar and Cleopatra for Bravo and CTV.
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In 2018, Barry Avrich produced and directed an acclaimed and award-winning documentary, Prosecuting Evil, on Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz, which was sold to Netflix.
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In 2019, Barry Avrich directed and produced Off The Record, a biography of Grammy award-winning producer and composer David Foster, for Crave and Netflix, which premiered at TIFF.
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In 2020, Barry Avrich produced Made You Look, a documentary about the infamous Knoedler Gallery art fraud scandal which was sold to Netflix.
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In 2021, Barry Avrich directed and produced Oscar Peterson: Black + White, a docu-concert on jazz icon Oscar Peterson that had its world premiere at TIFF on September 12,2021.
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In 2022, Barry Avrich began production on three new documentaries: Without Precedent, Sacrilege, and The Palm Beach Diaries.
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The Last Mogul is probably Barry Avrich's best known film to date.
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Barry Avrich began a marketing career in 1985 at Borden Advertising where he worked on national campaigns for the Canadian original production of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon.
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In 1989, Barry Avrich joined Echo Advertising where he became partner and eventually CEO.
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Barry Avrich left Echo in 2005 after it was sold to a UK-based marketing firm and he started a boutique advertising agency.