What if…a film about Judith Merril

Helene Klodawsky/Richard Elson
52 minutes • 2005

Some remember her as the host of the original Dr. Who series; to others, she was a shining star in science fiction's golden age of the 1940s and 50s. Others, like Canadian writer Dennis Lee, recall her as an inspiring mentor at Toronto's newly formed Rochdale College.

Filmed shortly before her death at the age of 74, this film salutes Judith Merril—writer, editor and icon of the science fiction literary genre. A candid and clever trailblazer, she was one of the first writers to create stories with believable female characters in a medium notorious for "she-devil" aliens and damsels in distress. Merril muses on the role science fiction played as an outlet for socio-political criticism during the McCarthy era and its influence as a blueprint for exploring space and other future frontiers. Looking back on her career, she recalls the ingenious men and women who dared to dream of different worlds and mischievously declares, "You have to make your own reality out of your dreams."

Award(s): Best Portrait Award, International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA)

Subject(s): Artists–Judith Merril, Literature, Women–artists