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The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes doesn’t simply admire the brilliance of the B.C. painter’s work—it lives in the patience with which director Jenn Strom reveals the man behind them.

With deliberate care, Strom approaches her subject with the same passion and intention with which Hughes brought to his own canvases. Across 80 minutes, what emerges is a portrait of a man who shunned the spotlight and insisted the art, not the artist, should speak.

The Straight connected with Strom to explore her own journey as a filmmaker, crafting the story of one of Canada’s most celebrated painters.

Documentary filmmaking can be so collaborative, yet the vision often starts with one person. How d

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