U of L documentary wins prestigious Rosie award

By Lethbridge Herald on November 5, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A documentary produced by a University of Lethbridge professor took home some hardware at the Alberta Film & Television Awards late last month.

“Brainstorm” is a documentary film that was created and directed by Dr. Jenna Bailey, an adjunct professor of history and a senior researcher for the University of Lethbridge’s Centre for Oral History and Tradition.

The film dives into the history of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) and the contributions of Dr. Bryan Kolb, Dr. Ian Wishaw, Dr. Robert Sutherland and Dr. Robbin Gibb. Research by the CCBN scientists has provided insight into several disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. As a result of the research, prevention strategies for brain disorders and and programs to improve overall brain health have been developed.

Bailey produced the film alongside her husband Dr. Edgar Bermudez Contreras, who is an adjunct professor at the CCBC and served in a co-producer role. Bryn Hewko was the editor of the film.

Bailey gave Bermudez Contreras credit for presenting the idea of the film to her.

“The film was actually the idea of my husband. He said to me maybe eight years ago, you know who you need to make a film about? You need to make a film about Ian and Bryan. That’s Dr. Ian Wishaw and Dr. Bryan Kolb. They are prominent neuroscientists in Canada and in the world. The more I learned about Ian and Brian, the more I realized that their story deserved to be the subject of a film, so we decided to make a documentary about them.”

The Rosie Awards are presented annually by the Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA). The awards were split into two separate shows in both the afternoon and evening. “Brainstorm” was nominated in the Best Education Production category during the afternoon portion of the program.

Bailey says it was a great feeling when it was announced that “Brainstorm” had won the award. 

“Winning a Rosie was a tremendous honour, quite frankly. Winning for Best Educational Production means a lot. This team is made up of people who really believed in this project and worked very hard and are all, in some capacity, educators, so this award means a lot to them. The Rosies are really the Alberta standard for celebrating outstanding excellence and achievement in the province’s film industry. It means a great deal to us to have our work recognized.”

The film premiered nearly a year ago at the Yates Memorial Theatre. During the time since, “Brainstorm” has been picked up by Amazon Prime to stream in both the United States and United Kingdom. Roku has also picked up the film to show in the U.S. 

“We were all thrilled when it got picked up by Amazon and Roku, particularly that it’s being streamed internationally in England and in the United States,” said Bailey. “I think it really speaks to the importance of the subject matter of the film, because even though this is a regional story, their work really has a global impact. The subject of the film is about brain health, and that is something that should be important to everybody in the world.”

The project was produced with the support of TELUS STORYHIVE with funding contributed by the Alberta Medical Association, Government of Alberta, Alberta Media Fund, CCBN, Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT) and the Historical Society of Alberta.

“This film was the efforts of lots of people coming together, particularly just the funding piece was tremendously important to us.” Bailey explained. “One of the important parts of the film, I think, is that it shows the importance of funding basic science research. Similarly, the only reason the film was made was because so many people believed in the storytelling aspect, and funding Alberta documentaries, which I think is a really important thing to support in this day and age.”

Bailey’s next project is a look into the history of the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra and the history of classical music making in Southern Alberta. The film is expected to premiere in 2027. A fundraising campaign is underway to raise funds for the project. More information is available at baileyandsoda.com