Our films win acclaim but that's not why we're here

About Us

For 35 years Merit Motion Pictures (MMP) has worked with Canada’s foremost writers and directors to produce award winning nature, science, environmental, arts and history documentaries and series. MMP is passionate about stories which reflect humanity’s struggle to live creatively in the 21st century: stories that deal with our relationship to the natural world; the comedy, the drama and the chaos of the human experience; and how we can learn to better understand ourselves and others.

MMP is currently producing Everest Dark, a theatrical and 2 x 1hr documentary for CBC’s documentary Channel and Terra Mater Factual Studios; and Cub Camp, a 6 x 1hr natural history series for Love Nature and Blue Ant Studios.

Most recently, MMP produced Great Lakes Untamed with Oak Island Films, a 3 x 1hr natural history series for TVO, Smithsonian US, Terra Mater Factual Studios and ARTE. In 2021, MMP produced two Canada-France co-productions that aired in the US on Earth Day 2021: the Canadian Screen Award-nominated Kingdom of the Polar Bears, a 90 min/2 x 1hr special for National Geographic Channels, Disney+, CBC, France 3, and Terra Mater Factual Studios; Reef Rescue, (winner of the 2020 Jackson Media Awards for Best Conservation Feature) for PBS NOVA, Vulcan, CBC and ARTE. Season 4 of Dr. Keri: Prairie Vet debuted January 21, 2022.

Other career highlights include the feature documentary Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees, which screened to sold-out audiences in cinemas across North America and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Science and Nature Film. Beyond the Spectrum: A Family’s Year Confronting Autism screened in cinemas across Canada on international Autism Awareness Day and was selected for the Audience Favourite award at the Festival Inclus in Barcelona. TuTuMUCH screened in 60 Cineplex theatres across Canada, in Australia, and at film festivals around the world. 40 Years of One Night Stands: The Story of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet premiered at Lincoln Center in New York.

Other recent productions include Turtle Beach (BBC, ARTE, Blue Ant, CBC); the hit series Polar Bear Town (Smithsonian Channel US, OLN), and the Canadian Screen Award-winning documentary films What Plants Talk About (CBC/PBS Nature) and Vietnam: Canada’s Shadow War (CBC).

Under Jensen Carr’s leadership, MMP has received dozens of international awards including four Canadian Screen/Gemini Awards (Canada’s Emmy) and 10 nominations, two Jackson Media Awards and four nominations, an LA Humanitas award for Films of Humanitarian Significance and the HOT DOCS Don Haig Award for Special Achievement in Producing.

Meet the TEam

Gordon Agar

Office and Building Coordinator

Hayley Butterfield

Assistant Editor

Jolyn Hoogstraten

Head of Accounting

Merit Jensen Carr

President, Executive Producer

Jennifer Jensen-Tracy

Communications and Marketing

Adrian Madden

Logging Editor & Technical Assistant

Sandra Moore

Production Manager

Peter Nielsen

Post-Production Supervisor

Ophélie Petit

Social Media and Publicity Coordinator, Assistant Editor

Alexa Rosentreter

General Manager, Business Affairs

Kerri Woloszyn

Development & Stock Footage Sales