Final Productions

10-7 For Life
A Banks Productions Limited co-production with the NFB and TVO
1995 / 57 minutes

10-7 for Life is a funny, raw and occasionally violent chronicle of the last two weeks of Carol Banks’ life as a cop in the Parkdale area of Toronto.

It’s not an easy decision – she comes from a family of cops. Her father, a retired Superintendent with forty years service on the Force, would like her to maintain the 85-year-long family tradition. But Police Constable Banks says, “In fourteen years I’ve probably seen more than anyone should have to in eight-five. (In this city) there’s no more compassion, just cynicism.”

Filmed by Carol’s sister, Cynthia Banks, this documentary offers an intimate and sometimes uncomfortable picture of the intensity of life in 14 Division. The camera stares unflinchingly at the brutalising aspects of the officers’ work, and eavesdrops on their sometimes harsh sense of humour.

10-7 For Life Photo10-7 for Life explores the contrasts and absurdities of working the streets: from the now-almost-routine gang shootings, to a colleague’s shocking murder, to what PC Banks calls the ‘baby-sitting’ – trying to help people who can’t look after themselves.

A rare inside look at a police force struggling to cope with an increasingly violent city, and an intimate portrait of one burnt-out cop who has to leave for her own peace of mind.

PRODUCER / DIRECTOR / WRITER
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
EDITOR
CAMERA

ADDITIONAL CAMERA

SOUND

ORIGINAL MUSIC
TECHNICAL CO-ORDINATOR
SOUND EDITOR
ON-LINE EDITOR
COLOURIST
RE-RECORDING MIXER

Cynthia Banks
Paul Caulfield
Deborah Palloway
Cynthia Banks
Joseph Sutherland
Michael Grippo
Stephen Pennie
Cynthia Banks
Joseph Sutherland
Richard Gozdzialski
Stephen Pennie
Paul Demers
Graham Saywell
Colin Moore
Louis Hone