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Tyson Haller (1962 - 2021)

The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) family and community is grieving the loss of Tyson Haller who passed away on March 16, 2021.  He was a huge supporter and advocate of the ECH both during its original program at the Embassy Hotel and its present online format.
​All images presented here were sent to the ECH by Tyson for use in this online format.
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Tyson Haller, Sarajevo, 2018
Tyson Haller's parents Helen and Egon Haller owned the Embassy Hotel and he was a huge part in running the hotel and organizing the music program in the hotel bars. Tyson went on to study film at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Prior to the start of the 2020 pandemic, Tyson was living between Ottawa and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Sarajevo, he was teaching storytelling through the lens at a primary school.

He was also working on the completion of his documentary film concerning the new generation of youth living in Sarajevo. The feature film, Goodbye, was about children growing up in Sarajevo during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. He passed away in March 2021 in Ottawa. 

Banner image: Still from Tyson Haller's film project, hillside  outside of Sarajevo. From  archives ofTyson Haller.
READ TYSON'S oBITUARY IN THE lONDON fREE pRESS

​Embassy Hotel

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Jewel in front of the Embassy Hotel 1990s. Photo credit: Tyson Haller
eI grew up here
Always chasing what's possible 
Ya I grew up here
With the old men
The ladies and escorts
The 1st Peoples
The bands
Social Distortion, DOA, No Means No, Rancid, SNFU, Face To Face
The Art
The Art exhibits 
The Embassy Cultural House
Remember
Polish your Eyes
Greg Curnoe, Tom Benner, Ron Benner, Eric Stach
They taught me to  hum a song
Till the feeling is gone
It burnt down
Now I look at the stars at night
Oh the modern world
You made my eyes red and raw
Lived through it 
To get to this moment
So I close my eyes
Click my heels 3 times
Embassy 
Home
You had to go 
I know I know
But if you look around
You just might feel the ghost
Floating around
Reminding us
That the winds are blowing 
And we can always choose what is possible than what we see...
 
Tyson Haller, August 2020
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​Photograph and Text : Protest, Justice For David Camp, Banja Luka

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You were standing
Wondering what will come to be
I’m new in town
I have searching eyes
I see light
For a minute we were all innocent
We all have hearts
In dreams
I see change
This dream we cradle
Miss Baja Luka
Banja Luka
I’m gonna miss you
When I’m gone
 
For Banja Luka 
Tyson Haller, October 2018
On 18 March 2018, David Dragičević, a 21-year-old man, went missing in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 24 March, his dead body was found. Police investigation ruled the death as an accident, but Dragičević's parents claimed that their son was brutally murdered and that the police and prosecutor's office are trying to cover-up the case. The result of the police investigation provoked major public uproar, and many mass protests were organized demanding the truth and justice. The public was overwhelmingly convinced that Dragičević was murdered. Tyson was in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the high of the Justice for David protests and covered the protests as a photo journalist. He sent these photos to his cousin Tariq Gordon, who was monitoring the B & H October 2018 elections for the OSCE in Banja Luka. 

Tyson's film project: Goodbye

Tyson was also working on the completion of his documentary film concerning the new generation of youth living in Sarajevo. The feature film, Goodbye, was about children growing up in Sarajevo during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. He was unable to return due to the COVID-19 pandemic to complete the film. He passed away in March 2021 in Ottawa. Below are some of the promotional images for the film which he shared in summer 2020.   
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Image from Tyson Haller's upcoming film: Goodbye, photo credit Tyson Haller.

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Image from Tyson Haller's upcoming film: Goodbye, photo credit Tyson Haller.

Documentary projects with IDEA

Tyson worked on a number of documentary film projects with IDEA, Integrated Development Enterprise Associates, an Ottawa-based international development management consultancy firm, specializing in the provision of technical assistance and training. IDEA was founded on January 1, 2000. Below are three of the films which Tyson directed, you can visit the IDEA website to see the films:
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Transitions
Transitions is a comprehensive documentary that follows the inception of the $6 million Decentralized Management of Skills Training Project in Ukraine (DMSTP), which aims to support the implementation of a decentralized management model for the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP). The project coordinates skills training in Ukraine by empowering Regional Administrations to design and implement programming in response to the demonstrated needs of stakeholders such as labour unions and associations of industries and entrepreneurs. The project will support the MLSP’s efforts to coordinate training supply with demand across economic and government sectors as represented by a wide variety of national and regional stakeholders in Ukraine’s skills training system.
Airing: 2008
Genre: Documentary (16 minutes)
Producer: Hussein M. Amery
Co-Producer: Igor Ilko
Editing:Igor Sukholotyuk, Andrei Uzlov
Director - Production: Tyson Haller
Director - Post-Production: Donna Leon

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Partnerships for Tomorrow Program II: Building bridges for tomorrow
Building on the success of CIDA’s initial Partnerships for Tomorrow Program, Phase II expands the programs focus to include Central Asian countries as well as Central and Eastern European countries. The program continues to support small projects designed to fortify partnerships and linkages between Canadian organizations and organizations from the eligible countries. This documentary highlights the various goals and successes the program has achieved through interviews and footage taken of the participants.
Airing: 2006
Genre: Documentary
Producer: Hussein M. Amery
Co-Producer:Gail Bowkett, Walid Madhoun
Editing: M. P. Circelli
Director: Tyson Haller

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The Central & Eastern European Partnership for Tomorrow Program
The CIDA funded Partnerships for Tomorrow Program was initiated to develop sustainable models for effective interaction between technical institutions and industry. The program supports small projects which aim to build and strengthen partnerships and linkages between Canadian organizations and organizations from the eligible Central and Eastern European countries. These long term relationships will facilitate the capacity development of individuals and organizations in the region while developing Canadian expertise in working these countries. This documentary highlights the various goals and successes the program has achieved through interviews and footage taken of the participants.
Airing: 2003
Genre: Documentary
Producer: Hussein M. Amery
Co-Producer: Branka Gudelj
Editing: Richard Millen
Director: Tyson Haller​

Sister Speak to Me: A Tribute to Zahra Kazemi, 2003

In  2003 , Tyson and Jamelie Hassan collaborated on a film Sister Speak to Me: A Tribute to Zahra Kazemi. This film was a counter-narrative to the beating death of Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi at the hands of the Iranian authorities in Tehran. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression co-sponsored the premier screening of the film at the London Public Library in September 2003. Read the press release here.  ​
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EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS 
 
Jamelie Hassan 
& Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Marnie Fleming, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou and Dan Smoke,  and Lucas Stenning 

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & 
Olivia Mossuto

WEB DESIGN & SOCIAL MEDIA 
Tariq Hassan Gordon, Ira Kazi, Olivia Mossuto, Niloufar Salimi,  JoAnna Weil 

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

PRINT PUBLICATIONS
Blessy Augustine, Shelley Kopp, 
Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Andreas Buchwaldt, Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Ira Kazi, ​Shelley Kopp, Ashar Mobeen, Niloufar Salimi,  Jenna Rose Sands, JoAnna Weil & Michelle Wilson. 

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OUR STORY
Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. Other former members of the board were: Debrann Eastabrook, Henry Eastabrook, Sharron Forrest, Wyn Geleynse, Janice Gurney, Jean Hay (1929 - 2008), Doug Mitchell, Kim Moodie, Gerard Pas, Peter Rist, Wanda Sawicki, Jean Spence and Jennie White. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website. 

This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.
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Thank you to our partners

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E M B A S S Y  C U L T U R A L  H O U S E . C A

​London, Ontario is on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Attawandaron and Huron-Wendat peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and other treaties.

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    • Past Programming >
      • Exhibitions 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Curators
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        • Index of Musicians
      • Performances 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Performers
    • Embassy Hotel History
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