"Mettler is an incomparable talent in Canadian cinema," says Piers Handling, Director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival Group. "The innovation and audacity of his work, his dedication to the cinematic art form, and his ability to conjure up images that remain permanently etched in one's mind, secures his place as one of this country's most distinguished contemporary filmmakers."

One of the key figures in the Toronto New Wave of the 1980s, Peter Mettler is one of the most intriguing and audacious filmmakers in English Canada, known not only for his work as a director, but also as a cinematographer and editor. (Mettler has worked with many major English Canadian filmmakers, including Patricia Rozema, Atom Egoyan, Bruce McDonald and Jeremy Podeswa - and adapted renowned Quebecois filmmaker and theatre director Robert Lepage's play TECTONIC PLATES to the screen.) His own films are distinguished by an innovative approach to the medium, regardless of which genre he has worked in, bridging the gap between experimental, narrative, personal essay and documentary. All of his work is visually stunning (he's also an accomplished photographer), particularly the two films he's best known for: PICTURE OF LIGHT and GAMBLING, GODS AND LSD. In addition, Mettler is a pioneer in multi-media work. His live visual mixing performances are ground-breaking and legendary and he has long been considered a leader in this field, acquiring an international reputation.

Mettler was born in Toronto in 1958 after his parents emigrated from Switzerland, and attended Upper Canada College before entering Ryerson Polytechnic Institute's film school in 1977. Prior to graduating, he took a year off to work with patients in a drug rehabilitation centre in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and has since spent many years working between Switzerland and Canada. His experiences formed the basis for his thesis film, the experimental narrative SCISSERE (1982), which drew critical attention when it premiered at the 1982 Festival of Festivals in Toronto. The film was also given the Norman McLaren Award for best film from Le conservatoire d'art cinématographique in Montreal. Mettler founded his Toronto-based production company, Grimthorpe Film, in 1985.

Jerry White's monograph on Mettler's work includes a discussion of all of his major films, among them extensive chapters devoted to PICTURE OF LIGHT and GAMBLING, GODS AND LSD, which won the Genie Award for Best Documentary in 2003. In addition, the book features a stunning selection of Mettler's photographic work. Focusing on several aspects of his multifaceted work, White highlights Mettler's status as an international filmmaker who questions the notion of nationality, concentrating in part on his Swiss-Canadian ancestry. Moreover, he investigates Mettler's exploration of the impact of technology on spirituality and psychology as well as his singular and innovative approach to traditional film genres.

"Mettler's cinema is one of pleasure, curiosity, questing and discovery - and also one of fruitful frustration. Happy to be overwhelmed by ideas, he wants the viewer to be overwhelmed too - to taste the transcendence of such inundation. . . . Mettler's clear-headed idealism, his awareness of and inquisitiveness into existential questions relating technology and art to life experiences and his ability to turn limitations into art - into opportunities for transcendence - make him one of contemporary world cinema's most compelling and unique filmmakers." (Jerry White)

Jerry White is a professor of film studies at the University of Alberta and a member of the education staff of the Telluride Film Festival. He is co-editor (with William Beard) of North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema since 1980 and editor of The Cinema of Canada.