Whether he's selling screen rights or coaxing stars out of their trailers, Martin Katz says producing films often depends on the art of negotiation.
It's a skill the producer and industry leader honed while earning his law degree at the University of Toronto. Today, he returns to his alma mater to receive an honorary doctorate in recognition of his role in shaping Canadian cinema and elevating it on the world stage as a producer, innovator and champion of the country's creative industries.
Katz's more than 30-year career has touched on almost every aspect of film and TV production, finance and business affairs - as well as the institutions that shape them.
As the founder and president of Prospero Pictures , he has shared Canadian stories with film festivals, awards shows and audiences around the world. His wide-ranging credits include five films with acclaimed filmmaker and fellow U of T alumnus David Cronenberg, the three-time Oscar-nominated drama Hotel Rwanda and the star-studded music talk show Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...
As former chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Katz led the launch of the Canadian Screen Awards. He's also championed Canada's cultural diversity as a director of French for the Future and vice-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship .
Originally from Winnipeg, Katz arrived at U of T in 1981 to study at what's now the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law. But it was at a Toronto International Film Festival screening of Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva that he found the medium that would come to define his career.
"I was hooked - both on cinema and on TIFF for the rest of my life," Katz told Screen Daily in 2025.
He went on to earn a second law degree at the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). A member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, he was a professor at the Université de Moncton and returned to U of T as a special lecturer in intellectual property law.
Katz's eclectic interests eventually led him to expand into more creative pursuits. But his legal scholarship still came in handy when he entered the media realm.
"When you think about making movies, you're negotiating all day long," he told CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos in 2014 . "You're negotiating to get people out of their trailers or you're negotiating to sell rights to your films."
Katz was quick to recognize the storytelling potential of digital media. As one of the first employees at Microsoft's MSN Canada, he served as executive producer of the early online documentary Splice. He also developed interactive programming with Canadian luminaries ranging from author Carol Shields, comedian Rick Mercer and Cronenberg, a longtime collaborator.
After founding Prospero in the early 2000s, Katz backed Cronenberg's singular vision in the 2002 psychological thriller Spider. The collaborations continued with A Dangerous Method, a period drama starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Gadon and Vincent Cassel that premiered at Venice; Cosmopolis, the Don DeLillo adaptation starring Robert Pattinson; Maps to the Stars, the Hollywood satire that earned Julianne Moore best actress prize at Cannes; and 2024's The Shrouds, starring Cassel and Diane Kruger.
But it was arguably Hotel Rwanda, the 2004 drama starring Don Cheadle - which received Oscar nods for best lead actor, best supporting actress and best original screenplay, as well as three Golden Globe nominations - that cemented his reputation on the international stage.
In recent years, Katz has continued to champion emerging visionaries. He produced D. W. Waterson's feature debut Backspot, set in the world of competitive cheerleading, with Elliot Page's Pageboy Productions. He also produced the 2025 thriller At the Place of Ghosts, about two Mi'kmaq siblings reckoning with spirits that have haunted them since childhood.
In 2021, France named Katz a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2022, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2024, the Canadian Media Producers Association presented Katz with its Established Producer Award, recognizing decades of contributions to bringing the country's stories to life onscreen.
