Abraam Dawod
April 16, 2026, Volume 7, Issue 16
At Garrison Place retirement home in Fort Erie, Burd Sisler recalled to filmmaker Abraam Dawod details about his childhood – his home in New Toronto (now Etobicoke), what his parents were like, and his relationship with his younger brother, Louis.
Those conversations became the foundation of BURD, a short documentary directed by the Stoney Creek-based filmmaker. Completed just before Sisler’s passing on April 2 2026, the 26-minute film details Sisler’s life, from the 1910s to the present day.
Sisler, born in 1915, lived through more than a century of change. He witnessed two world wars, two pandemics, and two global recessions. From October 2025 until his death, Burd was the oldest living person in Canada.
Dawod first connected with Sisler’s family after hearing about a local man approaching his 110th birthday. What began as a plan to capture footage of a milestone celebration quickly evolved into something more substantial.
The project expanded to include interviews with Sisler’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, along with reenactments of key moments from his life. Many of those scenes feature members of Sisler’s own family: his great-grandsons, Zachary and Nathan Donald, portray Burd and his brother Louis as children, while his great-granddaughter, Grace Koscak, plays his late wife Mae in her teenage years.
Filming also took place at various locations throughout Fort Erie, including the Royal Canadian Legion and the family’s former home. The production became a collaborative effort, with several community members playing a hand in its completion.
Sisler passed away two weeks before his 111th birthday, surrounded by family. The film had already been completed, allowing him to see it before his death.
Now submitted to national and international film festivals, the documentary is seeking a public premiere and will eventually pursue distribution with a national broadcaster.
Artist biography: Abraam Dawod is a Canadian-Egyptian filmmaker based in Stoney Creek. With a background in both directing and production, he has directed 18 short films including the upcoming documentary BURD (2026) and the Portuguese-language film Hotel Paraíso (2026), filmed in the Azores under the mentorship of Werner Herzog. He has also worked in various crew roles on over 100 productions at the indie and studio level, including as an executive assistant on Amazon Studio’s Beast Games (2024), and the Canadian biopic BlackBerry (2023).
