Videos
Gretchen took courses at the NB Film Coop, learning to shoot and edit her own videos and loving the whole process.
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Her independent shorts and all three features screened in film festivals around the world. Several of her educational videos found distribution with Moving Images in Vancouver and the Y of Canada.
feature drama (93 min, rated 14-A)
The screenplay was selected for development for the CBC Producers' Showcase in 2004, one of only three screenplays by new screenwriters across Canada. Later, with support from Film NB, Gretchen produced and directed her screenplay as an Ultra Low Budget feature (the first ever in Saint John), where it went on to win Best Screenplay at the Trail Dance Film Festival.
Gretchen co-wrote the story as a literary novel with Debra Adshade, and the screenplay is up for option.
short comedy (4 minutes)
Can three teens have Dad's cake and eat it, too?
Piece o' Cake
Filmmaker Gretchen Kelbaugh conscripted her children, ex-husband and cat into this close-to-real-life comedy.
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"Best No-Budget Short at the Broad Humor Film Festival was a simple and charming slice of life called Piece o' Cake."
- L.A. Splash Magazines worldwide
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documentary (28 min)
Voyage with a Dragon
"A powerful visual documentary that confirms that there can be, and that there is, a life of quality after cancer. I would strongly encourage all cancer patients and their families and cancer care professionals to view this. An invaluable addition to your patient resource centre."
- Dr WW Kumar, Head of Department of Oncology,
Health Sciences Corporation, NB, Canada
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feature documentary (1h 21min)
Inspired by the spirit of her militant suffragette great-aunt, Gert Harding, Gretchen set out to discover why there were still so few women elected to governments and how to quickly get more women elected. Finished in 2010, the educational documentary was distributed for many years by Moving Images. Now it's available on Youtube.
Among democracies worldwide, why do Canada, the UK and the USA rank so terribly when it comes electing women? When Menocracy was released in 2010, Canada was ranked 47th for its percentage of women in government; the UK ranked 58th and the USA 70th. ​​
15 years later, in 2025? For the USA and Canada, it's worse! In 2019 (the last time the Inter-Parliamentary Union listed rankings), the UK had risen to 39th among democracies for percentage of women in parliaments, while Canada and the USA had fallen to 61st and 76th. By the way, Rwanda ranked 1st (with 61% women), Sweden 5th (47%) and France 17th (40%).
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So much for Canada, the UK and the USA being the beacons of democracy; we're more the lightening bugs.
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​What do our three countries have in common that most democracies do not? An outdated voting system. I'd never heard about voting systems and Proportional Representation before researching this project. I've been trying to spread the word ever since.
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Gretchen interviews the Right Honourable Kim Campbell
"Each of the sexes experiences the world differently... but to exclude half of your brains, half of your capacity from the most important function, which is the setting of rules by which the whole society has to live, is really nuts."
- Kim Campbell, the only woman to lead a nation in North America
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Kim Campbell, along with Canada's Joanna Everitt and two other leading authorities on women and politics, Rosie Campbell (University College of London) and Sue Carroll (Rutgers University and CAWP) help filmmaker Gretchen Kelbaugh discover:
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1. why we need more women in office
2. why so few women are elected
3. how to fix the problem.
short drama (10 min)
5-part documentary series
80/20; the Developing World
This compact and comprehensive series explores what could be done to improve living conditions in lesser-developed countries. Dr. Rick McDaniel is originally an American who has spent many years in Canada, working in international development with the YMCA. His experience and personable approach make him the perfect guide for this tour through the hidden complexities of foreign aid. The Dominican Republic, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, is used as a point of reference throughout. It is there that conditions aptly illustrate the 80:20 phenomenon—that 80% of the world’s wealth is controlled by 20% of its population.
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The series, funded largely by the CIFVF, is produced and directed by Gretchen Kelbaugh and Connell Smith and written by Dr Rick McDaniel. After many years of distribution through Moving Images, Gretchen and Connell have decided to make the 5-part series available on Youtube. There you'll find a 15-minute overview of the series and all five parts in the playlist: 80/20; the Developing World.
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Topics discussed include: international development, developing countries, global south, global interdependence, global inequity, debt crisis, structural adjustments, colonialism, free trade, foreign aid, social development, NGOs, AIDS in Africa.
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