Holly Dale and her partner Janis Cole are two of Canada's most renowned documentary filmmakers. Their partnership began when they were students. Together, they produce, direct and edit independent films. Their reputation is based on their unique, humanistic approach to odd people living on society's fringe. Two of their early films, Cream Soda (1975), a student film, and Minimum Charge No Cover (1976) examine the seedy lives of small-time crooks in Toronto's red-light district. The 1977 film The Thin Blue Line, a personal and psychological look into the lives of criminally insane convicts in a maximum-security prison, was their debut into widely released features.