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Telefilm Canada / Catalogues /
Feature films 2004
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Montréal, 1967. An attractive young woman warmly kisses her children before getting into her car. Then, after donning a blond wig and a pair of sunglasses, she sets off for the bank...and prepares for a journey into legend.
She’s a criminal, some cry out. A heroine, others think to themselves. For the past several months, the daring hold-ups committed by Monique Sparvieri, alias Monica la mitraille, have been making headlines. Even as the police noose gets tighter and tighter, Monique continues to rob banks -- unrelentingly, passionately, madly. She fears nothing. Except going back to the hell where she was born.
Based on the book by Georges-Hébert Germain, Machine Gun Molly tells the incredible but true story of a bank robber who profoundly shook Quebec’s justice system during the 1960s.
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Pierre Houle
Director
 Pierre Houle began his career as an assistant director, working with some of the biggest names in the U.S., Canadian and Quebec film industries. From 1985 to 1992, he worked with such renowned filmmakers as Francis Mankiewicz, Richard Pierce, Jean Beaudin, George Mihalka, Robin Spry and Léa Pool on a variety of major productions, including Les Filles de Caleb, Anne Trister, Love and Hate, If Looks Could Kill, Dead Man Out, Scoop, Urban Angel and Cannonball Run III.
Over the last 10 years, Pierre Houle has emerged as one of Canada’s leading television directors, with such titles to his credit as the series Omertà I and Omertà II, which between them won a total of 20 Gémeaux awards. He also directed several instalments of the series Scoop, Tag and Bunker, le cirque. In 1999, he directed a fascinating documentary on the artist Jean-Paul Riopelle titled Riopelle, sans titre, 1999, collage, which won several awards, including First Prize at the Festival international du film d’art et pédagogique in France and the award for best director at the prestigious Hot Docs festival in Toronto.
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35 mm
122 minutes
Colour
Aspect ratio
1.85
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Producers
Lorraine Richard
Luc Martineau
Executive Producers
Louis Laverdière
Vivianne Morin
Director
Pierre Houle
Scriptwriters
Luc Dionne
Sylvain Guy
Based on the book by
Georges-Hébert Germain
Director of Photography
Éric Cayla
Editing
Gaétan Huot
Sound
Véronique Gabillaud
Marcel Pothier
Art Director and Sets
Michel Proulx
Costume Designer
Michèle Hamel
Original music
Michel Cusson
Cast
Céline Bonnier
Roy Dupuis
Patrick Huard
Frank Schorpion
Isabelle Blais
Rémy Girard
Marc Labrèche
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Production
Cité-Amérique inc.
5800, boul. Saint-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec
H2T 1T3
 (514) 278-8080
 (514) 278-4000
info@citeamerique.com
www.citeamerique.com
Distribution – Canada
Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm
455, rue Saint-Antoine Ouest
Bureau 300
Montreal, Quebec
H2Z 1J1
(514) 878-2282
(514) 878-2419
info.vivafilm@allianceatlantis.com
www.allianceatlantisvivafilm.com
International distribution
Cité-Amérique International
4200, boul. Saint-Laurent
Bureau 1480
Montreal, Quebec
H2T 2R2
(514) 843-3355
(514) 843-9574
info@cite-amerique.com
www.cite-amerique.com
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Thom Fitzgerald directed the films The Hanging Garden, Beefcake, The Wild Dogs and The Event. Since his 1997 feature debut, he has won more than two dozen international awards, including the Genie Award, the FIPRESCI European International Critics’ Prize, the Emerging Master Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Victory Column Reader’s Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Thom was cited as "One of the top 100 filmmakers in the world" by Screen International and "One of the Top Ten of the Next Generation" by the Hollywood Reporter. A graduate of the Cooper Union in New York City, he now resides in Nova Scotia.
Yves Pelletier was a member of the comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles from 1981 to 1995, when the troupe split up after an extraordinarily successful career. Pelletier went on to work for several hit TV shows, including L’Enfer, c’est nous autres and Piment Fort. He also worked as a story editor and director for the TV series Juste pour rire. Pelletier’s acting credits include the TV comedy series Histoires de filles, which garnered him a Gémeaux award in 2001 for best supporting actor. His feature-film acting credits include 2 secondes (dir. Manon Briand) and Ding et Dong, le film (dir. Alain Chartrand). He co-scripted the hit film Karmina and scripted its follow-up, Karmina 2, also playing the part of Vlad in each. Les Aimants is Yves Pelletier’s feature-film directorial debut.
After graduating from Concordia University, Denis Langlois immersed himself in Montréal’s indie film scene and made two shorts, Éclipse (1988) and Ma Vie (1992), which were screened in a dozen countries. In 1994, he and Bertrand Lachance started the film company Les productions Castor & Pollux, and Langlois directed his first feature, L'Escorte, which was distributed in Canada, the U.S., Germany and France. His second feature, Danny in the Sky, was released in Quebec in 2001 and sold to the U.S., Germany and Italy. In Amnesia - The James Brighton Enigma, Denis Langlois once again explores themes of identity, sexuality, friendship and family.
Although Bailey’s Billion$ is Emmy Award-winning producer/director David Devine’s feature-film directorial debut, he has helmed 12 television films and produced 20 for HBO Original Films. Nominated for 12 Emmy Awards (three for outstanding children’s film), Devine’s films have won five Emmys, as well as five Geminis and more than 100 other international awards. Educated at Victoria College in the University of Toronto and UCLA Film School, David Devine resides in Toronto with his wife, Jane, and their daughter, Francesca.
One of the most distinguished and influential filmmakers of his generation, István Szabo has won more than 60 major international awards during his remarkable career. A native of Hungary, Szabo made his first feature film in 1964 with the lyrical The Age of Daydreaming, which won the Silver Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. His many notable films include Confidence (1979), which won Szabo international acclaim, as well as his first Academy Award nomination; Mephisto, winner of the 1981 Academy Award for best foreign film; and Colonel Redl, which received the Jury Prize at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. In 1990, Szabo directed his first English-language film, Meeting Venus, starring Glenn Close. His most recent films include Sweet Emma, Dear Bobe (1991), Sunshine (1999) and Taking Sides (2001).
François Delisle has directed several films over the last 12 years, including La Mer on s'en fout, Du Couteau au fusil, Beebe-Plain and Ruth. Many of his films have been screened at international festivals. François Delisle is strongly committed to filmmaking that is at once independent and personal -- a commitment he upholds through his active involvement in both the creation and the production of his films. Happiness Is a Sad Song is his second feature film.
Guy A. Lepage first made a name for himself as a member of the comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles, which earned a cult following in Quebec between 1981 and 1995 for its stage, radio and television work. Lepage is the creator, writer, coordinating director, and lead actor of the TV series Un gars, une fille, which, since its debut in 1997, has been a huge hit in Quebec as well as some 20 countries around the world. Camping sauvage marks his feature-film directorial debut.
Sylvain Roy launched his career as a cameraman and director of photography. Between 1987 and 1996, he manned the hidden camera for the candid-camera TV show Surprise sur prise, in both Quebec and France. In recognition of his brilliant sense of humour and keen timing, he was hired to direct the hit series Un gars, une fille. At the same time, Roy also shot numerous TV commercials. Camping sauvage is his first feature film.
Actor, writer and director André Ducharme displayed the full range of his talents during his 14-year stint as a member of the comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles. He also created and co-directed a five-part, five-hour documentary series which chronicled Rock et Belles Oreilles’ exceptional career. He has also co-written several TV series, including Un gars, une fille, Juste pour rire, Réal-TV and Méchante semaine. Camping sauvage is his first feature film.
Don McKellar is one of Canada's leading director/writer/actors. His writing/acting credits include such acclaimed films as François Girard's The Red Violin (1998) and Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993), Bruce McDonald's Dance Me Outside (1994), Highway 61 (1991) and Roadkill (1989), Atom Egoyan's Exotica (1994) and The Adjuster (1991), David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999), Patricia Rozema's When Night Is Falling (1995), and Deepa Mehta's Camilla (1994). In 1998, McKellar directed his first feature, Last Night, which won the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes. Don McKellar has also worked extensively in television (Twitch City, writer and lead actor) and theatre.
Born in Paris in 1955, Olivier Assayas is one of the leading figures in the new generation of French filmmakers. An award-winning screenwriter/director, he is also a published author. His screenwriting/directing credits include Disorder (1986), winner of the International Critics' Prize at the Venice Film Festival; Paris Awakens (1991), recipient of the Jean-Vigo Prize in 1992; Cold Water (1994) and Irma Vep (1996), both screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes; The Destinees (2000) and Demonlover (2002), both in Official Competition at Cannes. Assayas was also a member of the editorial team at the prestigious Cahiers du Cinéma, and is the author of three books about film, Hong-Kong Cinema, Conversations With Bergman, and In Praise of Kenneth Anger, all published by Éditions de l’Étoile.
A talented and prolific writer, Dany Laferrière -- Haitian by birth, Quebecois by adoption, unrepentant North American -- achieved fame with his first novel, How to Make Love to a Negro. His writing offers a remarkable look at Haitian, Quebec and North American society, which Laferrière depicts with both humour and incisive clarity. How to Make Love to a Negro was turned into a successful feature film, with Laferrière writing the screenplay. Comment conquérir l’Amérique en une nuit marks his feature-film directorial debut.
Multi-talented actress/singer Carole Laure has appeared in more than 30 feature films in Canada and abroad. Her credits include La Mort d’un bûcheron (1973), La Tête de Normande Saint-Onge (1976) and Fantastica (1979), all directed by Gilles Carle, as well as Night Magic (1985), directed by Lewis Furey and co-written by Leonard Cohen. Each of these films was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. She also starred in Bertrand Blier's Préparez vos mouchoirs (Get Out Your Handkerchiefs; 1978), which won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1979. In collaboration with Lewis Furey, Carole Laure has recorded seven albums of songs and shot eight music videos, and performed her music around the world. In 2001, she directed her first feature, Les Fils de Marie, which was selected for the International Critics' Week at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
A leading figure in Quebec cinema for more than 30 years, writer, director and actor André Melançon has earned a reputation for the quality of the children’s films he has directed over the years. He achieved international renown with the features The Dog Who Stopped the War (1984) and Bach and Broccoli (1986), two instalments in the Tales for All series. Both films were honoured at numerous film festivals around the world. Melançon has also worked extensively in television, directing several exceptional series, including Cher Olivier and Ces Enfants d’ailleurs II. His television work also includes a memorable adaptation of Michel Tremblay’s play Albertine en cinq temps.
Writer/director/producer Rudy Barichello is associated with Films Fratelli in Quebec and, in Belgium, with Dragon Films, where he works as a director and executive producer. For both companies he directed and co-produced the short Ismaël, which was an official selection of the 2002 Venice Film Festival, a finalist for the Prix Jutra in Quebec, and winner of the prize for best European short at the Festival de Brest and winner of two awards at the Festival 10/10 in Belgium. Prior to this film he wrote and directed the short, Kalsa, which was shot in Sicily.
Claude Desrosiers worked as an actor before studying film at New York University. He has made several documentaries, including Les 50 ans du TNM, Dansez maintenant !, Le Chant de l’âme, Quand l’amour dérape, Haute fidélité and Au coeur de la méditation. His work has received several Gémeaux award nominations, including ones for best director, best cinematography, best sound and best film. Turning to fiction, he directed the television adaptation of a stage play, Traces d’étoiles, which earned him a Gémeaux award for best drama. He followed this with Delirium, a drama series broadcast on Quebec’s public television network, Télé-Québec. He has also directed the series Tabou 2 and Le Rire de la mer. Dans une galaxie près de chez-vous is Claude Desrosiers’ first fiction feature film.
Trent Carlson is a Vancouver-based writer/director and a founding partner in Anagram Pictures. Among his many television credits, Trent has directed episodes of the comedy series Alienated (CHUM Television), Beast Machines (Fox TV), and Rockpoint P.D. (The Comedy Network). The Delicate Art of Parking, Trent’s debut feature, premiered at the 2003 Montréal World Film Festival, where it won the Golden Zenith Award for best Canadian film. The film was also screened at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival and the 2004 Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival, where it won the CHUM Television Award for best Canadian first feature.
Érik Canuel started his career in 1990 by making TV commercials, many of which have earned awards in Canada and abroad. His television credits include the series Seriously Weird (2002), for YTV, Big Wolf on Campus II (2000) and Big Wolf on Campus III (2001), for Fox, and Fortier I (1999), which earned him a Gémeaux Award nomination for best director in 2000. Canuel launched his filmmaking career with the documentary Hemingway, a Portrait (2000), which won the Genie Award for best short documentary and the prize for Best 2D Film at the Miami Aventura Imax Days. In 2000, he shot his first feature, La Loi du cochon, which he followed in 2003 with Nez rouge, one of the most successful Canadian films of the year.
Allan King is one of Canada's leading filmmakers. Retrospectives of his work have been held in Montréal (1961), London (1970 and 1984), Rome (1983), and Toronto (1995). King’s first film in the "actuality drama" genre was Warrendale, a film about emotionally disturbed children. Jean Renoir considered it the most remarkable documentary he had ever seen and it won the Prix d'art et d'essai at Cannes in 1967. It also shared the British Academy's best foreign film award with Antonioni's Blow Up and the New York Critics' Award with Buñuel's Belle du Jour. Among King’s numerous other films are the feature documentaries A Married Couple (1970) and The Dragon’s Egg (1999), and Who Has Seen the Wind (1976), his first dramatic feature. Allan King has also directed extensively for television.
Jeff Solylo was born in Winnipeg. After graduating from the University of Manitoba’s School of Art, Solylo worked as a graphic artist and photographer before joining the legendary Winnipeg Film Group, where he became the award-winning art director for Guy Maddin’s early feature films including Careful, Archangel and Tales from the Gimli Hospital. East of Euclid is Solylo’s debut as director and writer of a feature film.
A graduate of the film program at Concordia University in Montréal, Ghyslaine Côté has scripted several short films for children and teens, as well as a feature, Blanche et Rose. In 1993, she wrote and directed her first film, the short Aux Voleurs !, which won the La Presse award for best screenplay at the Festival du court métrage de Montréal. In 1998, her short film Pendant ce temps won first prize at the Stony Brook Festival in Long Island, New York, and was nominated for a Prix Jutra and a Genie award in the best short film category. In 1999, Ghyslaine Côté directed the children's feature Pin-Pon, le film, which was nominated for two Jutras in the categories best editing and best art direction.
Pierre Falardeau has been a vital presence in Quebec cinema for more than 25 years. All of his films testify to Falardeau’s unwavering political and social commitment. Beginning in 1977, Falardeau and Julien Poulin directed a series of documentaries, À force de courage, Pea Soup, and Speak White, as well as the fiction short Elvis Gratton, which won several awards. Falardeau then went on to a solo career, making a series of films which were screened at several major international festivals: Le Party, Le Steak, Le Temps des bouffons, Octobre, Miracle à Memphis -- Elvis Gratton II and, in 2000, 15 février 1839, a movie about the last days of De Lorimier, a patriote leader who was hanged by the British in Montréal.
A graduate of Simon Fraser University and past resident of the Canadian Film Centre, Scott Smith wrote, produced and directed the award-winning feature film Rollercoaster (1999). Rollercoaster, Smith's feature-film debut, has screened at more than 40 international festivals and received the award for best narrative feature at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, and the award for most popular Canadian film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Falling Angels, Scott Smith's second feature film, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, was screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and won the award for best Ontario film at Cinéfest Sudbury 2003.
Grant Harvey has been directing film and television for more than 10 years. In 1997, he wrote, produced and directed his first feature, American Beer. The film debuted at the Vancouver International Film Festival and was programmed at the Florida Film Festival and at Cannes. Grant was the second unit director on Ginger Snaps (dir. John Fawcett, 2000). His work for television includes the youth series Mentors and 2030 CE, both for Minds Eye Pictures. Grant also produced and directed the CBC youth program From the Hip, and has directed award-winning commercials in both Canada and the U.S.
Isabelle Hayeur is renowned in Quebec for the imaginative plots and storylines of her films. She freely and liberally explores fantasy and science fiction as a way of reflecting contemporary reality. In 1988, she received the best-screenplay award at the Sainte-Thérèse International Film Festival for her short Londeleau. Hayeur then made her first feature, La Bête de Foire, which received the Luce-Guilbault prize for best actress at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in 1993. Her critically acclaimed 2000 feature Les Siamoises was screened in Montréal, Manchester, and Sitges (Spain), as well as at the prestigious Institute of Contemporary Art in London. Le Golem de Montréal, a film for children, is Isabelle Hayeur’s third feature.
Award-winning filmmaker John L'Écuyer works in both independent film and television. A director who has always shown great respect for the literary sources of his films, L'Écuyer’s work includes Curtis's Charm, based on a short story by poet and fiction writer Jim Carroll, Choice: The Morgentaler Story, Saint Jude and the documentary Confessions of a Rabid Dog. L'Écuyer’s originality shines through as he brings novelist Dany Laferrière’s fictional world to the screen.
Tony Asimakopoulos’s first short film, Jimmy Fingers, started winning awards soon after he graduated from Concordia University's Film Production Program in 1991. He received the Prix de la Relève for most promising Quebec filmmaker at the 1991 Festival de Jeune Cinéma in Montréal. The following year he completed Mama’s Boy, another short, which was invited to several festivals world-wide, including the Toronto International Film Festival. In 1995, Tony became involved with SAW Video Association, where he made several experimental films and helped to develop a video-production/apprenticeship program involving youth at risk. Horsie’s Retreat is Tony Asimakopoulos’s feature film debut.
After spending 10 years working as a director of photography with some of the world’s best-known filmmakers -- Claude Chabrol (Les Liens de sang, Violette Nozière and Le Sang des autres), Louis Malle (Atlantic City) and Boris Segal (Angela) -- Richard Ciupka directed his first feature, Curtains, in 1981. He then directed the 1991 feature Coyote, as well as the Canadian segments of the television series Mourir d’amour. In 1995 he directed two instalments of the series 10-07 (L’Affaire Zeus and L’Affaire Kafka). Most recently, he directed Le Dernier souffle (1998) and La Mystérieuse mademoiselle C. (2002).
Dave Thomas's career began at the Second City company in Toronto. He subsequently co-created the critically acclaimed series SCTV (CBC, Global and NBC) along with co-stars Harold Ramis, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin and John Candy. The hugely popular series garnered him an Emmy Award and four Emmy nominations for comedy writing. With Rick Moranis, Dave co-created the infamous McKenzie Brothers and starred in the cult comedy film Strange Brew. Dave has also written, directed, produced and starred in television shows for all the major networks, most notably The Dave Thomas Show (CBS) and Grace Under Fire (ABC). He has appeared in numerous feature films, including Stripes, Spies Like Us and Rat Race. Most recently, he voiced a major role in the Disney animated feature Brother Bear.
Writer/director Michael Dowse’s first feature, Fubar, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Prior to Fubar, Michael Dowse wrote and directed the short 237 (2000). He has also worked as an editor on the features Looking for Leonard (dir. Matt Bissonnette and Steven Clark; 2002) and Bad Money (dir. John Hazlett; 1999).
Gilles Noël has written some 15 screenplays, including two for short films which he directed himself. In 1995, he directed his first feature, Erreur sur la personne, for Nanouk Films. The feature was well-received by critics and was screened at numerous festivals. In 1998, Gilles Noël adapted Simon Fortin’s stage play Le Pays dans la gorge for television. Produced by Nanouk Films, this drama was nominated for three Gémeaux awards, including best director and best drama.
Douglas Law began his career in France as first assistant director for Pierre Jolivet in En plein coeur, starring Gérard Lanvin, Carole Bouquet, Guillaume Canet, and Virginie Ledoyen. He then worked with Nicole Garcia in Place Vendôme, starring Catherine Deneuve and Jacques Dutronc. In 1997, Law set out for New York to work as assistant director with Lakeshore Entertainment (Paramount) and New Line. He worked alongside Alain Berliner, Adam Brooks, Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore, Sinead Cusack, and others. Upon his return to Europe, he directed two shorts: Insomnie, with Jean-Pierre Lorit, and À tout de suite, with Vincent Elbaz. The Last Sign is his first feature as director.
Based in London, Graham Theakston has directed some of Britain’s best-known television series. His credits include the Sherlock Holmes drama Case of Evil (2002), The Bombmaker (2001), The Scarlet Pimpernel mini-series (episode, Ennui, 2000), The Mill on the Floss (1997), The Politician’s Wife (1995) -- for which he shared the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series -- the Cadfael mystery series, starring Derek Jacobi (1994 season), and A Touch of Frost (episode, House Calls, 1997). The Lazarus Child is the first feature film he has directed.
Wajdi Mouawad is Lebanese by birth, French in his thinking, and Quebecois through his theatre work. Such is the fate of someone who spent his childhood in Beirut, his teen years in Paris, and is now trying to become an adult in Montréal...
Born in Rouen, France, in 1954, Marie-Jan Seille worked as a talent agent in Paris for five years before moving to Montréal in 1986, where she began working as a casting director. In 1994, she produced and directed her first short, the documentary Sa sainteté et moi ou la vie sans limite, which chronicled an encounter between the Dalai Lama and a child stricken with leukemia. In 1995, Marie-Jan Seille participated in the collective film project Un film de cinéastes, and the following year she directed Je ne t’aime pas, a fictional short starring Pascale Montpetit produced by Ciné Qua non Films. She also co-founded Gros Plan, a photo-directory of Quebec actors, and published its first edition in 1990. Marie-Jan Seille is a member of the Association québécoise des directeurs de casting.
Manners of Dying is Jeremy Peter Allen’s first feature film. Since 1993, Allen has worked with the Quebec City directors' collective Spirafilm, directing and/or producing more than 40 short films. In 2001, he directed Requiem contre un plafond, a short that garnered several international awards. It was at this time that he first met Yann Martel, and in 2002 he began adapting Martel’s short story Manners of Dying for the screen.
Francis Leclerc was born in Quebec City in 1971. While studying communications, he began to develop an interest in film, and subsequently directed more than 20 short- and medium-length works during the 1990s. These include Bientôt Novembre (1985), L’Angle mort d’une hirondelle (1996) and Les sept branches de la rivière Ota (1997). He has been working in Montréal since 1995, shooting music videos for a variety of well-known Quebec artists. His first feature, the critically acclaimed Une jeune fille à la fenêtre (Girl at the Window; 2001), was screened at numerous film festivals. Mémoires affectives is his second feature film.
Danny Verete began his career as a writer/director in 1981. He immediately received recognition for the short film Wall Within a City (1981), which screened at the 1982 San Francisco Film Festival. Verete teamed up with director Daniel Waxman for Hammsin (1982), which received several awards, including the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. In 1985, Verete wrote his first feature, Koko Is 19. From 1987 to 1992, he worked on various TV films, commercials, documentaries and short films. His second feature film, Yellow Asphalt (2000), was presented at several festivals, including the Mediterranean International Film Festival in Cologne, where it received the Special Jury Prize. Danny Verete also taught scriptwriting at Jerusalem’s Academy of Art Bezalel from 1999 to 2000.
Known as one of Canada’s busiest actors, Benjamin Ratner’s credits include Dirty (dir. Bruce Sweeney; 1998), Last Wedding (dir. Bruce Sweeney; 2001), which opened the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, and 19 Months (dir. Randall Cole; 2003). Benjamin also guest starred in the Stephen King miniseries Kingdom Hospital, broadcast on ABC Television in spring 2004, and directed an episode of the CTV series Robson Arms. Moving Malcolm marks Benjamin Ratner’s directorial debut.
Filmmaker Jean Beaudin is known for creating intense characters who undergo significant psychological change. His most recent film, The Collector, was nominated for the 2003 Genie Awards and Prix Jutra. His previous film, Souvenirs intimes, won the award for best Canadian feature at the 1999 Montréal World Film Festival as well as the Prix du public at both the Bratislava and Rouyn-Noranda film festivals. His feature Being at Home With Claude was in Official Competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. Jean Beaudin's other major films include Le Matou (1985), Mario (1984) and Cordélia (1980). His J.A. Martin photographe received the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival, also earning its star, Monique Mercure, the award for best actress.
Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Trevor Cunningham pursued film studies at the University of Regina and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. He mentored under famed Canadian director Bruce McDonald in 1995 after finishing his studies, and has gone on to write and/or direct several short films, including Carpe Noctem (2002), Blueberry (2001), Apple Jack (2001), Holmes Zinkhoffer Happens in Threes (1995) and Outskirts (1988). The Pedestrian is his first feature.
After studying film at Laval University, Stella Goulet in 1978 directed her first film, Pic et Pic et Contredanse. Following the success of this medium-length work, she went on to direct some 40 shorts, including Le Gros de la classe, Élise et la mer, Un X sur le coeur, and Narcisse et Cie, all of which received international awards. In 1990, while working as a director for television and for Quebec’s Ministry of Education, Stella Goulet wrote her first feature film, Pas de répit pour Mélanie, an instalment in the Tales for All series of children’s films (Productions La Fête). In 2003, she wrote, directed and produced the feature The House of Eccentrics. In addition to her film work, Stella Goulet writes novels for children, teaches screenwriting and directing, and gives many writing workshops for young people.
Rob Stefaniuk has worked in numerous television shows as an actor, including the series Kids in the Hall, Catwalk, Kung Fu, and Monk. His feature-film acting credits include the Saturday Night Live-inspired Superstar (1999). At the age of 23, Rob wrote his first screenplay, The Size of Watermelons, which was produced as an independent feature in 1996. In 2003, he was story editor and line producer, and did additional editing, for the independent feature Public Domain (dir. Kris Lefcoe). Shortly thereafter he made his directorial debut with the hilarious short film Waiting for the Man. Rob Stefaniuk wrote, directed, stars in, and wrote some of the music for Phil the Alien, his feature directorial debut.
Philippe Gagnon attended the Vancouver Film School, where he made two shorts, Le Salon rouge and Darrington North. He then attended the Institut National de l’Image et du Son (INIS) in Montréal, graduating in 1998 with a degree in film directing. While at the INIS, he made the short J'ai besoin d'un trou dans la tête and the documentary Métro Boulot. Since 1999, he has been executive director of the independent filmmakers’ cooperative, Spirafilm. His recent work includes the shorts Vous êtes ici, Gladiator II, Strings Attached and Le Horla, as well as a dozen commercials. He also served as editor on Robert Lepage’s feature La Face cachée de la lune, and has worked as assistant director on a variety of projects.
Michael McGowan is a writer, director and producer. He is the creator of Henry's World, a stop-motion children's show that is broadcast around the world. He is also the author of Newton and the Giant, a young-adult novel published by HarperCollins. His first feature, the ultra-low budget My Dog Vincent, which he wrote, directed and produced, was a hit at film festivals and has since enjoyed critical and commercial success.
Gary Yates was born and raised in Montréal, Quebec. His first short film, Made for TV -- written, produced, directed, photographed and edited by Yates -- was a surprise hit at the Berlin Film Festival and festivals worldwide. Yates’s subsequent short film, Without Rockets, was short-listed for an Academy Award nomination, and won the National Screen Institute Drama Prize. Seven Times Lucky premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where Variety described it as "an absolute knockout of a feature debut."
Toronto-based writer/director Cassandra Nicolaou has been making films since 1995. Her award-winning shorts include Why I'll Never Trust You (In 200 Words or Less), Dance With Me and Interviews With My Next Girlfriend. Her films have screened at hundreds of festivals around the world and have been licensed for broadcast and home video/DVD distribution. Cassandra is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Directors’ Lab. Show Me is her first feature film.
S. Wyeth Clarkson's background in film editing spawned his fascination with the "language of cinema." Having worked with some of Canada's foremost feature film and documentary directors, he set out to make a film that would synergize these two worlds to such an extent that one would no longer be distinguishable from the other. Sk8 Life is Wyeth's second feature film, after deadend.com (2002), and he looks forward to many more years challenging the cinematic boundaries of storytelling.
Robert Vince has produced, written and directed more than 30 films, primarily in partnership with Disney, Miramax and Warner Brothers. He is best known for making International Keystone Entertainment the premiere family film company, with franchises like Air Bud, MVP (Most Valuable Primate) and Spymate. As comfortable in the board room as he is behind the camera, Robert Vince has been Keystone's Chief Executive Officer since 1995. Prior to that he was a principal and president of the Motion Picture Bond Company, formerly one of the world's leading completion bond companies, and CEO of Entertainment Securities Ltd.
Norman Jewison has been a vibrant force in the motion picture industry for four decades, having directed some of the most popular, critically acclaimed and honoured films of the last 40 years. Jewison has been personally nominated for four Oscars, including three as best director, while his films have received 46 nominations and 12 Academy Awards. In 1999, Jewison received the prestigious Irving Thalberg Award at the Academy Awards.
Noam Gonick's short film 1919 won first prize at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival. Gonick's documentary about Guy Maddin, Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight, narrated by Tom Waits, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. His first feature, Hey, Happy! (2001), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released in France, Germany, the U.S. and Canada.
John Palmer is an accomplished Canadian playwright and director. He is the co-founder of the Canadian Place Theatre and the Toronto Free Theatre. John has directed such plays as Wolf Boy, starring Keanu Reeves, and No Deposit No Return and Out to Brunch, both starring Saul Rubinek. He also directed the 1975 feature film Me. John Palmer currently teaches at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montréal.
Touch of Pink is writer/director Ian Iqbal Rashid's feature film debut. Ian has written widely for British television, including the critically acclaimed cult hit series This Life, and is the author of three award-winning volumes of poetry. He has written and directed two short films: Surviving Sabu and Stag. Ian was awarded the Agha Khan Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1999. Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Ian grew up in Toronto and now lives in London.
John N. Smith began his career as a television producer, notably on the series The Way It Is and 51st State, for which he won an Emmy Award. He then went on to work at the National Film Board of Canada, where he produced and directed several award-winning shorts, including Bargain Basement and the Oscar-nominated First Winter. Keenly interested in fine arts, Smith produced a series of films about dance, including Acting Class and For the Love of Dance, each a Grand Prize winner at the New York Dance Film Festival. Smith’s work for television includes The Boys of St. Vincent (1992), which chronicled the physical and sexual abuse of young boys at a Church-run orphanage during the 1970s. The Boys of St. Vincent was acclaimed in Canada and around the world. As a director of feature films, John N. Smith’s credits include Dangerous Minds (1995), starring Michelle Pfeiffer, and A Dry, Cool Place (1998).
Before becoming a filmmaker, Sébastien Rose taught philosophy for a number years after first earning a master’s degree in philosophy from the Université des sciences humaines in Strasbourg, France. He began his filmmaking career as writer, director and producer of the fiction shorts Petits Maîtres (1999) and Vous n’avez pas votre place ici (1997). In 2002, he directed his first feature, Comment ma mère accoucha de moi durant sa menopause. He also produced Diane Gagnon’s fiction short La Rage. In addition, he has produced and directed corporate videos and commercials.
"Grande dame" of Quebec comedy, Denise Filiatrault enjoyed an extraordinary career as a film, television and stage actress before becoming a filmmaker. Over the years, she has also earned renown as a stage director. Drawing on her extensive experience as a writer and stage director, she turned her talents to film, directing the feature C’t’à ton tour, Laura Cadieux, based on a novel by Michel Tremblay, followed by Laura Cadieux... la suite, which chronicled the further adventures of Tremblay’s characters. In 2002, she directed the comedy-fantasy L’Odyssée d’Alice Tremblay. Each of these three films were major hits.
Wilby Wonderful is Daniel MacIvor’s second feature film as director and writer, following 2002’s Past Perfect, in which he also starred. MacIvor also wrote the 2002 feature Marion Bridge, directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld. First known for his work in theatre, MacIvor is Artistic Director of da da kamera, a theatre company he runs with his long-time business partner, Sherrie Johnson. Together, they formed the company’s offshoot, da da kamera pictures.