Robert Ménard
Director
 In a career that has earned him nearly as many prizes as his years in film and television, 35, Robert Ménard has produced 18 feature films and eight television series. The latter category includes Un Amour de quartier, Jean Duceppe, that won three Gémeaux prizes and Le Polock, that won six Gémeaux, including the prizes for multiculturalism and for best director. His films include the internationally acclaimed L’Enfant d’eau that won the popular choice award at festivals in Montréal, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and in France, L’Homme de rêve, that won six Gémeaux including for best director, and Ménard’s best-known films, Cruising Bar and T’es belle Jeanne.
Michel Côté
Director
 A graduate of the École nationale de théâtre, in Montreal, actor Michel Côté has played on all the major stages of Quebec. For the past 29 years, alongside actors Marc Messier and Marcel Gauthier, has played in Broue, the most successful play in the history of Quebec theatre. For the cinema, he has played in such films as: Le Vent du Wyoming, Liste noire, Dans le ventre du dragon, T’es belle Jeanne, La Vie après l’amour, Cruising Bar, Sur le seuil, Le Dernier tunnel, C.R.A.Z.Y. and Ma fille, mon ange. For his contribution to Quebec film, Côté was honoured in 2010 with the Prix Hommage de la Bobine d’Or. From 2005 to 2007, he served as president of the Grande Nuit du Cinéma à Montréal. Cruising Bar 2 is his first time directing a feature film.
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This is Jalil Lespert’s first time directing a feature film. In 2004, he directed the short, De retour, which was screened at numerous international film festivals including Huesca, Barcelone, Rio de Janeiro and Montreal. As an actor, Lespert received the 1999 Cesar award for most promising actor for his role in Ressources humaines by Laurent Canet. Since then, he has played in 20 productions including Sade, directed by Benoit Jacquot, Le Petit lieutenant, directed by Xavier Beauvois, and Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars directed by Robert Guédiguian. 
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Best known for such films as Oscar Thiffault (1988), The King of Drums (1991), 9, Saint-Augustin (1995), The Megaphone Reel (1999) and Suzor-Coté (2001), the latter two made for the National Film Board of Canada, Serge Giguère is one of Quebec’s foremost documentary filmmakers. His films are marked by remarkable meetings and privileged moments that not only illuminate the lives of individuals but speak volumes about the communities to which they belong. Driven by Dreams is his 11th film.
Camelia Frieberg is best known as producer of six films by Atom Egoyan; including Exotica, Speaking Parts, The Adjuster and the academy-award nominated and Cannes-multi-award-winning The Sweet Hereafter. Her other producing credits include the Genie-winning The Five Senses, the Indo-Canadian classic Masala and Daniel MacIvor’s Past Perfect and Wilby Wonderful. In 1988, she wrote and directed her first documentary film, Crossing the River, about a political refugee from El Salvador. A Stone’s Throw is her first feature film.
Carolyn Combs was born in New York City and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre from Concordia University, in Montreal, and a Master of Education from the University of Manitoba. In 1998, she wrote, shot and edited her first short documentary, Stories from the Diner. She also made the short Honey and Ashes, the documentary Protest and Prayer, and Art & Ability, a four-part documentary series about adults with developmental disabilities. Acts of Imagination is her first feature film.
One of the best known of Canadian filmmakers, Denys Arcand began his international renown with his 1986 and 1989 hits, respectively, The Decline of the American Empire, and Jesus of Montreal. Both were Oscar nominees for Best Film in a Foreign Language. His 2000 film, Stardom closed the Cannes Film Festival and opened the Toronto International Film Festival. Oscar and massive popular success came in 2003 with The Barbarian Invasions, winner in the category Best Film in a Foreign Language. In France, the film took the César for best film. At Cannes, it won the best screenplay, and one of its principal actresses, Marie-Josée Croze, won the Palme d’or for best actress. The film was also nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay.
Farlinger’s filmmaking career began as an assistant director on François Girard’s 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould. A three-time Genie nominee for best short film, Farlinger is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre. The Perfect Son, his first feature as writer/director, was nominated for two Genies for best actor and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2000. His directing credits for television include In The Dark. In 2010, he produced the award-winning feature film Monkey Warfare. All Hat is Farlinger’s second feature film.
For more than 30 years, Shel Piercy has been writing, directing and producing for theatre, television and cinema. A partner at Infinity Films, Piercy has recently directed the documentary film, Chasing the Tango High. Previous productions for television include the Gemini award-winning documentary, Ben Johnson: Drugs and the Quest for Gold, and the historical documentaries Love and Duty: Canadian Red Cross Women in WW II and Guinea Pig Club, which won five Leo awards, including best director and best screenwriter for a documentary produced in British Columbia. Almost Heaven is Piercy’s first feature film.
Bruce Sweeney has won many awards for his work in cinema. His first film, Live Bait, won the CITY TV Prize for Best Canadian Film at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, and Dirty won Sweeney Best New Western Canadian Director at the 1998 Vancouver International Film Festival. In 2001, Last Wedding was selected for the official opening night gala of the Toronto International Film Festival. Born in Sarnia, Ontario, Sweeney studied visual arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. He received a master’s degree in film from the University of British Columbia. American Venus is his fourth feature film.
Marie-Hélène Cousineau is a founder and coordinator of Arnait Ikajurtigiit, a Inuit women’s video workshop, as well as a collaborating producer. She has written about the experiences of women making video in Igloolik, Nunavut and curated several exhibitions of this work. Her video work has been widely exhibited in Canada, the United States and Europe. Cousineau earned her MFA in communications from the University of Iowa and was an associate professor of communications at Concordia University in Montreal from 1997 to 1999. Before Tomorrow is her first feature film.
Madeline Ivalu has been a key elder participant in all the works of Arnait Ikajurtigiit since 1991. She has been a cultural advisor as well as a storyteller, musician, actor and writer for such productions as Qulliq, Ataguttaluk Starvation, Piujuq and Angutautuq, and Unikausiq. In 1997, she presented the workshop videos in Ottawa and Montreal. She was part of the Pan Arctic Women Artists Workshop and is president of Naluat, in Igloolik, a women's sewing collective. She represents Igloolik women to Paukktutit, the Pan-Canadian Inuit Women's organization. Before Tomorrow is her first feature film as both co-director and actress.
Photographer and filmmaker Lyne Charlebois has a prolific career. For television, she made the popular series Nos étés (2005) and Tabou (2002). For the cinema, she made Quel jour était-ce ?, a series of seven fictional short films. She has also made hundreds of video clips for such artists as Ginette Reno, Céline Dion, Jim Corcoran and Lhasa and has been awarded four Félix prizes for best video clip of the year. She has directed several advertisements. Borderline is her first feature film.
Laurie Lynd has directed several MOWs including, Open Heart, aired on CBC in 2004. His BBC miniseries, I Was a Rat, based on the bestseller of the same title, was the highest rated miniseries ever on the British broadcaster. Lynd’s most recent television credit is multiple episodes of the series, Noah’s Arc. Breakfast with Scot is Lynd’s second feature film.
Fernand Dansereau began his career in 1955 at the National Film Board where he worked as a host, screenwriter, director, producer and, finally, as head of French Language Productions. Since 1968, he has worked in the private sector where he has directed a total of 40 short and feature length films and has produced almost as many. He has also been president of the Institut québécois du cinéma and the Institut national de l’image et du son. For television, he scripted Le Parc des Braves and Émilie and also wrote the adaptation of Arlette Cousture’s novel, Les filles de Caleb. He has also written the scripts for such television series as Shehaweh et Caserne 24. In 2005, the Quebec government awarded Dansereau the Prix Albert Tessier for his contribution to Quebec cinema and television.
Philippe Falardeau began his career in 2000 with La Moitié gauche du frigo, a film that won many prizes on an international film festival circuit that included Rotterdam, London, Paris and Seattle. His second film, Congorama, was also a big hit, winning five prizes at the 2007 Jutras, including the award for best film, best director and best screenplay. Congorama also travelled to many film festival venues including Toronto, Pusan, Göteborg and San Francisco, and was the closing film at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. C’est pas moi, je le jure! is Falardeau’s third feature film.
A remarkably talented actor and singer, Carole Laure has played in more than 30 films both in Canada and abroad, notably La Mort d’un bûcheron (1973), La Tête de Normande Saint-Onge (1976) and Gille Carle’s Fantastica (1979), as well as Lewis Furey’s Night Magic (1985) co-written by Leonard Cohen, all of which were screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Laure also played in Bertrand Blier’s Préparez vos mouchoirs (1978) that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In collaboration with Furey, Laure, the singer, made seven albums and eight video clips as well as giving numerous concerts around the world. Laure’s first two feature films, Les Fils de Marie (2001) and CQ 2 (Seek You Too) (2004) were selected for Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival.
Denis Delestrac began his career in photography and journalism while directing the arts and entertainment section of the student magazine, Richland Chronicle. Since 2001, with a particular concern for the effects of globalization, he has been making documentary films that question the values of many societies. In 2005, Delestrac founded Ngage Pictures in order to make The Cassandra Syndrome.
Benoit Pilon studied film at Concordia University in Montreal. After starting as an assistant director, he began making fictional and documentary films, the best-known of which is Roger Toupin, épicier variété (2003) which won many prizes including a Jutra for best documentary and a Bayard d’or for best documentary at the Festival de Namur, in Belgium. His other works include the films Rosaire et la Petite-Nation (1997), Impressions (1998), 3 Soeurs en 2 temps (2002), Nestor et les oubliés (2010), and the television series Réseaux (1998-99). Ce qu’il faut pour vivre is his first fictional feature film.
Brussels-born, Pierre-Paul Renders received his degree in classical philosophy in 1984 and a diploma in film direction from the Institut des Arts de Diffusion de Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, in 1989. Equally interested in documentary film as in fiction, and in television as in cinema, Renders, in 2000, made his first feature film, Thomas est amoureux, to critical acclaim. Comme tout le monde is his second feature film.
A founding member of Kino, Stéphane Lafleur has made numerous short films that have attracted attention on the international film festival circuit. In 1999, Karaoké was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival and received a special mention from the jury; in 2002, Snooze opened the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois before going to the Toronto and Namur festivals; while Claude, his most recent short, was screened at the Toronto, Vancouver and Berlin festivals. In his day job as film editor, Lafleur has worked on numerous documentaries, music videos and such television shows as François en série and Les Francs-tireurs. Continental, un film sans fusil is Lafleur’s first feature film.
An anthropologist by training, Bernard Émond, made his way to film via the documentary. His first feature films, La Femme qui boit (2001) and 20 h 17, rue Darling (2003), were selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week and both have won numerous awards. With Against All Hope, Émond completes the second film in a trilogy that began in 2005 with La Neuvaine and continues on the theme of the three virtues: faith, hope and charity. La Neuvaine, voted best Quebec film in 2005 by l’Association des critiques de films du Québec, won a Leopard for best actor (Patrick Drolet) at the Locarno International Film Festival as well as a Jutra for best actress (Élise Guilbault).
Cameron Labine may identify with odd characters but that in no way makes him a pervert. His short films, Room and Chemistry, have been broadcast and played festivals worldwide, garnering him perfectly respectable awards like the Leo Award for Best Short Screenplay, The Golden Sheaf for Best Canadian Director and the Shavick Award for Best Emerging Western Canadian Director. Control Alt Delete is Cameron Labine's first feature film.
Maryanne Zéhil began her career in 1994, in Lebanon, as a journalist specializing in sociopolitical reporting and documentaries. In 1997, she settled in Quebec and until 2003 worked for a French production company, covering issues in the Middle East. In 2004, Zéhil made her first short film, one that involved people who have never previously been before the cameras. From My Window, Without a Home is her first feature film and was presented at the closing of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in 2010.
A biologist by training, Jean Lemire began making documentary films with the founding in 1987 of his production house, Les Productions Ciné-Bio. Mission Mammifères marins, Rencontres avec les baleines du Saint-Laurent and La Dernière frontière were his first films. Later, in collaboration with Max Films, he produced Lumière des oiseaux, Premier Sens and Mémoires de la Terre. With his new production company, Les Productions Glacialis, founded in 2001, Lemire has produced 7 km2 d’infini, directed the popular series’ Mission Arctique, produced and co-directed the series Mission baleines, and made a feature film on the effects of climate change on the Arctic, La Grande traversée. In the fall of 2005, Lemire and his crew embarked on their biggest mission to date: Mission Antartique.
Since 1999, Rafaël Ouellet has filmed more than 150 concerts, 10 videoclips, many television projects and 12 short films. In 2004, he edited Denis Côté’s Les États nordiques. Continuing with Côté, he was the director of photography and co-producer, in 2010, of Nos vies privées. That summer, he made his first feature film, Le cèdre penché "self-underfinanced" film which won the Popular Choice Award at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in Montreal. Derrière moi is his second feature film.
Justin Simms is an award-winning writer and director and co-founder of Newfound Films, in St. John’s, Newfoundland. His previous short films, Ashore, The King Hunt, Face Machine and Punch-up at a Wedding have garnered acclaim and prizes at film festivals throughout Canada and the rest of the world. Punch-Up won awards in the categories best screenplay, best director and best Atlantic short at the 2010 Atlantic Film Festival. Down to the Dirt marks Justin Simms' debut as a feature film director.
David Cronenberg’s reputation as an auteur has been firmly established by his unique body of work that includes Shivers, Rabid, Fast Company, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Crash, eXistenz, The Dead Zone, M. Butterfly, Spider and A History of Violence, all of which have received tremendous critical praise and numerous awards. He is an officer of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, and an officer of the Order of Canada. In 1999, he was named president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
Neil Burns’ latest work is an 18-minute stop-motion film based on the Nikolai Gogol short story, The Nose. Burns has directed several other shorts and has extensive experience in stop-motion animation as seen through his work on the CBC series What It’s Like Being Alone and the Disney series Jojo’s Circus. Edison and Leo is Burns’ first feature film.
Paolo Barzman began his creative career in painting and graphic arts at the Académie Jullian in Paris and at the University of California in Los Angeles. At 19, he was hired by director Jean Renoir as his secretary in Los Angeles. Paolo’s debut as a writer/director was with the feature film Time is Money starring Max von Sydow, Charlotte Rampling and Martin Landau. A successful television director in North America and Europe, he has made 11 MOWs including All Around Town, starring Nastassja Kinski, and You Belong to Me, starring Lesley Anne Down. Other credits include Adventure Inc., Highlander, Largo Winch, Relic Hunter, Lonesome Dove, and 15/Love.
In the 30 films and videos he has directed since 1979, Velcrow Ripper has explored the areas of human rights and the environment. His films include the Genie-award winning feature documentary Bones of the Forest (1995), In the Company of Fear (1999) and Open Season (1998). Ripper also did the sound design on the 2003 feature documentary, The Corporation. ScaredSacred (2004), where Ripper travels to the world’s ground zeros of destruction and resilience in search of stories of transformation, won numerous awards including a Genie for best feature documentary and a Jury Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Film and television director, screenwriter and novelist, Mark Jean may be best known for Homecoming (1996), starring Anne Bancroft, for which he received a Writers’ Guild of America nomination for Best Longform Adaptation and won the Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival. He has also directed the independent feature Early Bird Special (2001); a Fox television MOW, Special Delivery (2000); and Road To Christmas (2010) and A Valentine Carol (2007), for Lifetime Television. His television credits include Teen Angel Returns and The Secret of Lost Creek, both serialized features made for the Disney Channel. Finn on the Fly is his second feature film.
An internationally renowned photojournalist, Dilip Mehta has photographed for such leading publications as National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Figaro, Stern, The London Sunday Times and The New York Times. In addition to his photojournalism, Dilip is active in the field of television and filmmaking. He was the special stills photographer for the feature films Gandhi, The Razor’s Edge and Fire and for the Canadian television series, Danger Bay. He was the creative producer of his sister Deepa Mehta’s critically acclaimed film, Earth, and was the production designer and associate producer of her recent film, Water, shot on location in Sri Lanka.
Jeremy Podeswa’s first feature film, Eclipse, screened at the Berlin and Sundance film festivals. His second film, The Five Senses, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Directors Fortnight, and won for best director at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Genie Awards. Podeswa has also directed the award-winning television movie After the Harvest and numerous ground-breaking series for television including HBO’s Rome, Six Feet Under and Carnivale; TNT’s mini-series Into the West; Showtime's Queer as Folk, The L Word and The Chris Isaak Show; ABC’s Commander in Chief; and FX’s Nip/Tuck.
Louis Bélanger started in film by co-directing three shorts with Denis Chouinard. The first, Dogmatisme ou le songe d’Adrien (1987), won a special mention at Monbéliard and a prize at the Festival international du jeune cinéma de Montréal, and was followed by Le Soleil et ses traces (1990) and Les 14 définitions de la pluie (1992). Later, with Bruno Baillargeon, he co-directed Les Galeries Wilderton (1991). Between 1998 and 1999, Bélanger co-wrote 15, rue des Bains et Mondialito with Nicolas Wadimoff and directed video clips for Télévision Suisse-Romande. In 2000, he co-directed, with Isabelle Hébert, Lauzon Lauzone, a documentary on the life of Quebec filmmaker Jean-Claude Lauzon. He directed Gaz Bar Blues that won the Prix de la presse in 2004 at the Festival de Paris.
Scot McFadyen studied writing at the University of Victoria and got his start in film as soundtrack producer on such film and television projects as Ginger Snaps, Siblings, Queer As Folk, Picture Claire and the cult hit Fubar. His first feature documentary as director, writer and producer, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005 and was nominated for Gemini awards for best direction and best writing in a documentary. Global Metal is Scot McFadyen’s second feature film.
After completing his master’s degree in anthropology at York University, in Toronto. Dunn made his film debut as director/writer/producer of Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. With Scot McFadyen, Dunn was nominated for Gemini awards for best direction and best writing in a documentary. Global Metal is his second feature film.
Mark Leiren-Young has written for virtually every medium, in almost every genre. His TV credits include Blood Ties, The Collector, Psi Factor and the Earthvision Award-winning enviro-comedy Greenpieces. His stage plays include Shylock and Blueprints from Space and have been performed in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. Twice his work has been nominated for the Writers’ Guild of Canada Top Ten in radio drama. His journalism credits include work for Time Magazine, Maclean’s and The Utne Reader, and he won a National Magazine Award as a humour columnist for his work with Theatrum. The Green Chain is Leiren-Young's first feature film.
Michael Melski is a writer and director who has worked in film, television and theatre. His many plays, including Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad, The Fly Fisher’s Companion and Corvette Crossing, have been published and produced across Canada. Michael’s first feature films as a screenwriter, Mile Zero and Touch and Go, have been shown at festivals worldwide. His work as a director includes the award-winning shorts Serenade, Lift Off and Focus Group Therapy, as well as an episode of the hit CTV series, Robson Arms. Growing Op is his first feature film as director. 
Jean-François Pouliot began his career in 1988 making television advertisements for the Montreal based company, Fabrique d’images. After 12 years in the business, during which he made close to 500 ads for Canada, the United States and Europe, Pouliot made his first feature film, the immensely successful Seducing Dr. Lewis that in 2003 was selected to close the prestigious Cannes Directors' Fortnight. With The Little Book of Revenge, he signs his second feature film and relives the fruitful collaboration he enjoyed with Ken Scott, scriptwriter of Seducing Dr. Lewis.
Matthiew Klinck first made his name a name in Canadian television directing sketch comedy and children’s television series. He created, directed and starred in Y B Normal? on the Comedy Network. His feature debut, the oddball comedy, Greg & Gentillon, won the Discovery Award at the Calgary International Film Festival. This early success led to the production of his two subsequent features: Tagayet, filmed entirely in the Sahara Desert, and Hank and Mike.
Bojan Bodruzic was born in 1980, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1994, he and his family moved to Vancouver because of the war. In 2002, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in film production from Simon Fraser University, and has recently completed a master’s degree in creative writing and film production at the University of British Columbia. His film, Amnesiac, produced for his undergraduate thesis, was invited to several international film festivals. Immigrant is his first feature film.
Chaz Thorne began his career as an actor, graduating from the National Theatre School in 1996. He has appeared on stages across Canada as well as in numerous film and television projects, including The Event and Lucky Girl. Since founding in 1996 Toronto’s Jack in the Black Theatre, Chaz has continued to build upon his theatre career as a writer and producer. His first film projects as writer and director were two half-hour comedies for CBC television: Table Dancer and One Hit Wonder. His first feature film screenplay was produced in 2010 as Poor Boy’s Game, co-written and directed by Clément Virgo and starring Danny Glover. Pushing Up Daisies is Chaz's directorial debut.
Former student of philosophy, Russian studies and film, Marc Bisaillon decided in 1998 to devote himself to screenwriting. He has written the scripts for three feature films, including Les Immortels (2003) and Cowardice (2007). He has also made two short films: SPCE (2002) and Y’en n’a pas comme nous! (2005). In a parallel career, Bisaillson is also a singer-songwriter and composed, with Éric Rathé, the songs and music for Les Immortels. From 1988 to 2003, he was with the now defunct underground group, Les 3/4 Putains. His new group, Léopold Z, produced their first CD, La Joie, in 2005. Cowardice is Bisasillon’s first time directing a feature film.
Larry Di Stefano, born and raised in Vancouver, studied film at Ryerson University and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Dirty Windows, his first short film, premiered at the 1998 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and was bought by The Sundance Channel. His second short, Mr. Reubens Goes To Mars, received the 2000 National Screen Institute Drama Prize. A third short, The Lumière Report, was made in 2001. His films have screened at festivals worldwide, been broadcast throughout North America and are distributed by Big Film Shorts. The screwball romantic comedy Love and Other Dilemmas is Larry’s first feature film.
Alexis Durand-Brault worked as the director of photography for the highly successful, Jutra-nominated film, Elles étaient cinq, directed in 2004 by Ghyslaine Côté. Ma Fille mon ange is Durand-Brault’s first time directing a feature film.
Gabriel Pelletier began directing feature films in 1992 with L’automne sauvage then co-wrote and directed the highly successful Karmina in 1996. La vie après l’amour won Pelletier the 2000 Bobine D’or Award. In 2001, he directed, produced and co-wrote Karmina 2. In 2003 he was associate producer of Sur le seuil and, in 2004, he produced the feature film Les aimants. Pelletier has also directed several television series including: Réseaux, The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and, most recently, Bob Gratton, Ma Vie My Life.
Jennifer Baichwal has been directing and producing documentaries for 14 years. Her films, which include The Life and Times of Paul Bowles and The True Meaning of Pictures, have played all over the world and won awards nationally and internationally. Manufactured Landscapes won the Toronto-City Award for best Canadian feature film at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.
Reginald Harkema's first feature, A Girl Is a Girl, was selected for the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. His second, Better Off In Bed, is a rock documentary featuring The New Pornographers whose release was suppressed by the band. The bicycle revolutionary classic, Monkey Warfare, is his third feature. Harkema came to directing from editing. His credits as editor include Hard Core Logo, Last Night, Fix: The Story of an Addicted City, and Childstar.
Ross Weber is a writer, director and editor. His first feature, No More Monkeys Jumpin’ on the Bed, won Best Western Canadian Feature Film, at the Vancouver International Film Festival (2000). Among the seven feature films he has edited, Last Wedding was nominated for a Genie Award and was the opening gala film of the Toronto International Film Festival (2001). Weber also edited Live Bait, voted Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival (1995), and Various Positions, winner of the Prix de Montréal at the Festival des films du monde (2003). Mount Pleasant is Weber’s second feature film as director and third as writer.
After completing his Bachelor's degree in film studies at Concordia University in the 1980s, Alain DesRochers began his career making music video clips. He then moved into advertising where he has made more than 100 TV ads and has worked at the Montreal-based advertising firm Fabrique d’Images since 1997. For television, he directed several episodes of Tony and Ridley Scott’s The Hunger (1998-99), the series Music Hall I and Music Hall II and, most recently, the first season of Les Bougon: c’est aussi ça la vie. In 2000, DesRochers made his first feature film, La Bouteille, for which he was nominated for a Genie award for best director. Nitro is his second feature film.
Carl Bessai’s first feature film, Johnny, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival of 1999 where it received a special jury citation. His second feature, Lola, premiered at the Toronto festival in 2001 and went on to screenings at the Sundance and Berlin festivals. His 2003 feature, Emile, starring Sir Ian McKellen, also premiered at the Toronto festival and went on to theatrical releases in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. In 2005, he directed Severed, an eco-horror, art-house zombie film, followed by the 2010 feature Unnatural and Accidental, which premiered at the TIFF and went on to win several festival prizes and a Genie award in 2007. Normal is his sixth feature film.
After completing his studies in special education, Alain Chicoine began a brilliant career as television director. Comfortable in all genres, he has directed many TV specials, talk shows and series including the culture show, Fax, that won several Gémeaux prizes in 1994 and 1995. Chicoine has since won many more Gémeaux: in 2002, for Chasse à l’homme, a Radio-Canada reality show; in 2004 for best director and best variety show for Belle et Bum; and in 2005 for his direction of the comedy series Le Coeur a ses raisons. Nos voisins Dhantsu is Chicoine’s first feature film.
Moroccan-born scriptwriter, director and producer Hassan Benjelloun made his first feature film La Fête des autres in 1990, followed by Yarit in 1994, Les amis d’hier in 1997, Les lèvres du silence in 2000 and Jugement d’une femme in 2001. The latter film recounts the situation of women in Morocco and won many festival prizes. His most recent film La chambre noire examines Morocco’s dark period during the 1970s and won the grand prize at the Khouribga African Film Festival, a Silver Yennega Stallion at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, and received a special mention of the Jury at the International Carthage Festival in Tunis.
Clement Virgo is one of Canada’s foremost directors. His first feature film, Rude, had its world premiere at Cannes as an Official Selection in the Un certain regard programme (1995). In television, The Planet of Junior Brown (1997) earned Virgo an Emmy nomination for best direction, and Love Come Down (2000) won three Genie Awards. The recently completed Lie With Me (Toronto and Pusan 2005 and Berlin 2010 film festivals) is a provocative sexual romance that has sold in over 35 territories. Poor Boy’s Game is Virgo’s fourth feature film.
Sascha Drews has written and directed a number of short films and documentaries. Also a composer, Drews scored the award-winning short, The School, and attended the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2005.
Ezra Krybus, winner of the 2003 Kodak Cinematography Award, has directed and photographed several short films including The School that took home top prizes at the Atlantic Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival.
Matthew Miller has written, directed and produced numerous short films including Sundown, Notion and The School, winner of best Canadian short at the Atlantic Film Festival in 2003.
Phil began writing and directing feature films in 2002 when, in collaboration with his close friend and writing partner, Myles Hainsworth, he produced Summer. In 2003, he co-wrote and directed Hatley High, for which he won awards for both best director and best screenplay at the Comedy Arts Festival in the United States. In television, Phil created, the festival, a television series for the Independent Film Channel (U.S.) where, since 2005, he has been head writer, director and co-editor.
Nicolas Roeg is responsible for a number of all-time classics such as Performance, Walkabout, Don't Look Now, Bad Timing, Eureka, Track 29 and The Witches. Puffball is his latest project confirming him still as a true, original voice in modern cinema.
Randall Cole’s first feature, 19 Months, debuted at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2003 and was screened at major festivals in Montreal, Madrid, Philadelphia, Boston, Sedona and Calgary. Cole studied filmmaking at Concordia University in Montreal and at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto. Anderson Unbound, the short film he worked on at the Centre went on to become a festival hit. During that period Cole also wrote and directed several other short films, including The Green and I’m the Man, both made for The Comedy Network.
Amos Kollek has been writing and directing films for more than 20 years. His films include: Teddy Kollek (documentary, 1996), Sue (1997), Fiona (1999, nominated for Grand Special Prize, Deauville American Film Festival), Fast Food, Fast Women (2000, Official selection Cannes IFF), Queenie in Love (2001), Bridget(2002) and All the Way to the Top (2003), starring Audrey Tautou and Justin Theroux. Restless is his 15th feature film.
Laurent Salgues has a master’s degree in audiovisual studies from the École Supérieure d’Audiovisuel, in Toulouse, and went on to specialize in screenwriting at the Conservatoire Européen d’Écriture Audiovisuelle, in Paris, and at the University of California, Los Angeles. Between 1992 and 1996, Salgues directed three short films: Éternité moins cinq, Camilio and La Femme à l’ombrelle. Since 2003, he has been a screenwriter for television and film. Dreams of Dust is his first feature film.
In 2000, while studying at Quebec’s Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS), Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette made her first two documentary films, Sorcières comme les autres et Les Mots bleus. She then made the documentary Buenos Aires, no llores. In 2002, she represented Canada at the United Nation’s Volunteers' Odyssey where seven teams of young reporters had the opportunity to film nearly 50 volunteer sites in the world; Barbeau-Lavalette made 15 short documentaries. Later, in Si j'avais un chapeau, she had poor children from Quebec, India, Tanzania and Palestine create and film their own stories; in Les mains du monde, she presented six people in their quest to overcome solitiude. Le Ring is Barbeau-Lavalette’s first fiction feature film.
Philippe Calderon comes from the world of documentaries. Since 1990, his films have treated scientific, historical and philosophical subjects and include such titles as: La Cité interdite, (2010), De Gaulle et Colombey (2005), La grande histoire du cerveau (2004), Michel Foucault par lui-même (2003) and Retrouver Byzance (2002).
A well-known actor, director, playwright and, for 20 years, teacher at the National Theatre School, Yves Desgagnés, is one of Quebec’s most appreciated artists. In his 30 years in front of and behind the camera, Desgagnés has played in more than 50 plays and shows, in many television series and has acquired a solid reputation as a director. In cinema, he has played in such films as Yves Simoneau’s Pouvoir intime, Jean-Claude Labrecque’s Les Années de rêves, and Denys Arcand’s Les invasions barbares. In 2005, he directed his first feature film, Idole instantanée.
Suzanne Chisholm, born in Quebec and raised in Nova Scotia, holds a master's degree in development economics from Dalhousie University. She co-authored the American version of the book Blame it on the Weather and a chapter in the National Geographic book, Last Wild Places. Chisholm has co-directed and produced more than 20 stories throughout the world for the National Geographic Channel. She produced The Search for the Never Never, about the Australian environment, and Letters from the Forgotten People, about refugees in Tanzania. Saving Luna is Chisholm's first feature-length documentary as director.
London-born Michael Parfit is the author of four books and numerous articles for the magazines National Geographic and Smithsonian. He wrote the award-winning IMAX film Ocean Oasis and co-wrote the IMAX films, Antarctica, and Under Antarctic Ice, for WNET/Nature. He has also co-directed more than 20 stories for the National Geographic Channel and directed The Search for the Never Never, about the Australian environment, and Letters from the Forgotten People, about refugees in Tanzania. Saving Luna is Parfit's first feature-length documentary as director.
Veteran filmmaker Roger Spottiswoode’s film credits include Ripley Under Ground, Spinning Boris, The 6th Day, Tomorrow Never Dies, Mesmer, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Turner & Hooch, Shoot to Kill and Under Fire. In addition to his credits as director, Spottiswoode has been a producer and writer for a number of film and television projects including Noriega: God’s Favourite, Baby... Secret of the Lost Legend, Who’ll Stop the Rain, 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours.
François Girard has distinguished himself as a director for cinema, opera and theatre. His two internationally acclaimed films, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) and The Red Violin (1998) won numerous awards, including for the latter film an Academy Award for Best Original Score. In 1997, he made his debut as an opera director with Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and directed his first play, Novecento by Alessandro Baricco. More recently, Girard directed, for theatre, Franz Kafka’s Le Procès; Michael Gordon, David Lang et Julia Wolfe’s oratorio, Lost Objects, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and Wagner’s Siegfried, for the Canadian Opera Company.
Award-winning filmmaker and high school dropout, Terrance Odette spent 18 years as a printer and hospital orderly. In 1994, he began producing and directing music specials and made more than 100 music videos. With his first feature film Heater (1999), Odette received widespread acclaim, winning nine awards at festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival and the London Film Festival. His second feature, Saint Monica (2002), played successfully at the Toronto, Berlin and Vancouver festivals and won multiple awards including best film at the Sarasota Film Festival. Sleeping Dogs is Odette’s third feature.
Born in Chile in 1948, Patricio Henríquez became his career as a journalist and television producer for the University of Chile. Following the coup d’état on September 11, 1973, he was imprisoned. Upon his release, two months later, he sought exile in Canada. Since January, 1974, Henríquez has lived in Montreal where he works as a documentary filmmaker. In 1995, with Raymonde Provencher and Robert Cornellier, he founded Macumba International, a film production house dedicated to making international documentary films. His films include: Désobéir (2005) and Le côté obscur de la Dame Blanche (2010).
French techno artist Quentin Dupieux, alias Mr. Oizo, first made a name for himself in 1997 with Flat Beat, a house hit that sold more than three million copies and launched Flat Eric, a little, yellow puppet that was quickly adopted as the mascot for Levi jeans. This rapidfire entry into the world of advertising took Dupieux to Britain and the United States where he made advertisements and video clips. In 1999, he published his first album, Analog Worms Attack. At that time, he crossed paths with DJ Laurent Garnier who asked him to direct the short film Nightmare Sandwiches, that included the video clips, Crispy Bacon et The Hoe. In September, 2005, Dupieux brought out a second album, Moustache (Half a Scissor). Steak is his first feature film.
Jeffrey Blatt graduated from York University in Toronto with specialized honours in directing. His thesis film, The Charnel House, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. He then wrote and directed Katie’s Teddy Bears, a public service announcement for organ donations that was broadcast throughout Canada and translated into 10 languages. Blatt then directed the award-winning short film A Tall Tale (2003).
Kari Skogland was named by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the 10 directors to watch after the release in 2002 of Liberty Stands Still, a film she wrote and directed. Earlier feature films include The Size of Watermelons (1996), Men With Guns (1997) and Chicks With Sticks (2004). Her television work includes the successful series Traders and Terminal City that won a Digital Concept Gallery award for best director in 2005. White Lies, a film she made in 1998 for CBC television was nominated for several Gemini’s and an Emmy, and won a Geneva's Cinéma Tout Ecran award.
Charles Martin Smith began in film in front of the camera as one of the young stars in American Graffiti and later played in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and The Untouchables. In 1981, after immigrating to Canada from the United States, he directed his first feature film, Trick or Treat. Subsequent feature films include Air Bud, winner of the 1998 Golden Reel award for highest grossing Canadian feature. For American television, Smith directed the mini-series, Roughing It and Icon. The Snow Walker, which he wrote and directed, was nominated at the 2003 Genie Awards including best picture, best director and best-adapted screenplay.