In 2010, after several years teaching at-risk students at a Montreal high school, Melissa directed the documentary Les poings serrés about young people who find hope in the boxing ring (Radio-Canada/RDI). She then co-directed 1 day, 24 hours, 34 million lives, a documentary that highlighted the 70th anniversary of CBC/SRC, and several factual documentaries for the television series Tout le monde dehors! for Télé-Québec. Due to her privileged relationship with teenagers, Mélissa was invited to direct the docudrama series Intimidated (Canal Vie).
Melissa is currently completing production on the multi-platform documentary Police Académie, which follows police officers-in-training (Radio-Canada/RDI 2015) and writing and researching the documentary Ecstasy (Télé-Québec).
Christine Doyon graduated from UQAM’s film program in 2008. Although Christine was first introduced to documentary filmmaking through her studies in Art History and Visual Art, it was Pierre Perreault’s Pour la suite du monde and the work of Agnès Varda that seriously diverted her attention towards documentary filmmaking. Christine started out as an editor before co-directing her first feature length documentary Farewell Dear Lou. Documenting unspoken realities through explorations of the human spirit became the underlying theme of her first two films. Her second film, Welcome to Our Home, gives us a profound insight into the daily lives of people struggling to survive in a small fishing village in New Brunswick. The authenticity, complexity and absurdity of peoples’ different realities has become her point of creative exploration. Christine is currently writing her third documentary, L’envol, about violence in teenagers.
Montreal filmmaker Isabelle Darveau graduated from UQAM's film program in 2008 and went on to edit a dozen short films and feature length documentaries. Isabelle has dedicated herself to independent productions that allow her to develop her narrative voice. Her success as an editor led to the co-direction of her first film, Farewell Dear Lou, an intimate and tender portrait of a couple struggling a losing battle against brain cancer. Isabelle’s second feature, Welcome to Our Home, contrasts a small Acadian village with a massive film production using the town as its backdrop.
Benedict Moran is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker. His work has appeared on VICE News, Al Jazeera, France 24, National Public Radio, and other outlets. From 2010 to 2014, he was a staff producer at Al Jazeera America and Al Jazeera English. Prior to this, he worked in humanitarian aid in various conflict and developing zones in West and East Africa. His recent work has brought him to the Central African Republic, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti, and South Africa, and has traveled to more than 75 countries for work and personal reasons. He has a Masters of International Affairs, and a Masters of Science in Journalism, from Columbia University. Benedict is currently developing Stateless with Les Productions Flow.
Duncan McDowall grew up and lived a little all over the world, but now finally calls Montreal home. He studied History then started off writing in TV and IMAX documentary program development. In 2010 he turned his attention to fiction screenwriting and won the Grand Prix at that year’s “Cours écrire ton court”. He went to direct the short and was screened as part of Talent tout court at the 2012 Cannes Short Film Corner. Duncan has since written and directed 5 more shorts that have screened extensively around the world, but he is most devoted to advancing his 2 feature screenplays (including Prairie Tales), as well as furthering his serialized branded entertainment campaign projects. Duncan also works as a commercial writer/conceptor is an avid runner, and a terrible engineer.
Charles Gervais has spent the past fifteen years directing theatrical documentaries, factual documentaries for television and, most recently, fiction films. Charles is a two-time Gemini Award winner for Best Director, and his feature documentaries include the 2007 Hot Docs hit ¿¡Revolución !? Charles co-directed the Gemini award-winning documentary series Manifeste en série, which was nominated in eight categories. His most recent feature documentary, La part de l'ombre also won two Gemini Awards. In 2014, his first short fiction Collisions opened the Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois and won Best Director at Longue Vue sur le Court Festival.
Following a trip to Honduras, award-winning director and author Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette directed the feature documentary Les Petits princes des bidonvilles (2000). In 2002, she represented Canada at United Nation’s Volunteers' Odyssey, which brought her to travel around the world and shoot 15 short documentaries. Afterwards, she directed more documentaries, including the features Les Mains du Monde (Télé-Québec) and Si j'avais un chapeau (co-directed with Arnaud Bouquet), and documentary feature Tap-Tap, a poetic portrait of Montreal’s Haitian community. In 2008, her first fiction feature, Le Ring (The Fight), is released. Well received by critics, the film received many international awards and was part of the official selection in Pusan and Berlin’s film festivals that same year. In 2009, her documentary Les Petits Géants (co-directed with Émile Proulx-Cloutier) was chosen as the closing night film at the RVCQ and was later theatrically released. She then co-directed short film INA LITOVSKI with André Turpin, and finished her second feature length fiction, Inch'Allah, in 2012. Her latest documentary, Le plancher des vaches (2015 - RDI/Radio-Canada) played at the 2015 RVCQ.
One of the top cinematographers in Canada, André has shot over thirty feature films including Xavier Dolan’s Tom at the Farm and Mommy, and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies. André has also directed several features, including the award-winning Soft Shell Man, and is currently directing Endorphine. André’s work has earned him many nominations and wins at the Canadian Genie and Quebec Jutra awards. He was awarded the Bronze Frog for cinematography on Mommy at Camerimage, and directed the short INA LITOVSKI with Anaïs Barbeau-Lavelette.