Cinéfranco 2009 — Guests

Vincent Pluss at

Meet Vincent Pluss after the movie Back For More (2004) Christian Lutz Born in Geneva in 1969. Cinema studies at New York University. Worked for more than ten years as an editor and director in the U.S., China, Germany and Switzerland. Directed and produced fiction cinema as well as films and videos on contemporary dance, theatre and music. In 2000 he became one of the spokespersons of the “Doegmeli” group, which aims “to improve the future of young Swiss cinema” (www.doegmeli.ch). Director of Intermezzo Films with the documentary film-maker Luc Peter, known for his portraits of contemporary artists

Benoit Pilon Tuesday, March 24 at 11:45AM

Meet Benoit Pilon after the movie The Necessities of Life (2008) Sylvain Legar/Montreal World Film Festival 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 (2006), and the television series Réseaux (1998-99). Ce qu’il faut pour vivre is his first fictional feature film. Téléfilm Canada

Stéphane Géhami Friday, March 27 at 7:00PM

Meet Stéphane Géhami after the movie Straight to the heart (2008) Jacques Grenier After cinema studies and few shorts-films, Stéphane Géhami wrote and directed “Au hasard l’amour” a medium-length film of 55 minutes viewed at twenty internationals festivals. He wrote, produced and directed “En Plein Coeur”, his new feature film in a total creative freedom.

Olivier Asselin & Lucille Fluet Saturday, March 28 at 3:45PM

Meet Olivier Asselin & Lucille Fluet after the movie A Sentimental Capitalism (2008) Sylvain Légaré Olivier Asselin has written and directed several feature films including La liberté d'une statue (Ouimet-Molson Award), Le Siège de l’âme (official competition of the Montreal World Film Festival) Maîtres anciens (nominated for Best Drama at the Gémeaux Awards), La Fin de la voix (for Radio-Canada and the cultural channel ArtTV). He is also a professor of art history and film studies at the Université de Montréal.

Stéphan Carpiaux Sunday, March 29 at 5:45PM

Meet Stéphan Carpiaux after the movie Red Ants (2007) Stéphan Carpiaux was born in Belgium in March 1964. After studying photography, he graduated as director in the Institut des Arts de Diffusion (I.A.D) in Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. His student film, “Service Compris” won a price in the Student Film Awards in Los Angeles in 1989. From 1990 to 1998, he has written and directed three other short films including “Week-end” which notably won the Gold Plaque Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. In 2001, he starts up his own production company "Hémisphères Films" in Luxembourg. "Les fourmis rouges" is his first full-lenght feature film as writter and director.

Eve Duranceau Monday, March 30 at 6:30PM

Meet Eve Duranceau after the movie All that she wants (2008) Martial Trezzini

Dominic Desjardins Tuesday, March 31 at 8:45PM

Meet Dominic Desjardins after the movie Robert, Antiquaire (2008) Director, Producer, script-writer and actor, Dominic graduated from the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique de Paris. In 1997, he participates to the race “Destination Monde”: he directs, produces and shoots 18 short documentaries within 11 countries. He worked as documentaries’ director for the show “Culture Choc” (Newsworld, RDI) and as feature film director for VOLT (TFO/TVO) and “Fais ça court” (Télé-Québec). He co-directed 5 shorts-films that won an award from the public and the judges at the show “Fais ça court” (Télé-Québec). He’s a member of the Independent Directors' Front of Canada (FRIC).

Andréanne Germain Tuesday, March 31 at 8:45PM

Meet Andréanne Germain after the movie Pis nous autres dans tout ça (2007) Graduate from Ryerson University of Toronto, Andranne Germain works as a translator at University of Ottawa. Laureate of the Tremplin Contest, she’s already directed 2 documentary movies. Andréanne Germain is a young Franco-Ontarian who wants to sensitize Quebecers to the fact of francophones outside Quebec. Pis nous autre dans tout ça? (So where do we come in?) is the question she asks of young revellers on St. Jean Baptiste Day.

Thierry Bouffard Tuesday, March 31 at 8:45PM

Meet Thierry Bouffard after the movie Pourquoi on le fait? (2007)

Dominic Goyer Thursday, April 2 at 6:30PM

Meet Dominic Goyer after the movie Une robe blanche (2007)

Yan England Thursday, April 2 at 6:30PM

Meet Yan England after the movie Moi (2007)

Luc Picard Thursday, April 2 at 8:30PM

Meet Luc Picard after the movie Babine (2008) David Ospina Luc Picard is a French Canadian actor and comedian. He was born on September 24, 1961 in Lachine, Quebec, Canada. He has played numerous characters in diverse roles. He is most commonly known for his portrayal of the infamous Michel Chartrand in the biographical TV series Simmone et Chartrand, where he was nominated for Gemini Awards. He stars in the critically acclaimed French film Un dimanche a Kigali. Luc Picard is a stage, film and television actor who has added directing to his ample basket of abilities. He graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal in 1988. He was given a Genie for his work in Savage Messiah and has won a Prix Gemeaux for his work in television in 1996, 1998 and 2000. UPDATE: Film director Luc Picard will not be in Toronto

Omar Chraïbi Saturday, April 4 at 1:00PM

Meet Omar Chraïbi after the movie Hands And Cloth (2007) Omar Chraibi was born in Casablanca, Morocco on April 22, 1961. He studied photography at the ICADI in Belgium and literature in Casablanca. In France, he obtained a masters degree in communication’s sciences and techniques at Grenoble, and then a degree in advanced cinema studies in Paris and got his training at FEMIS. He started working as an assistant director to several imporant filmmakers (Derkaoui, Lagtaâ, Noury, Ferhati and his brother Saâd) before he directed his first three short movies. “The man who embroided secrets» is his first feature, he co-writes with the Poet Mourad Kheireddine. He also co-writes with his friend Hicham Lasri “Rahma” Then he shoots « Hands and Cloth»,written by Hicham Lasri.??He also produces many short movies, movies for TV and writes and shoots many humoristic programs for the Moroccan Television.

Lahcen Zinoun Saturday, April 4 at 3:00PM

Meet Lahcen Zinoun after the movie The Lost Beauty (2007) He was born in Casablanca in 1944. In 1964, he won the first prize as the best dancer at the Conservatoire of Casablanca and since then has had a career as dancer and choreographer. In 1978, he created a dance school and the "Ballet-Théâtre Zinoun" dance company. In 1986, he founded the Troupe Nationale des arts traditionnels under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture. He has choreographed many films, including The Sheltering Sky by Bertolucci and The Last Temptation of Christ by Scorsese. Between 1991 and 2003, he made some short films. Oud l’Ward is his debut feature film.

Fabien Onteniente Saturday, April 4 at 8:00PM

Meet Fabien Onteniente after the movie Disco (2008) UPDATE: Film director Fabien Onteniente will not be in Toronto

Véra Belmont Sunday, April 5 at 1:00PM

Meet Véra Belmont after the movie Surviving With Wolves (2008)