Biography
Born in Southern France, my family immigrated to Canada when I was a kid. I grew up in Toronto, mostly in low-income housing in the city's west end, alongside other kids from very different backgrounds. I was resourceful and street-smart from the get-go - you had to be as a first-generation immigrant. But I often kept to myself. Introverted by nature, I was constantly making up stories - whether it was tales of pirates that I would write and illustrate, or clever lies to get out of trouble.
After graduating high school, I pursued this passion for story-telling by attending Ryerson University's Film Production program. Over the course of four years, I got the opportunity to write, direct, and produce short narratives and documentaries, culminating in my thesis film Rats, which was showcased in various festivals domestically and internationally. I also got to learn and experience all the different aspects and roles of film and video production.
However, I felt very disillusioned after leaving Ryerson. I didn't feel like I belonged in this industry. I kept working the same low-paying odd jobs that had put me through school - mostly in the service industry and mostly at night. The characters I met then and there were interesting and larger-than-life. They made me feel like I belonged in a way that I had trouble experiencing during film school.
Eventually, an opportunity arrived to direct music videos. I jumped on the project, interested by both the artist and challenge. I found my appetite for film was suddenly renewed, and I became a voracious cinephile. These efforts eventually landed my a job for a broadcaster where I rose through the ranks, starting out as a production coordinator, and moving up to assistant director, then associate director and finally director. I accumulated various experiences in narrative series, live television, corporate videos, documentary series, and promotions.
Today, I am working on my first feature film - a fictional drama titled The World is Theirs. The film centres on the residents of "The Princeton Towers", a low-income housing building in the centre of a big city. It cobbles bits and pieces of their days to paint a portrait of their home. These different characters struggle with the same thing that I have struggled with for a long time (and still continue to): the enormity of having moral agency over their destinies and desires rather than being passive victims of their situations. This project was selected by Main Film, an artist-run centre located in Montreal, for the Telefilm Talent to Watch industry support submission program.
