Simon Lavoie

Canadian director and screenwriter whose practice alternates between classic cinema and more experimental works, Simon Lavoie studied cinema at UQAM. From 2003 to 2007, he made several short films, including A White Chapel for which he won a Jutra prize in 2006. In 2008, he wrote and directed his first feature film, the period drama The Deserter, which was a great public success in Quebec. His next film, Laurentia (co-directed with Mathieu Denis), was premiered in Karlovy Vary in 2011, and received awards in London and Saint-Petersburg. In 2012, he presented his third feature film, The Torrent, a poetic drama adaptation of a short story by Anne Hébert that was premiered at the Festival du nouveau cinema in Montreal, to great critical acclaim. In 2015, Simon Lavoie teamed up again with Mathieu Denis for the resounding drama Those Who Make Revolution Halway Only Dig Their Own Graves (Best Canadian Film at TIFF 2016, Special Mention from the Generation Jury at the Berlinale). The following year, he completed his fifth feature film, The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (inspired by Gaétan Soucy's eponymous novel), premiered at TIFF that granted him a Special Mention from the jury for Best Canadian Film. In 2021, he premieres his newest science fiction feature No Trace as the opening night film of the Slamdance Film Festival in wich he received the Grand Jury Awards for Breakouts section. The same year, he's also the screenwriter of Maxime Giroux's new film, the financial thriller Norbourg.