Jeff Kopas (born January 23, 1975) is a Canadian writer, film director, and producer.

Early life

Kopas grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and attended high school at

Royal St. George's College Royal St. George's College (RSGC) is an independent school for boys located in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school admits boys from Grades 3 through 12. Founded in 1961 as an Anglican choir school in the tradition of t ...

downtown and then

Trinity College School Trinity College School (TCS) is a co-educational, independent boarding and day school located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. TCS was founded on May 1, 1865, more than two years before Canadian Confederation. It includes a Senior School ...

Port Hope, Ontario Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. ...

. He attended

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

in Kingston and finished University at

Herstmonceux Castle Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the f ...

in England, where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

. After graduating he traveled abroad worked odd jobs until in 2006 he made an hour-long documentary on his climb of

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

and sold it to ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'', his first professional film. He was then accepted into a directing course at New York University’s

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

, after which he completed six short films (his last being the Bravo Film Dogasaur which was short listed to be placed in the Guggenheim museums, and is distributed by Ouat Media and Shorts International). He directed a variety of nationally broadcast commercial spots and completed several more documentaries.

Career

His first feature film was ''

An Insignificant Harvey ''An Insignificant Harvey'' is a 2011 independent Canadian drama film. The film made its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. The feature-length directorial debut by Canadian director Jeff Kopas, the film profile ...

'', in 2011. The film was picked up by Film Movement for US release at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, it is distributed internationally by Shoreline Entertainment, and in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

by KinoSmith. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. and had an extended national theatrical release across Canada that fall. The film was executive produced by Oscar Winning Producer

Don Carmody Donald Carmody (born April 16, 1951) is an American-born Canadian film and television producer. Born in Rhode Island and raised in Montreal, he earned a BA in communication studies from Loyola College, one of Concordia University's founding in ...

(Chicago). He directed his second feature film, the psychological thriller ''Blood Honey'' in 2015, co-written with Douglas Taylor and co-produced with

Robert Budreau Robert Budreau (born January 25, 1974) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer.Greg Colgan, "Ingersoll-raised Hollywood director Robert Budreau to star at Forest City Film Festival". ''Woodstock Sentinel-Review'', September 12, 2019. ...

( Born to Be Blue) in 2015. It was released theatrically in Canada by Northern Banner in the fall of 2017. Super Channel purchased the Canadian broadcast rights and Tricoast Entertainment released the film in the United States in the winter of 2018 with Spotlight Pictures taking the international rights at AFM

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held each year in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance and acquire films. Participants come from more than ...

. To promote the film, he and his team staged a publicity stunt the day of the public premiere at

Dundas Square Dundas may refer to: Places Australia * Dundas, New South Wales * Dundas, Queensland, a locality in the Somerset Region * Dundas, Tasmania * Dundas, Western Australia * Fort Dundas, a settlement in the Northern Territory 1824–1828 * Shire of ...

in downtown

. The stunt involved a twenty-foot inflatable bubble into which they transported four sealed beehives. A beekeeper then opened the hives and over the course of two hours he placed thousands of live bees on a volunteer's entire head (and face), successfully breaking a Guinness record. He is an alumnus of the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

Studio Program 2016 and TAP Trans-Atlantic Partners producing program 2016. In 2017 he began to focus on the creation and development of scripted television, with his first project being a limited series based on the Freedom Riders movement, developed with

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

and the producer of the documentary

Freedom Riders (film) ''Freedom Riders'' is a 2010 American historical documentary film, produced by Firelight Media for PBS American Experience. The film is based in part on the book ''Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice'' by historian Raymond Ars ...

Laurens Grant, which was optioned by Freeform (ABC/Disney) and is currently in development.

Feature filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kopas, Jeff 1975 births Living people Canadian male screenwriters Film producers from Ontario Film directors from Toronto Writers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian male writers