Michael Del Monte is a Canadian

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

maker best known for writing and directing the 2017 film ''

Transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

''.

Life and career

Del Monte received a B.A. in philosophy from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

. He completed his master's in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. While on a training camp for the 2012 Olympic Trials, Del Monte got injured. A teammate had a DSLR camera, so Del Monte began making short profile pieces for the popular running website ''Flotrack''. He decided to give

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...

a shot and at a race in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, Del Monte approached 2012 Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir, and asked if he could do a documentary on him. He met who would become his longtime producer and collaborator, Tad Munnings. The documentary, ''Transcend'', was executive produced by Frank Marshall/ The Kennedy Marshall Company and was acquired by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. Del Monte's second feature documentary, ''Transformer'', followed competitive bodybuilder Janae Kroc as she coped with the process of gender transition. The film won several awards at film festivals, including the Hot Docs Audience Award at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Del Monte received the Canadian Emerging Filmmaker award that year as well. The documentary was acquired by Netflix in 2018. In 2019 he directed the television documentary '' Village of the Missing'', an examination of the

2010–2017 Toronto serial homicides Between 2010 and 2017, a total of eight men disappeared from the neighbourhood of Church and Wellesley, the gay village of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The investigation into the disappearances, taken up by two successive police task forces, eventua ...

by Bruce McArthur in Toronto's

Church and Wellesley Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

gay village, for the CBC Television documentary series ''

CBC Docs POV ''CBC Docs POV'' is a Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist ...

''."Doc on Bruce McArthur case, 'Village of the Missing,' to debut on CBC"
''

CityNews ''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone lo ...

'', March 5, 2019. Del Monte's third feature documentary, '' His Name Is Ray'', follows a homeless heroin addict on the streets of Toronto, as he tries to get back on his sailboat.Pat Mullen
"His Name Is Ray Review: Seen from the Other Side"
''

Point of View Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the prono ...

'', May 19, 2021. The film premiered at Hot Docs in 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Del Monte, Michael Living people Canadian documentary film directors Film directors from Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni University of Toronto alumni Year of birth missing (living people)