Martin Villeneuve () is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and art director. He was nominated at the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

(formerly

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

) in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay, for '' Mars et Avril'', his feature film debut, and Quebec's first true

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

movie. Villeneuve is the first

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

speaker to come out of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, and he has worked for

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

as an

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

for commercials and films. He is also known for ''

The 12 Tasks of Imelda ''The 12 Tasks of Imelda'' (french: Les 12 travaux d’Imelda) is a Canadian comedy-drama feature film, written, produced and directed by Martin Villeneuve and released in 2022. Based on the last twelve years of Villeneuve’s paternal grandmothe ...

'', his second feature film released in 2022, in which he portrays his own grandmother.

Early life

He studied film production at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

and graphic design at

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québe ...

. In 2002, he received an award from the commercial creativity agency Sid Lee for the quality of his portfolio. In the years that followed, he worked as an artistic director with this agency and created advertising campaigns for several

shows, including ''

Zumanity ''Zumanity'' (zoo-manity) was a resident cabaret-style show by Cirque du Soleil at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, placed into the theatre previously occupied by Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance (musical). The pro ...

'', '' KÀ'' and ''

Corteo Corteo is a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on April 21, 2005. As of May 24, 2005, Cirque du Soleil had broken its record of spectators for the première location in Montreal; more than 200,000 p ...

''. He found the name for these three shows, as well as for

Guy Laliberté Guy Laliberté, (born 2 September 1959) is a Canadian billionaire businessman, and poker player. Along with Gilles Ste-Croix, he is the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil. In January 2018, Laliberté was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 11th wealthiest ...

’s

One Drop Foundation One Drop is an international non-profit organization based in Montreal, created in 2007 by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, which is focused on water initiatives. Arts and culture One Drop uses circus arts, folklore, popular theatre, musi ...

. When the agency (formerly known as Diesel) changed its name in 2006, Villeneuve had the idea for the

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

Sid Lee. He also directed TV commercials for Cirque du Soleil,Cirque du Soleil – Advertising on Vimeo
2003-2013 in addition to music videos and documentary shorts.Martin Villeneuve on IMDb
/ref>

Career

Villeneuve began his career as a writer and graphic artist in 2002. He has created the comic book ''La voix du tonnerre'' (Les 400 coups, 2004), as well as the two graphic novels ''Mars et Avril'' (Sid Lee & la Pastèque, 2002-2006).Festival du nouveau cinéma: ''Mars et Avril'' leaps off the page
article from ''

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

'', October 5, 2012 In 2012, the feature film adaptation of '' Mars et Avril'' which Villeneuve wrote, directed and produced, was brought to the silver screen and released in Canada in Fall 2012. '' Mars et Avril'' toured in 20 international festivals, starting with a world premiere at the 47th

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

, Czech Republic, and received 10 nominations. Martin Villeneuve was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2013

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

, and he also won an Imaging the Future Award at the Neuchâtel International Fantasy Film Festival in Switzerland. On February 27, 2013, Villeneuve gave a TED Talk about '' Mars et Avril'' at

,“Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film”
TED, June 7, 2013 thereby becoming the first (and so far, the only) speaker from Quebec invited to this event that took place in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

.Quebec's first TED Talk
article from Cult Montreal, June 7, 2013 Prior to his talk, the opening sequence of the movie was shown, as well as a three minutes overview of the steps leading from the green screen to the final images. Villeneuve's talk, "How I made an impossible film," was released on TED.com on June 7, 2013, and a month later was added to TED's movie magic list, notably featuring directors

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

and

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...

. His talk has been subtitled in 33 languages and viewed more than a million times. Since then, '' Mars et Avril'' has been sold to the U.S. and is available online.A futuristic tale of fantasy and desire
BULB, December 2, 2013 In 2014, Villeneuve made his acting debut in his short comedy film ''Imelda'', in the role of his paternal grandmother, for which he won three awards, including the Union des Artistes’ Best Actor Award at the 12th ''Prends ça court !'' Gala. In 2016-2017, he directed the first episodes of the second season of ''Real Detective'' for Investigation

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

and

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 fil ...

. On August 3, 2020, a 14-minute documentary about filmmaker Martin Villeneuve was released online. Directed by Jean Benoit, it features interviews with stage director

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

, illustrator

François Schuiten François Schuiten (; born 26 April 1956) is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series '' Les Cités Obscures''. Biography François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "François Sc ...

and filmmaker

Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve (; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) for Best Direction, winning for '' Maelström'' in 2001, '' Polytechnique'' in 2009, ''Incendies ...

.''Once Upon A Time Martin Villeneuve'' (English subtitled) on Vimeo
July 24, 2020 Martin Villeneuve shot two sequels to his short film ''Imelda'', both released in Fall 2020. ''Imelda 2: The Notary'' had its world premiere and opened the

Quebec City Film Festival Quebec City Film Festival (french: Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec) (FCVQ or QCFF) is a film festival held annually in September in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It screens short and feature films and premieres movies from all over the ...

on September 16, 2020, and won the Cinémental Award for Best Canadian Short Film 2020. ''Imelda 3: Simone'' had its world premiere and opened the Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue on October 31, 2020, in front of a real audience despite the Covid crisis. He gave a one-hour storytelling masterclass for Goalcast, which went live on January 7, 2021. Villeneuve's second feature film, ''

'', which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, had its world premiere at the

on September 9, 2022, before going into commercial release in 29 theaters across Quebec on October 28, 2022. It was also screened at the 2022

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

, where it won the award for Best Editing in a

Borsos Competition The Borsos Competition is the main awards program for Canadian feature films screening at the annual Whistler Film Festival. Introduced for the first time in 2004, the juried competition presents six awards annually to honour films, actors, screenpl ...

film. Martin Villeneuve is currently directing the ''

Red Ketchup ''Red Ketchup'' is a Quebec comic book series featuring FBI's crazed rogue agent, Steve "Red" Ketchup. In 2023, Red Ketchup is the centerpiece of an animated series directed by Martin Villeneuve and produced by Sphere Animation. The character Stev ...

'' animated series, based on the eponymous graphic novels. Produced by Sphere Animation, this 20-episode series will air on

Teletoon at Night Teletoon at Night (stylized as TELEToON AT NiGHT and formerly known as Teletoon's Adult Block, The Detour On Teletoon and Teletoon Detour) was a Canadian English language late night programming block that aired on Teletoon, which is owned by Tel ...

and

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

starting in 2023.

Personal life

Martin Villeneuve is the younger brother of filmmaker

. He is in a relationship with Kika Martinez, and they are raising two children.

Selected bibliography

Graphic novels

* ''Mars et Avril, tome 2 : À la poursuite du fantasme'', photo-novel, photography by Yanick Macdonald, Éd. Diesel & la Pastèque, 2006 * ''La voix du tonnerre'', comic book, illustrations by Daniel Svatek, Éd. Les 400 coups, 2004 * ''Mars et Avril, tome 1'', photo-novel, photography by Yanick Macdonald, Éd. Les 400 coups, 2002 (revised version published by Diesel & la Pastèque in 2006)“Mars et Avril” leaps off the pages of graphic novels
BULB, 2002-2006

Selected filmography

* 2022: ''

(Les 12 travaux d’Imelda)'' (feature) * 2020: ''Imelda 3: Simone'' (short) * 2020: ''Imelda 2: The Notary'' (short) * 2020: ''Once Upon A Time Martin Villeneuve'' (documentary short directed by Jean Benoit, featuring interviews with stage director

, illustrator

and filmmaker

) * 2020: ''More of the World'' (music video) * 2019: ''The Crab: Prelude to Aquarica'' (short) * 2016–2017: ''Real Detective'', Season 2 (TV series, 2 episodes) * 2014: ''Imelda'' (short)''Imelda'' on Vimeo with English subtitles
September 8, 2015 * 2013: ''Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film'' (TED Talks) * 2013: ''The Mars & Avril Experience'' (Making of) * 2012: '' Mars et Avril'' / ''Mars and April'' (feature) * 2012: ''

Magic Mike ''Magic Mike'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey. The plot revolves around Adam, a 19-year-old who enters the wor ...

'' * 2011: ''Two Immortals: Prelude to Mars and April'' (short) * 2003–2013:

– Advertising & documentary shorts * 2002: ''Jouisseland'' by

Jean Leloup Jean Leclerc (born May 14, 1961) is a French-speaking Quebecer, Québécois singer-songwriter and author from Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada. He is popularly known as Jean Leloup (which he likes to translate to John the Wolf), a s ...

(music video) * 2000: ''Chrysanthème'' (short)

Awards and mentions

* 2022: ''

'' won the award for Best Editing in a

film at the 2022

. * 2020: Martin Villeneuve won the Cinémental Award for Best Canadian Short Film 2020 for ''Imelda 2: The Notary'', ex æquo with ''Scars'' by Alex Anna. * 2015: Martin Villeneuve won the Union des Artistes’ Best Actor Award at the 12th ''Prends ça court !'' Gala for his role in ''Imelda'', in which he plays his own grandmother. * 2014: ''Imelda'' won Quebec’s Best Short Film Award at Festival Images en vues, as well as a Special Mention from the jury in the category Best Canadian Short Film at the FICFA. * 2013: Martin Villeneuve gave a TED Talk about '' Mars et Avril'' – Quebec's first science fiction film – at TED2013, thereby becoming the first (and so far the only) French Canadian speaker invited to this prestigious event that took place in Long Beach, California. * 2013: '' Mars et Avril'' received nine nominations in Canada (four at the Canadian Screen Awards and five at the Jutra), including one for best adapted screenplay. The film's music, composed by Benoît Charest, won the Felix in the category "Album of the year – original soundtrack" at the ADISQ Gala.Benoît Charest: How music can set you free
BULB, December 2, 2013 * 2012–2013: '' Mars et Avril'' was screened in more than twenty international film festivals among the most prestigious (Karlovy Vary, Mill Valley, FNC Montreal, Mumbai, Whistler, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Sci-Fi London, etc.), and won an Imaging the Future Award at the Neuchâtel International Fantasy Film Festival in Switzerland as well as an honorable mention at the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival for "incredible post-production work." * 2011: Applied Arts Award, category "Advertising Photography – Series" for the exhibition "Dieu(X) Modes d'emploi," at the Musée de la civilisation de Québec. * 2011: Grafika Award, category "Affiche culturelle – série" for the exhibition "Dieu(X) Modes d'emploi," at the Musée de la civilisation de Québec. * 2008: We Love Books: A World Tour , The Best in Independent Publishing and Graphic Design: ''Mars et Avril'' volumes 1 & 2. * 2008: Gutenberg Award, category "Books": ''Mars et Avril'' volume 2. * 2007: Nominee, Lux Award, category "Books": ''Mars et Avril'' volume 2. * 2006: Alcuin Society Book Design Awards, category "Prose Illustrated": ''Mars et Avril'' volume 2. * 2004: Nominee, Bédélys Award: ''La voix du tonnerre''. * 2003: Nominee, Grafika Award, category "Books": ''Mars et Avril'' volume 1. * 2002: Honorable mention, Alcuin Society Book Design Awards, category "Pictorial": ''Mars et Avril'' volume 1. * 2002: UQAM-Diesel Award for the quality of the portfolio. * 2002: He designed film posters, most notoriously the one for ''Québec-Montréal'' showing the pictograph of a moose screwing a car, which earned him the Travelling Laurentides Award for best launching campaign. * 2001: Nominee, Création Vidéo Award, Clermont-Ferrand Vidéo Formes Festival (France): ''Chrysanthème'' (short).

References

External links

* *
Martin Villeneuve
on BULB
Martin Villeneuve
on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

Martin Villeneuve
on Alta-Plana {{DEFAULTSORT:Villeneuve, Martin Living people French Quebecers Canadian screenwriters in French Canadian film producers Film directors from Quebec Male actors from Quebec Science fiction film directors Canadian art directors Canadian male film actors People from Centre-du-Québec Writers from Quebec Concordia University alumni Université du Québec à Montréal alumni Year of birth missing (living people)