Philippe Falardeau (born February 1, 1968 in
Hull,
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 ...
) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Falardeau was born and raised in
Hull, Quebec. He later studied
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...
, before travelling around the world for the Quebec competitive television series ''Course Destination Monde'', on which he emerged as the Grand Prize winner.
Career
2000–2010: Early work
His first feature film, ''
The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (La Moitié gauche du frigo)'' (2000) won Best Canadian First Feature at the
2000 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2000 Toronto International Film Festival, the 25th annual festival, ran from September 7 to September 16, 2000. Along with special events to commemorate the anniversary, there were a total of 330 films screened. There was a special screening of ...
and received a Best Screenplay nomination at the Quebec-based
Jutra Awards.
Falardeau also received the
Claude Jutra Award
The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special Canadian film award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director. Under the earlier names Claude Jutra Award and Ca ...
at the Canadian
Genies (now called
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 ...
), in 2001 for this film.
For his work on his second film, ''
Congorama
'' Congorama '' is a French-Belgian-Canadian film directed by Philippe Falardeau, released in 2006.
Plot
Michel is a Belgian inventor. He cares for his father, a paralysed writer, is married to a Congolese woman and is the father of an interraci ...
'' (2006), Falardeau won a
Genie Award in 2007 for Best Original Screenplay.
2011: Breakthrough with ''Monsieur Lazhar''
Falardeau received much press attention following the release of his 2011 film ''
Monsieur Lazhar
''Monsieur Lazhar'' is a 2011 Canadian French-language drama film directed by Philippe Falardeau and starring Mohamed Saïd Fellag, Sophie Nélisse and Danielle Proulx. Based on ''Bashir Lazhar'', a one-character play by Évelyne de la Chen ...
.'' The film premiered at the
Locarno International Film Festival
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, ...
, where it won the Audience Award and the Variety Piazza Grande Award. It also screened at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
in September 2011, the
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 ...
in December 2011, and selected for the
2012 Sundance Film Festival
The 2012 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 until January 29, 2012 in Park City, Utah.
64 short films were selected for the festival from 7,675 submissions, including 27 international shorts from 3,592 submissions.
Non-competition ...
.
Following a wave of critical acclaim, the film was nominated for
Best Foreign Language Film at the
84th Academy Awards
The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in H ...
,
and also won six Canadian Screen Awards, including
Best Motion Picture. At
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a rating of 97%, based on 110 reviews and an average rating of 8.1/10.
''Monsieur Lazhar'' grossed $2,009,517 in
North America and $4,572,398 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $6,581,915 USD.
Telefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in ...
credited it, along with ''
Incendies'' (2010) and other films, with doubling domestic and worldwide gross on its works in 2011.
2012–present: Further success
In 2014, he directed the film ''
The Good Lie
''The Good Lie'' is a 2014 American drama film written by Margaret Nagle and directed by Philippe Falardeau. The film stars Reese Witherspoon in the title role, Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, and Corey Stoll.
''The Good Lie'' was s ...
'', which stars
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...
and premiered at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert D ...
to positive reviews.
He followed this up with ''
My Internship in Canada'' (2015), which premiered at the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival
The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's '' Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Na ...
.
In 2015, Falardeau directed the film ''
Chuck
Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to:
People
Arts and entertainment
* Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet
* Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer
* C ...
'', which depicts the life of the
heavyweight boxer
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wor ...
Chuck Wepner
Charles Wepner (born February 26, 1939) is an American former professional boxer. He fell just nineteen seconds short of a full fifteen rounds against world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a 1975 championship fight. Wepner also scored notab ...
, played by
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywo ...
, and his 1975 fight with the heavyweight champion,
Muhammad Ali.
The film had its world premiere at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
on September 2, 2016, and was subsequently released on May 5, 2017, by
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...
. The film received positive reviews; on
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 79%, based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.
Falardeau's film ''
My Salinger Year
''My Salinger Year'' (also known as ''My New York Year'') is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based upon the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff. It stars Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Seá ...
'' (2020), starring
Margaret Qualley
Sarah Margaret Qualley (born October 23, 1994) is an American actress and model. A daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, she trained as a ballerina in her youth. She made her acting debut with a minor role in the 2013 drama film ''Palo Alto'', a ...
and
Sigourney Weaver
Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver (; born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. A figure in science fiction and popular culture, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Gramm ...
, opened the
70th Berlin International Film Festival.
Filmography
*''
The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (La Moitié gauche du frigo)'' (2000)
*''
Congorama
'' Congorama '' is a French-Belgian-Canadian film directed by Philippe Falardeau, released in 2006.
Plot
Michel is a Belgian inventor. He cares for his father, a paralysed writer, is married to a Congolese woman and is the father of an interraci ...
'' (2006)
*''
It's Not Me, I Swear! (C'est pas moi, je le jure!)'' (2008)
*''
Monsieur Lazhar
''Monsieur Lazhar'' is a 2011 Canadian French-language drama film directed by Philippe Falardeau and starring Mohamed Saïd Fellag, Sophie Nélisse and Danielle Proulx. Based on ''Bashir Lazhar'', a one-character play by Évelyne de la Chen ...
'' (2011)
*''
In the Name of the Son'' (2012)
*''
The Good Lie
''The Good Lie'' is a 2014 American drama film written by Margaret Nagle and directed by Philippe Falardeau. The film stars Reese Witherspoon in the title role, Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, and Corey Stoll.
''The Good Lie'' was s ...
'' (2013)
*''
My Internship in Canada'' (2015)
*''
Chuck
Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to:
People
Arts and entertainment
* Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet
* Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer
* C ...
'' (2016)
* ''
My Salinger Year
''My Salinger Year'' (also known as ''My New York Year'') is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based upon the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff. It stars Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Seá ...
'' (2020)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falardeau, Philippe
1968 births
Living people
French Quebecers
Film directors from Quebec
Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Canadian screenwriters in French
Writers from Gatineau
Best Director Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Best First Feature Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
21st-century Canadian screenwriters
21st-century Canadian male writers
Canadian male screenwriters
Best Director Jutra and Iris Award winners