Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
. He is
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
, and many of the films he has worked on or directed touch upon the topic of being transgender. He is currently based 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 ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. He has worked on films in both French and English.
Biography
Rémy Huberdeau (born 1979) was born and raised in the primarily French-speaking neighbourhood of
Saint Boniface
Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...
in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, Canada. For his post-secondary education, he studied at the nearby
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba. He is
Franco-Manitoban
Franco-Manitobans (french: Franco-Manitobains) are French Canadians or Canadian francophones living in the province of Manitoba. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 40,975 residents of the province stated that French was their mother tongue. In ...
. After university, Huberdeau moved to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
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 ...
Huberdeau focuses his film-making on the documentary genre. His directorial debut, ''Love letter to Saint-Boniface'' (2002), is an
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
short documentary film about his hometown, and the
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
he has experienced there. He directed this film when he was just 21 years old with the help of Video Pool, a non-profit film co-operative based in Winnipeg. Years later, Huberdeau released another experimental short documentary film, ''Home of the Buffalo (Au pays des esprits)'', in 2009, the same year he graduated from INIS. The school was involved in the making of this film, as it originated from a school-related exercise. This film has been categorised as a visual letter from Huberdeau to his father, while also combining archival photographs of working-class people from the 1920s.
In 2010, Huberdeau worked as an editor on a documentary about the residential school system in Canada, titled ''Courage to Remember: Stories of our Labrador Residential School Experience''.
In 2013, Huberdeau released his most well-known film, a forty-six minute documentary titled ''Transgender Parents''. As its title suggests, this film revolves around a few transgender people and how they raise their children, how they may differ from society's expectations, and their children's reactions to their transitions. He became involved with making this film after meeting Rachel Epstein, a co-founder of the Dykes Planning Tikes program in Toronto.