John L'Ecuyer (born November 15, 1964) is a Canadian film and television director.

Biography

Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, L'Ecuyer later moved and studied at

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham. His brother

Gerald L'Ecuyer Gerald L'Ecuyer (born 1959) is a Canadian film and television director. L'Ecuyer was born in Montreal. He studied at Marianopolis College in Montreal, before going to New York City, where he studied at the New School and worked for Andy Warhol's ...

is also a film and television director. L'Ecuyer's first feature, '' Curtis's Charm'' (1995), based on a short story by

Jim Carroll James Dennis Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an American author, poet, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work '' The Basketball Diaries'', which inspired a 1995 film of the same title ...

, starred

Maurice Dean Wint Maurice Dean Wint (born 1 May 1964) is a British-born Canadian actor who has starred in both films and television series. Life and career Wint was born in Leicestershire, England, and moved to Canada in 1967 with his family. He began his acting ...

as Curtis, a

paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...

drug addict who believes his mother-in-law has cast a

voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * West African Vodún, a religion practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

spell on him, which has resulted in his being stalked by a killer

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

. It was shot on

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

. The film, executive produced by

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...

and Patricia Rozema, premiered at the

1995 Toronto International Film Festival The 20th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 7 and September 16, 1995. '' The Confessional'' by Robert Lepage was selected as the opening film and '' Devil in a Blue Dress'' by Carl F ...

, where it received a special jury citation as Best Canadian Feature Film. Also at TIFF that year, L'Ecuyer's short film '' Use Once and Destroy'' (1995) received another special jury citation at the festival, for Best Canadian Short Film. The short film was based on his own book, titled ''UseOnceAndDestroy'', which was published in 1998 by Gutter Press. L'Ecuyer's other feature film credits include ''

Saint Jude Jude the Apostle (Ancient Greek: Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou Syriac/Aramaic: ܝܗܘܕܐ translit. Yahwada) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Tha ...

'' and ''

On the Verge of a Fever ''On the Verge of a Fever'' () is a 2004 Canadian drama film, directed by John L'Écuyer. Plot An adaptation of Dany Laferrière's novel ''Dining with the Dictator (Le Goût des jeunes filles)'', the film is set in Haiti over the weekend in 197 ...

'', both of which premiered at TIFF. His feature documentary, ''Confessions of a Rabid Dog'', won Best Social Documentary at

HotDocs HotDocs is a document automation (also known as document generation or document assembly) software company currently owned by Mitratech. Version 1.0 of HotDocs was introduced in 1993. Description HotDocs transforms documents and graphical (PDF) ...

. In 1999, '' Playback'' called him "one of the country’s top dramatic directors." Since the 2000s, L'Ecuyer has worked primarily in television. His television work includes dozens of popular series such as ''

ReGenesis ''ReGenesis'' is a Canadian science-fiction television series produced by The Movie Network and Movie Central in conjunction with Shaftesbury Films. The series, which ran for four seasons from 2004 to 2008, revolves around the scientists of Nor ...

'' and ''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...

'', and he has also directed over a dozen made-for-television films.

Filmography

Film

Short film Feature film

Television

TV movies * '' Tagged: The Jonathan Wamback Story'' (2001) * ''Choice: The

Henry Morgentaler Henekh "Henry" Morgentaler (March 19, 1923 – May 29, 2013), was a Polish-born Canadian physician, and abortion rights advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada. As a Jewish youth during World War ...

Story'' (2003) * '' Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story'' (2004) * '' Under the Dragon's Tail'' (2005) * '' In God's Country'' (2007) * ''The Good Times are Killing Me'' (2008) * ''The Riverbank'' (2012) * ''Sorority Surrogate'' (2013) * ''My Daughter's Nightmare'' (2013) * ''Early Release'' (2016) * '' Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation'' (2023)

References

External links

*
Northern Stars
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:L'Ecuyer, John 1964 births Living people 20th-century Canadian male writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian male screenwriters Canadian television directors Film directors from Montreal Screenwriters from Quebec Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Writers from Montreal