Sept. 24 - 30, 2024


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DANIELLE CHAMPOUX – PRESIDENT

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration specializing in Finance from UQAM, Danielle Champoux began her career working as a chief accountant on major Canadian civil engineering projects overseas. After that, she joined the film industry through advertising and documentaries, television series and fiction feature films. Danielle is a freelance producer and production manager. Recently, she was the production manager on the set of SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL and the line producer on the set of UN DIMANCHE À KIGALI. Together with Rock Demers, she also produced the film MADAME BROUETTE. Danielle specializes in overseas film shoots, particularly in African countries.

 

DANNY BLANCO-HALL

Danny Blanco-Hall was born in Montreal. He spent the first few years of his childhood in the U.S., and then returned to live in Quebec. After completing his studies, he made his debut on the music scene with an R&B band at a Montreal funk club called “CHECKERS.” Then, in 1998, he made his debut in the world of theatre, getting one of the first roles in the musical comedy RENT, which debuted in Toronto. This introduced him to a new career as an actor and, when he got back to Montreal, he set about working on numerous American and Canadian projects in film, television and even animation. His expansion into the francophone arena has helped him get roles on television series such as TEMPS-DUR and LES HAUTS ET LES BAS DE SOPHIE PAQUIN.

 

MARYSE LEGAGNEUR

Maryse Legagneur joined La Course Destination Monde in 1998-1999 for which she won the most prestigious awards: Caméra d’Or, Prix du public and Prix Téléfilm Canada. This is how she began her career as a television director (BANDEAPART.TV, Culture Chock, Gang de Rue, Une Pilule une Petite Granule and Voix Humaines). In collaboration with the NFB, her first feature documentary film entitled Au nom de la mère et du fils won the Claude Jutras Award in the winter of 2006 as part of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois. In October 2006, Madame magazine named her one of the “10 women who are shaking up today’s Quebec.” She has collaborated on and initiated several social projects, particularly in the St-Michel district (in collaboration with the TOHU, the Cirque du Soleil, Vidéo Paradiso and Wapikoni).

 

MICHEL ZGARKA

Mr. Zgarka has over 30 years of experience in the fields of film, television and sound production and distribution. He is a graduate of McGill University with a degree in Education, has a Bachelor of Arts from Sir George Williams University, and has done post-graduate studies in International Communications in France. Michel oversees national and international development and sales at iSTUDIO Cinema Television. He has been a guest speaker at over 20 international entertainment industry events, and was recently Jury Co-President of the Rocky Awards at the Banff TV Festival (2009). He also recently created an entire program in a Quebec-based career college that prepares students for technical and creative jobs in production.

 

JEAN-FRANÇOIS MEAN

Jean-Francois Méan is a filmmaker from Montreal of Swiss and African-American extraction. He graduated from Concordia University’s School of Cinema in 2004, and has been making one documentary after another ever since, interspersing his long-term projects with the production of provocative short fiction films that tell it like it is. His next documentary, Black and White, will be broadcast on TV5 in the fall of 2010.

 

PIERRE NOREAU

Pierre Noreau has a Master’s degree in Psychology and works as a psychologist in a private clinic where he has been offering assessment, psychotherapy and rehabilitation services to a varied clientele for some ten years. Since his childhood, he has been interested in different cultures, and this interest later led him to take numerous trips to foreign lands. A film buff for many years, he cultivated a special interest in repertory and foreign films. Because of his love of black culture, his brilliant analytical and critical skills, and his remarkable self-discipline, he has often been invited to sit on the Jury of the Montreal International Black Film Festival.

 

 

NADIA ROUSSEAU – PRESIDENT


Journalist Nadia Rousseau was recently a Senior Diversity Adviser at Radio-Canada. With a French mother and a Haitian father, she is a mix of two continents and a melting pot of cultural richness. Her volunteer commitments also indicate that she questions public awareness of the contributions made by groups under-represented in the economic and cultural life of Quebec. She is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Black History Month Round Table and a member of the Board of Directors of Diversité Artistique de Montréal.

 

BENZ ANTOINE

Born in Montreal, Benz Antoine has already made 75 film and television appearances. Benz enrolled at Concordia University intent on a career in Economics, which quickly turned into Philosophy. In 1993, while reluctantly accompanying his then girlfriend to an audition, he was coaxed into reading for a role as a businessman in a corporate video. The rapper quickly turned actor and he hasn’t looked back since. He made his first big screen appearance in Romeo Must Die as the Crabman. Since then, he has appeared in the blockbuster hits Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Four Brothers, the critically acclaimed, I’m Not There, and most recently, Death Race!

 

BENOIT DUBOIS

With a B.A. specializing in Theatre from the University of Ottawa, Benoît Dubois has more than 20 years of experience under his belt in the areas of theatre, regional development and occupational training. He is the founder of Théâtre Biscuit and was its artistic coordinator from 1990 to 1997. He then moved on to take up the position of development agent at the Conseil régional de développement de l’Île de Montréal, where he coordinated the implementation of the “Festivals Montréal” network. In 2003, he was recruited by both the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec and the Alliance québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son to implement the Regroupement pour la formation en audiovisuel du Québec. Since August 28, 2006, he has been the director of the continuing occupational training department. He is the originator of the Espresso series at INIS.