Denyse Benoît

Denyse Benoit is a Canadian actress, director and screenwriter from Montreal, Quebec. She is mostly known for La Crue, La belle Apparence (1979) and Le dernier Havre (1986).

Early life and education Denyse Benoit was born on June 28, 1949, in Sainte-Dorothée, Quebec, Canada. She studied painting and sculpture from 1966 to 1968 at the School of Fine Arts in Montreal. After finishing her two years of university studies in Quebec, she moved to Belgium to continue to broaden her education. She studied at the Institute des arts de diffusion in Brussels. During those three years of studying she broadened her knowledge in multiple mediums associated to the arts. She took classes such as mass media, literature history, theater history, music, text manipulations, vocal expression, and text analysis. After this internship she decided to continue working as a stage director for a while in Europe. In Belgium she took part in shows designed for children as an actress, host and stage director.

Career Back in Quebec she taught theatre and did cultural animation in Gaspésie and Montreal. At that time she already had written multiple scenarios such as La rué verte, Un instant près d’elle, Les sourires passagers, and Jeux de relations. In 1973 she wrote and directed her first short film Coup d'œil blanc (1973) and in 1974 she wrote her second one Un instant près d’elle (1974).

In 1979 she directed, wrote and produced her first feature-length film La belle apparence (1979). Her film was selected in multiple festivals in Montreal and in France. At that time, French people did not know much about Quebec cinema and the film was an eye opening experience for them. In 1980 she wrote a script for an RTBF documentary named L’Étiquette (1980) that was directed by Manu Simon. In 1986 she wrote and directed her second feature-length film Le dernier havre, which is an adaptation of Yves Thériault’s book of the same name. The film is about the last days of an old fisherman's life and was filmed in the Baies des chaleurs. It won the Public Prize of the seven-day festival of Hull-Ottawa cinema.

In 1986 she gave birth to her son and decided to concentrate her time on writing scripts. In 1991 she came back and wrote and directed a docudrama named Two Thieves (1991), which was about a Montreal sculptor and was presented on CBC Toronto. In 2003 to 2004 she wrote and directed a feature-length drama film named Le Secret de Cyndia, which was produced by Daniel Morin in Video format with an extremely low budget. During this time she also co-wrote another feature-length film named Station Nord, a Christmas story.

Important position From 1976 to 1990 she was the vice-president and treasurer of the Quebec directors association.

Filmography Short film Selected in multiple international festivals

Feature film