Madeleine Sims-Fewer

Madeleine Sims-Fewer is a British-Canadian independent filmmaker and actress.

Personal life Sims-Fewer was born in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada. Her family moved to Bath, England when she was two years old. She attended Kingswood School, Bath where her father was head of Drama. Sims-Fewer studied filmmaking at York University in Toronto. She returned to England to study acting at the Drama Centre London.

Career Acting roles After several shorts, Sims-Fewer made her feature film debut in Operation Avalanche in 2016.

Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer collaborations In 2015, Sims-Fewer met Dusty Mancinelli at the 2015 TIFF Talent Lab. Since 2017, the pair has co-directed several short films in their DM Films joint venture. Their films have been shown at Sundance, TIFF, Telluride, BFI London Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, the Moscow International Film Festival and the Slamdance Film Festival, among others. Their first collaboration, Slap Happy, about a tempestuous relationship, was an official selection at the BFI London Film Festival, Vancouver and Slamdance. Their second collaboration was Woman in Stall, a "claustrophobic thriller" about an encounter in a public restroom between a man and a woman trapped in a cubicle. It won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance festival. Chubby, their third collaboration, was shown at the 2019 Telluride festival. A study of a 10-year-old's experience with sexual abuse, it was described as "harrowing" and would "stay with you long after its credits roll".

Violation

A teaser of their debut feature Violation was shown at the Cannes Marché du Film Online in June 2020. Violation, which is described as "decidedly dark, potentially dangerous and probably deranged" and "flips the revenge genre on its head", was selected for the "Fantastic 7" genre festival initiative to highlight genre films at seven international film festivals. Violation premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival in the "Midnight Madness" program. Critic Mike Crisolago has named it one of 30 films he is already "excited to see." Now Toronto critic Norman Wilner called it "a major levelling up of their signature combination of rage and intensity". The Guardian called it "a brutal and brilliant debut." According to Variety reviewer Tomris Laffley, "Despite some heavy-handed choices, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli pack a profound gut-punch with their debut feature." Violation was a NY Times Critic's Pick, with critic Lena Wilson writing, 'Sims-Fewer is the standout, a quadruple threat whose fearlessness renders a protagonist devolving from a doe-eyed wisecrack to a woman on the verge. She is at her best opposite Maguire, their sisterly dynamic constantly wavering between devotion and competition.'

Sims-Fewer won two Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress and Best Film. She also received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, for Best Actress and the John Dunning Best First Feature Award.

Filmography Film/Series Year Actor Director Writer Notes The Adventures of Ratman 2007 Ellen short Souvenirs from Asia 2007 Art Student short A Stir in the Forest 2008 Miss Simmons ✓ ✓ short Fix Me 2011 Claire ✓ short Blood In 2012 Nikki ✓ short Jess & Maria 2012 Maria ✓ short Rip-Off 2012 Madeleine ✓ short; co-writer Inked 2013 ✓ short; story Red Reflections 2014 Amelia short The Storm at Yellow Creek Farm 2014 Ada ✓ short The Substitute 2015 Miss Byrd ✓ short Foxes 2016 Receptionist short Operation Avalanche 2016 Madeleine feature Emma 2016 Dermatologist short Off-piste 2017 Bernadette feature The Expanse 2017 Refugee woman episode of TV series Cut 2017 ✓ short; co-writer Slap Happy 2017 Joanna ✓ short Rape Card 2018 Frances ✓ ✓ short Woman In Stall 2018 Woman ✓ short The Roots of Men 2018 Dee short Chubby 2019 ✓ ✓ short Violation 2020 Miriam ✓ ✓ feature Honey Bunch 2025 ✓ ✓ feature; BIFF Berlinale Special 2025