Rodrigue Jean

Rodrigue Jean (born in Caraquet, New Brunswick) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and producer of Acadian origin. He has been a theatre director, dancer and choreographer.

Life and work While pursuing university studies, he developed in the 1980s a practice as a dancer and choreographer. In 1986, he went to Japan to train with Tanaka Min. With Tedi Tafel (choreography and performance), Jacques Perron (photography) and Monique Jean (music), he founded Les Productions de l'Os in 1986. A series of performances resulted from this collaboration, which culminated in 1989 with the creation of his first choreographed short film, La déroute.

In 1995, he directed a documentary, La voix des rivières, on Acadians of New-Brunswick, with the support of the National Film Board in Acadia, as well as two short fiction films, La mémoire de l'eau (1996), and L'appel/Call Waiting (1998).

Rodrigue Jean then directed three award-winning feature films: the Acadian trilogy Full Blast (1999), Yellowknife (2001) and Lost Song (2008), that earned him the recognition of critics and made his name as a leading filmmaker. In 2005, with the documentary Living on the Edge, he celebrated the work of the Acadian poet Gérald Leblanc.

During a stay in London in the early 1990s, he worked as a theatre director. He also organised video workshops at Streetwise Youth, a sex worker centre in London (1991–1998). Between 2005 and 2007, after several decades trying to fund this project, he directed the documentary Men for Sale, offering a striking portrait of sex workers in downtown Montreal.

This collective work, composed of documentaries and fiction films, led to the creation of the installation L'État des lieux (2012), and two feature films, L'État du moment (2012) and L'État du monde (2012).

Installations

2012: L'état des lieux — Épopée Group 2016: Fraction — Épopée Group 2018: Sheri Pranteau: Undisappeared — Épopée Group

Stage direction

1991: Wolf Boy by Brad Fraser 1992: Antony and Cleopatra 1993: Romeo and Juliet 1993: Macbeth 1993: The Ei (from Funeral Rites by Jean Genet) 1994: The Eve (from Funeral Rites by Jean Genet)

Choreography and performance

1985: Spirit 1 1985: Duet for One Man and One Woman 1985: Horse 1985: Untitled 1985: Oh No 1986: Étude 1 1986: Spirit 11 1986: Spirit 111 1987: Études 1987: Les Paroles de l’autre 1987: Places Are the Only Things You Can Trust 1998: Passages 1998: Travail inintéressant

Retrospectives

2009: Festival d'Avignon, France 2012: Cinémathèque québécoise, Canada

Awards 1995: La Voix des rivières, Telefilm Canada Prize for Best Medium-Length Canadian film, Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA) 1996: La mémoire de l’eau, Best Documentary, Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia 1999: Full Blast, Special Jury Citation for the Best Canadian First Feature Film Award, Toronto International Film Festival 2002: Yellowknife, Critic's Choice for Best Québec Film, Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC) 2008: Lost Song, Best Canadian Feature Film, Toronto International Film Festival