Denys Desjardins

Denys Desjardins (born 1966 in Montreal, Quebec), is a film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor and film historian for more than twenty years. After completing studies in literature, film and communications, he directed several acclaimed films.

Desjardins received the Quebec Film Critic award for best short film two years in a row for La Dame aux poupées (The Doll Lady) (1996) and for Boris Lehman, filmmaker (1997), a portrait of Boris Lehman the Belgian filmmaker for whom life is a reason to make films, and making films is a reason for living. He then joined the National Film Board of Canada, where he directed Almanach 1999-2000 and My Eye for a Camera – nominated for a Jutra Award for best documentary in 2003 – as well as Being Human and Rebel with a Camera, which won him the Quebec Film Critic award for best medium-length documentary.

Desjardins has also produced and co-directed the short films Me Bob Robert and Peter and the Penny; the latter received the award for best short fiction film at the 2006 Festival Images en vue. Desjardins’ third feature-length film, The Great Resistance, was nominated for a Jutra Award for best documentary in 2008. His latest documentary (The Private Life of Cinema) follows the path of filmmakers who never gave up on their dream to produce feature-length fictions films and create a Quebec film industry.

as director-screenwriter

• La Dame aux poupées (1996)
• Boris Lehman, filmmaker (1998)
• Almanach 1999-2000 (1999)
• My Eye for a Camera (2001)
• Me Bob Robert (2003)
• Being Human (2005)
• Peter and the Penny (2005)
• Rebels with a Camera (2006)
• The Great Resistance (2007)
• Back to the New World (2008)
• From NFB to Box-Office (2009)
• The Private Life of Cinema (2011)
• Kapadokya (2013)

as producer

• La Dame aux poupées (1996)
• Boris Lehman, filmmaker (1998)
• Me Bob Robert (2003)
• Peter and the Penny (2005)
• Back to the New World (2008)
• From NFB to Box-Office (2009)
• The Private Life of Cinema (2011)
• Kapadokya (2013)
• Mes 7 lieux (2014)
• The War of the Blueberries (2015)

as cinematographer

• Boris Lehman, filmmaker (1998)
• My Eye for a Camera (2001)
• Me Bob Robert (2003)
• Being Human (2005)
• Peter and the Penny (2005)
• The Great Resistance (2007)
• Kapadokya (2013)

• "Being Human/Histoire d'être humain". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 2011-03-18.