30 greatest canadian film director of all time
by morissetfrederic | created - 20 Apr 2019 | updated - 17 Feb 2023 | PublicRanking criterion: average rating critical "sens critique"and "imdb" of the 4 best films and/or series
1. Michel Brault
Cinematographer | Pour la suite du monde
Michel Brault was born on June 25, 1928 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Of Whales, the Moon, and Men (1963), Orders (1974) and Threshold (1981). He died on September 21, 2013 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
and Pierre PERRAULT
2. Denis Villeneuve
Director | Dune: Part One
Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), ...
3. David Cronenberg
Actor | The Fly
David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...
4. Claude Jutra
Director | Mon oncle Antoine
He finished his medical studies at the age of 22 to please his parents, but he was already developing an attraction to the visual arts and to cinema. As a teenager, he had made two shorts with Michel Brault. In 1953, he wrote a television script. He joined the Office national du film du Canada (...
5. James Cameron
Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water
James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...
6. Frédéric Back
Art_department | L'homme qui plantait des arbres
Frédéric Back was born on April 8, 1924 in Saarbrücken, Germany. He was a director, known for The Man Who Planted Trees (1987), Crac (1980) and The Mighty River (1993). He was married to Ghylaine Paquin. He died on December 24, 2013 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
7. Guy Maddin
Director | The Heart of the World
Guy Maddin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Herdis Maddin (a hair-dresser) and Charles "Chas" Maddin (grain clerk and general manager of the Maroons, a Winnipeg hockey team). Maddin studied economics at the University of Winnipeg, working as a bank manager, house painter, and photographic...
8. Norman Jewison
Director | Jesus Christ Superstar
Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...
9. Allan King
Director | Dying at Grace
Allan King was born on February 6, 1930 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was a director and producer, known for Dying at Grace (2003), Warrendale (1967) and Avonlea (1990). He was married to Colleen Murphy. He died on June 15, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
10. Xavier Dolan
Actor | J'ai tué ma mère
Xavier Dolan was born on March 20, 1989 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for I Killed My Mother (2009), Tom at the Farm (2013) and Heartbeats (2010).
11. Denys Arcand
Writer | Les invasions barbares
One of Québec's most politically aware filmmakers, Denys Arcand studied history at Université de Montréal, where he co-directed Seul ou avec d'autres (1962) with Denis Héroux and co-written with Stéphane Venne. He joined the National Film Board (NFB) in 1963, where his feature-length documentary on...
12. Atom Egoyan
Director | The Sweet Hereafter
Born in Egypt to Armenian parents, he was raised in Western Canada. Both his parents were painters, and he planned to be a playwright, but after making a short film, he became hooked on telling stories visually. Returned to ethnic "homeland" when he filmed Calendar (1993) in Armenia. Won attention ...
13. Michelle MacLaren
Producer | Breaking Bad
Michelle MacLaren was born in Canada. Michelle is a producer and director, known for Breaking Bad (2008), Game of Thrones (2011) and Shining Girls (2022).
14. François Létourneau
Actor | Cheech
François Létourneau was born in 1974 in Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada. He is an actor and writer, known for Cheech (2006), Les invincibles (2009) and Série Noire (2014).
and JEAN FRANCOIS RIVARD
15. Dean DeBlois
Writer | Lilo & Stitch
Dean DeBlois is a Canadian writer, director, and producer known best for having co-written and co-directed Disney's Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon (2010), both Oscar nominated. While working as an assistant animator and layout artist for Hinton Animation Studios ...
16. Rob Stewart
Director | Sharkwater
Rob Stewart is an award-winning biologist, photographer, conservationist and filmmaker. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Stewart began photographing underwater when he was 13. By the age of 18 he became a scuba instructor and then moved on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, ...
17. Norman McLaren
Producer | Neighbours
Norman McLaren is one of the most awarded filmmakers in the history of Canadian cinema, and a pioneer in both animation and filmmaking. Born in Scotland, he entered the Glasgow School of Fine Arts in 1932 to study set design. His early experiments in animation included actually scratching and ...
18. Jean-Marc Vallée
Director | C.R.A.Z.Y.
Jean-Marc Vallée was a Canadian filmmaker, editor and screenwriter from Montreal. He directed Black List, C.R.A.Z.Y., The Young Victoria, Wild, Dallas Buyers Club, Los Locos, Loser Love and Café de Flore. He also created the HBO shows Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects. He was married to Chantal ...
19. Philippe Falardeau
Director | The Good Lie
After studying Canadian politics and international relations, Philippe Falardeau was chosen in 1993 as a contestant for the popular TV series La course destination monde (1988) (a contest were the participants tour the world making short films). There, he shot 20 films and ended up winning the race...
20. Deepa Mehta
Director | Fire
Deepa Mehta is a transnational artist and a screenwriter, director, and producer whose work has been called "courageous", "provocative" and "breathtaking". Her visually lush and emotionally resonating films have played at every major international film festival; receiving numerous awards and ...
21. Sarah Polley
Actress | My Life Without Me
Sarah Polley is an actress and director renowned in her native Canada for her political activism. Blessed with an extremely expressive face that enables directors to minimize dialog due to her uncanny ability to suggest a character's thoughts, Polley has become a favorite of critics for her ...
22. Jason Reitman
Producer | Up in the Air
Jason Reitman is a Canadian filmmaker and producer who notably directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Young Adult and Tully. He produced Chloe and Jennifer's Body, two films that advanced Amanda Seyfried's career for adult oriented roles. He is the son of Ivan...
23. Peter Mettler
Cinematographer | The Top of His Head
Peter Mettler was born on September 7, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a cinematographer and director who is known as an influential member of the 1980s Toronto New Wave. He is best known for his innovative documentaries Picture of Light (1994), Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002), and The End Of...
24. Molly Dineen
Director | The Lie of the Land
Molly Dineen was born in 1959 in Canada. She is a director and cinematographer, known for The Lie of the Land (2007), The Ark (1993) and Forty Minutes (1981). She has been married to William Sieghart since 1996. They have three children.
25. Jules Falardeau
Director | Gaetan
Jules Falardeau is known for Gaetan (2014), Reggie Chartrand, patriote québécois (2010) and Journal de Bolivie: 50 ans après la mort du Che (2019).
26. Alanis Obomsawin
Director | Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
Alanis Obomsawin was born on August 31, 1932 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), Waban-aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) and Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002).
27. Andre Dupuis
Cinematographer | Descending
Andre Dupuis was born June 4th, 1980 in Ontario, Canada. He found his passion behind the camera early on and by the age of 19 was working as a camera operator for a Canadian Travel show called Don't Forget your Passport (1999 - 2002). Inspired by his adventures around the world, Andre went on to ...
28. Theodore Ushev
Director | Phi 1.618
Theodore Ushev was born in Bulgaria and earned a master's degree in graphic and poster design at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia in 1995. He taught there for several years before moving to Canada in 1999. He works in multimedia, illustration, animation and has exhibited his posters in ...
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