Benoit Desjardins is an inspiring young producer and a filmmaker from Montreal. He is heading to Cannes Film Festival to promote his new shortfilm, Dr. Diaz, to participate to the Producers Workshop and to find partners to produce one of his feature film project. Inspired by true stories which took place in Quebec and Colombia, Dr. Diaz tells a moving story about immigration, human rights and freedom.
As a filmmaker, Desjardins is concerned with inequalites and is obsessed by the fact that everyone should be borned equal on Earth. He uses this keen interest as inspiration for his work. By telling this story, he hopes to illustrate the lives of many of our neighbors who are immigrants, and whom have escaped from countries experiencing war, in search of a better life.
Shot both in Colombia and in Canada with the support of SODEC and Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Dr. Diaz is the second of Desjardins’ trilogy which focuses on immigration. By participating at the Cannes Film Festival from May 10-21 and promoting his 27-minutes film, Desjardins will pave the way for his first feature film. The Producers workshop of the famous international film festival will allow Desjardins to secure funding for “The displaced”, the continuation of Dr. Diaz.
He will also be attending the showings of Dr. Diaz at the Cannes Short film corner, looking to Premier the film in festivals and sell it to television.
A website where one can learn more about the filmmaker Benoit Desjardins and watch the trailer of “Dr. Diaz” is available at :www.bendesjardins.com
About Benoit Desjardins:
Benoit Desjardins is both an anthropologist and a filmmaker. He lives and works in Montreal, Canada. He graduated from University of Montreal in film studies and he founded, in 2006, Les Productions Perceptions. He has since produced and directed several short films (Gino, 2006; Fishing History, 2008 and Chewing Gum, 2010) with which he won several awards in Quebec and abroad, while participating in numerous international festivals. In 2007, he participated in ‘‘Run write your shor’’ and won the Audience Award with is scenario untitled Welcome Yankee. In 2009, Desjardins represented Quebec at the «Festival international des scénaristes de Bourges» in France, while competing in the marathon of short film writing. In 2012, he co-produced and directed Welcome Yankee, a short film shown in more than 60 festivals, winning 9 awards including the ‘‘Cinematic Achievement Award’’ in Thessaloniki, Greece. Meanwhile, he received two grants form SODEC to write and develop short films scenarios untitled ‘‘Dr. Diaz’’ and ‘‘Il petardo’’. In 2014, with the support from the director residency program of the Montreal Arts Council, Desjardins wrote his first feature film entitled “Il paesano”. Finally, thanks to the support of SODEC, CALQ and NFB, Desjardins produced and directed in 2015, the short film Dr. Diaz. He is currently working on securing funding to produce is first feature film call “The displaced” which is the continuation of Dr. Diaz.