François Girard
François Girard (1963) is a screenwriter and film director, as well as an opera and theater director born in Saint-Félicien. He studied music and communications before embarking on a career as a video artist in the 1980s, working on music videos and commercials. He co-founded the company Zone Productions with Bruno Jobin in 1984, and made short fiction films that earned him his first festival selections, including Distance (1984, First Prize at Vancouver’s Under Fire Festival), Le Train (1985, Best Editing Award at Geneva’s Première semaine internationale de vidéo) and Neprespana Noc (1986, Best Production Award at the Festival Vidéo CD 85).
In 1993, his second feature film, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, was an international success. Five years later, The Red Violin (1998) won the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film and the Oscar for Best Original Score. In 2018, Hochelaga, Land of Souls represents Canada in the Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film.
His work is shown around the world, winning hundreds of awards. In parallel of his career in cinema, François Girard is a director for numerous shows for opera, theater and circus. [Source: VOX, 2025].
