Evan Beloff

Evan Beloff
Born Montreal, Quebec
Nationality Canadian
Occupation film director, writer, producer
Known for Once a Nazi

Evan Beloff is a Canadian film writer, producer, director and production company executive.

Early life

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Beloff graduated from Concordia University with a double major in Playwriting and Theatre. Since then, he has worked as a writer, actor, director, script editor and producer. He has written plays for the theatre and scripts for documentary and film. He is a former researcher, archivist and cameraman for Steven Spielberg's visual history archives of World War II, The Shoah Foundation. Beloff began his film career working for renowned IMAX producer Pietro L. Serapiglia and his company Filmlegend in 1995. In the last decade he has moved into the world of docu-series, mockumentaries , documentary and film writing, directing and production.

1990s

Beloff first attracted attention while still a student at Concordia University. As a member of a group of students who called themselves the Sofar Poets, he participated in a reading of their poems at Café Vilna in Montreal.[1]

In 1998, he and an associate organized Montreal's first Radical Jewish Arts and Performance Festival which they called "Chutzpah". It was inspired by the Radical Jewish Festival in New York. It was held on the McGill University campus and included music, spoken word and even a walking tour.[2]

In 1998, Beloff co-founded the Montreal indie film-house Diversus Productions and in 1999 co-produced the Félix Award-winning music video (Best music video, Quebec) La Vie est Laide for Quebec rock star Jean Leloup.[3]

2000s

In 2000-2001, Beloff served as the Producer and Second Unit Director for the Gemini Award-nominated documentary Too Colorful for the League: A History of Blacks in Hockey for the CBC.[4]

In 2002, he produced, starred in and narrated the festival hit mockumentary Schmelvis: Searching for the King's Jewish Roots (Nodance, HBO Comedy Arts Fest). The film is about a camp Jewish character called Schmelvis created by a Montreal Hasidic Jew named Dan Hartal. His costume comprises a rhinestone-studded white jumpsuit with a large Star of David wrestling-style belt-buckle and a red star-covered cape.[5][6][7]

In 2002 and 2003, Beloff produced, wrote, and directed the nineteen-part documentary series (two seasons) Women Warriors for WTSN, SCN, CBC, Radio Canada and CFCF12/CTV.[8] He also produced an episode of Life & Times for CBC on Canadian poet Irving Layton.[9]

In 2003, Beloff co-produced the reality comedy-documentary Cruising Quebec for Global.[10] He produced, co-wrote and co-directed the mockumentary The Legend of Memphre for Space and City TV.[11]

In 2004, he co-produced Being Osama for CBC's Passionate Eye, RDI and Al Arabiya.[12]

His final documentary project at Diversus was an architecture and travel documentary for Global titled Winter Wonderland: The Making of the Ice Hotel. Beloff wrote, directed and produced the film which is distributed by the National Film Board of Canada and broadcast internationally on such channels as: HBO Europe, Spektrum TV RT Hungary, CPS Czech Republic, TVC Spain, NHK Japan and TV2 in France.[13]

In 2005, Beloff relinquished partnership in Diversus Productions to establish his own company, Ontic Media Inc. and has since written, directed and produced (in collaboration with Bunbury Film's, Academy Award-winning producer Frederic Bohbot) the prize-winning, biopic thriller, Once a Nazi on former Waffen SS soldier turned professor Adalbert Lallier for SCN, CTV, Canal D, CLT, American Public Television / PBS and distributed internationally by the National Film Board of Canada. Once a Nazi was awarded the 2006 J. I Segal Award for Canadian, Jewish-Themed Film of the Year.[14][15][16] In 2007, he co-wrote/produced/directed an update of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch legend titled "Bigfoot's Reflection" for CHUM, City TV, CLT, Space and SCN.[17] As of 2015 "Bigfoot's Reflection" is available for streaming on Netflix.

In 2008, he produced the documentary Quitter le Bercail (Leaving the Fold) by acclaimed director Eric Scott for Radio Canada, Documentary Channel Canada, ABC Australia. It is about two brothers who leave the Montreal Hasidic community.[18][19]

In 2010, Beloff produced the access documentary Burning Water along with Frederic Bohbot's Bunbury Films for CBC's The Lens. The film is directed by Cameron Esler and Tadzio Richards.[20]

In 2010, Beloff also returned to directing with the documentary Underdog Plaza on Quebec Super Welterweight Boxing Champion Dierry Jean for OMNI Television Canada and PBS' World Compass.[21][22]

in 2013 Beloff covered the story of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu, who was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered next to her trailer park home in Tracy, California. "Heaven Beside Us" (aka The Disappearance of Sandra Cantu) was produced by SLV Films and is distributed by Films Transit International. and available at www.Sandracantu.com

On January 25, 2014, Beloff visited Washington, DC, to document Dierry Jean's IBF Junior welterweight title fight vs. Lamont Peterson. The events surrounding the fight would become the central narrative to Beloff's boxing sequel on Jean. Underdog Rises premiered in 2015 on Omni Television in Canada.

In October 2016, Beloff partnered again with producer Frederic Bohbot and his company Bunbury Films to write and direct Kosher Love a feature documentary exploring orthodox and Hassidic relationships in a wired, modern world. Kosher Love premiered on CBC's new documentary strand FIRSTHAND on February 16, 2017.[23] Kosher Love was a finalist for Best Canadian Documentary at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards, March 11, 2018 in Toronto.[24]

As of Fall 2018 Beloff is working on two films. Melodies from Heaven a feature, historical documentary about Montreal's Jewish, cantorial legacy slated for broadcast in March 2019 on PBS and Daughters of the Voice an intimate POV documentary that captures the work of five extraordinary Montreal-based women who have devoted their lives to preserving the sacred music of various religions through teaching and song. It is set for broadcast on September 1, 2018 on the CBC film series Absolutely Quebec / Absolutely Canadian.

Awards and honors

Evan is the recipient of a CTV Producer's Fellowship from the Banff International Television Festival (2000).[25]

Personal life

Beloff is a strict vegetarian.[26]

Credits

Plays

  • The Wait, produced by Vilna Players (1997)[27]
  • Never by Rightime Productions
  • Natural Times , produced by the OK Theatre

Films

  • Too Colorful for the League: A History of Blacks in Hockey (2001)
  • A Red Carpet for the Sun: The Life & Times of Irving Layton (2002)
  • Schmelvis: Searching for the King's Jewish Roots (2002)
  • Winter Wonderland: Making of the Ice Hotel (2003)
  • Being Osama (2004)
  • Cruising Quebec (2004)
  • The Legend of Memphre (2004)
  • Once a Nazi... (Nazi un Jour...) (2006)
  • Bigfoot's Reflection (2007)
  • Quitter le Bercail (Leaving the Fold) (2008)
  • Burning Water (2010)
  • Underdog Plaza (2011)
  • Heaven Beside Us (aka The Disappearance of Sandra Cantu) (2013)
  • Underdog Rises (2015)
  • Kosher Love (2017)
  • Melodies from Heaven (2018)
  • Daughters of the Voice (2018)

Television

  • Life & Times: Irving Layton (2002)
  • Women Warriors (2002–2003)

Music videos

  • La Vie est Laide (1998)

References

  1. ↑ "LITERARY CALENDAR" (28 Mar 1992) The Gazette, Montreal
  2. ↑ "Chutzpah without the bad attitude: Montreal's first `radical' Jewish arts festival is mostly a musical celebration" (8 June 1998) The Gazette, Montreal
  3. ↑ "ADISQ awards to be handed out on Halloween" (8 Sep 1999) The Gazette, Montreal
  4. ↑ Goldman, Julia (2002-06-28). "King Of The Jews". The Jewish Week. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
  5. ↑ "King of kings: The Schmelvis story: Two filmmakers explored Israel and the U.S. South for Elvis's Jewish roots" (28 Feb 2002) The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Ontario
  6. ↑ "The Mensch Connection ; Was Elvis Just a Nice Jewish Goy?" (April 30, 2002) New York Post
  7. ↑ "The Kosher King: In search of Elvis Presley's Jewish roots" (June 2002) beliefnet
  8. ↑ "WOMEN WARRIORS". Telefilm Canada. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
  9. ↑ "IRVING LAYTON: A RED CARPET FOR THE SUN". Telefilm Canada. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
  10. ↑ "Reality TV show cruises Quebec: Documentary follows six Montrealers on RV tour" (10 July 2004) The Gazette, Montreal
  11. ↑ "Moviemakers seek out Memphremagog monster" (22 Oct 2004) The Gazette, Montreal
  12. ↑ "BEING OSAMA". Telefilm Canada. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
  13. ↑ "Winter Wonderland: The Making of the Ice Hotel" (2013-04-08) National Film Board of Canada
  14. ↑ Jewish Public Library Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ "Once a Nazi...: Nazi victim" (September 14, 2006) Hour Community Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ "Ex-soldier who turned confessional about Nazi past leads to accounts from all sides" (September 17, 2006) The Gazette, Montreal Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ↑ "Bohbot tracks Bigfoot" (March 8, 2007) Playback
  18. ↑ "Leaving the Fold is an eye-opening experience" (August 29, 2008) The Gazette, Montreal Archived November 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ↑ "The documentary filmmakers at Bunbury pick their fights and win" (17 Feb 2011) The Gazette, Montreal
  20. ↑ "Burning Water" (2010) Bunbury Films
  21. ↑ "UNDERDOG PLAZA" (2011) Ontic Media Inc.
  22. ↑ "Packing a Punch" (January 6–12, 2011) Montreal Mirror
  23. ↑ {http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/855924291810}
  24. ↑ {http://povmagazine.com/blog/view/2018-canadian-screen-awards-documentary-nominees
  25. ↑ "mfg news / nouvelles du mfg" (February 19th, 2008) Montreal Film Group
  26. ↑ "Famous Vegetarians - Evan Beloff" International Vegetarian Union (IVU)
  27. ↑ "Waiting for Tragedy" (16 June 1997) The Gazette, Montreal

Sources

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