Sophie Deraspe

In 2006 Sophie Deraspe finished her first independent feature, the confounding Missing Victor Pellerin, which was awarded a Special Jury Mention (International competition) at the Montreal Festival of New Cinema.

A filmic investigation of a mysterious painter who has gone missing, the film screened at the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and in some twenty national and international festivals. At home, it was the opening night film at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in Québec city – and later at the Quebec Film Week in San Francisco. The film received national distribution in Canada and screened theatrically in New York in 2007.

According to the eminent critic Marcel Jean (now director of the Cinémathèque québécoise) in the magazine 24 images (no 129): “The screenwriter, editor, camerawoman and actress of Missing Victor Pellerin, Sophie Deraspe plunges headlong in this unclassifiable debut feature film whose point of view – of significant resonance – essentially poses the question of appearances: it presents the world as a vast hoax in which Victor Pellerin's project can be viewed as scandalous in that it lifts the curtain on a corner of this vast fraud. The result is promising, filmmakers who, from their very first film, demonstrate both real ambition and a capacity to make us smile being few and far between.”

Numerous other critics also heaped on the praise: “Is Montrealer Sophie Deraspe's astonishing first film a documentary, mockumentary, cinematic installation piece, cinema vérité, performance workout, full-on fiction or flat-out hoax? Only one thing is obvious: it is a mind game of museum-worthy proportions” (John Griffin, The Montreal Gazette); “A small jewel of mind-boggling ingenuity” (Manon Dumais, Voir); “Unquestionably one of the most original Quebec films of the year” (Annabelle Nicoud, La Presse); “An uncanny, uncategorizable film... comic yet human” (Charles Petersen, The Village Voice); “An enigmatic and utterly compelling story” (Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times).

In 2009 Sophie Deraspe's second feature, Vital Signs, premiered in competition at the Festival of New Cinema (Montreal). It took the prize for Best New Canadian Film at the Whistler Film Festival (Canada), where the film's star, Marie-Hélène Bellavance, was named Best Actress for her widely praised debut performance.

In February 2006, the film screened in competition at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam, competing for a Tiger Award.

From the start, critics raved: “A must-see” (Guillaume Fournier, Voir); “Unflinching, the beauty here is stripped naked and true. Superb acting and cinematography” (John Griffin, The Montreal Gazette). The film was featured on the cover of Ciné-Bulles magazine (winter 2010).

Vital Signs went on to a remarkable international career, winning over fifteen prizes at such festivals as:

• SXSW Film Festival, Austin, Texas, USA, Official selection, March 2010.
• Internationales Frauenfilmfestival, Cologne, Germany, Official competition, Special Jury Mention Prize, 2010.
• Off Camera, Cracow, Poland, Official competition, April 2010.
• Polar Lights International Arctic Film Festival, Murmansk, Russia, Official competition, Special Jury Prize and Best Actress Award, 2010.
• Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK, Official competition, 2010.
• Festival Internacional de Ciné de Santiago, Chile, Official competition, Special Jury Mention, 2010.
• Festival Internacional de Cine de Monterrey, Mexico, Official competition, Best Film, Best Director, and Best Sound, 2010.
• Mumbai International Film Festival, India, Official competition, Best Actress, 2010.
• Festival du film francophone de Tübingen-Stuttgart, Germany, Official competition, Best Film, 2010.

Vital Signs was number four on Ciné-Bulles magazine's list of best films of 2010.

2015 was particularly productive for Sophie Deraspe, who completed two features that year.

The Wolves, a Canada-France co-production, brought together a range of Quebec's best-known actors: Évelyne Brochu, Louise Portal, Benoît Gouin, Gilbert Sicotte as well as a complete newcomer, Cindy-Mae Arsenault, a native of the Magdalen Islands, where the film was shot. The film tells the story of a young woman who arrives on an island in the Atlantic during the spring thaw and sets out to become part of the community of islanders, who maintain the tradition of seal hunting to earn their livelihood.

The Wolves, which was distributed by Les Films Séville International, was shown at the Whistler Film Festival, where the jury honored the performance by Louise Portal with a Special Mention. The Wolves was also chosen as the opening night film of the 2015 Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, before going on to a theatrical release in Quebec and screenings at numerous international film festivals. At the Torino Film Festival in 2015, the Fipresci jury named it Best Film.

A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile (its US title) is the director's first feature-length documentary. After drawing a great deal of buzz at its world premiere in Official competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, the film continued its trajectory at numerous festivals around the world. IFC picked up the US rights for distribution theatrically and on their digital platform docclub.com [archive].

Critics were ecstatic. La Presse gave it 4 ½ stars, calling it “powerful, brilliant... extremely well constructed” while Variety praised its “slippery, deftly woven narrative.”

A partial list of festivals and awards includes:

• Sundance Film Festival, Park City, 2015, Official competition [archive].
• Hot Docs, Toronto, Canada, 2015 – Special Jury Prize, Canadian Feature Documentary [archive].
• TLVFest, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2015 – Best Documentary Feature [archive].
• GAZE, Dublin, Ireland, 2015 – Best Documentary [archive].
• Istanbul International Independent Film Festival, Turkey, 2015, Official competition.
• BFI Flare, London, England, 2015.
• Frameline Film Festival, San Francisco, 2015 – Honorable Mention (Outstanding Documentary) [archive].
• Japan Prize 2016, Grand Prize [archive].

Canadian filmmaker, musician and composer Kaveh Nabatian assembles six directors beside himself for the multidisciplinary omnibus project The Seven Last Words. Besides himself and Sophie Deraspe are Ariane Lorrain, Sophie Goyette, Juan Andres Arango, Karl Lemieux, and Caroline Monnet who are joined by the British Callino String Quartet. The films were shot in Iran, Haiti, Colombia, Nunavut and Québec in 35mm, 16mm and HD while Marc Boucrot (of Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void and Love) was the film's editor.

«Among the shorts, Sophie Deraspe tackling the most famous phrase, “My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me?” has the greatest impact.»[11]

A soaring, contemporary adaptation of the Sophocles play, Antigone, written and directed by Sophie Deraspe, revisits the myth in the story of a 16-year-old girl who has immigrated to Canada with her grandmother, sister and two brothers following the tragic murder of their parents. When tragedy strikes again, and her older brother is killed by police and her younger brother threatened with deportation, Antigone defies the legal and social order to save what remains of her family.

After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was named Best Canadian Feature Film, Antigone was chosen to represent Canada at the Oscars in the category Best International Feature Film.

• 2006: Missing Victor Pellerin

• 2012: Les dames aux caméras : as herself

• 2006: Missing Victor Pellerin
• 2009: Vital Signs
• 2014: The Wolves
• 2015: A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile (documentary)
• 2019: The Seven Last Word
• 2019: Antigone

• 2011: La part du déterminisme

• 2012: La vie nous arrive (documentary)

• 2006: Missing Victor Pellerin
• 2009: Vital Signs
• 2019: The Seven Last Words
• 2019: Antigone

• 2000: Solitude dans la foule
• 2007: Pierre Gauvin, un moine moderne
• 2011: La part du déterminisme