Jean-François Pouliot

Canadian filmmaker Jean-Francois Pouliot made his name in advertising before scoring a trio of feature film hits with such smart and socially conscious comedies as "Seducing Dr. Lewis" (2004) and "Dr. Cabbie" (2014). Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1957, Pouliot earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Concordia University before making his directorial debut with the comedic short "The Egg" (1979), about an egg that tries to prevent being hatched, for the National Film Board of Canada. From there, he entered the film business as an assistant cameraman and crew member on a variety of movies lensed in Canada, including Sergio Leone's epic "One Upon a Time in America" (1984) and Tony Richardson's "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984). During this period, he also joined Canada's largest advertising agency, Cossette Communication Marketing, as a writer-director. Two of his efforts earned the Grand Prix du Mondial de publicite francophone, the highest award for French language advertisements. In 1988, Pouliot moved into directing commercials for television, helming advertisements for the production house Fabrique d'Images. Again, his work earned some of the industry's top awards, including a Silver Lion at Cannes for a Loto-Quebec spot. A decade later, Pouliot branched into dramatic television, directing episodes of the popular children's series "Emily of the New Moon" (CBC, 1998-2000). Pouliot discovered Ken Scott's script for "Seducing Dr. Lewis" while launching a software company, Eloda, which tracked advertising for clients. After securing permission from his investors to delay the launch, he completed the dark comedy, about a surgeon from Montreal who is duped by the residents of a small town into serving as their resident physician. The film won critical praise throughout North America and earned the World Cinema Audience Award from the 2004 Sundance Film Festival as well as a Genie nomination for Pouliot's direction. His next film, the comedy "Guide de la petite vengeance" ("The Little Book of Revenge," 2006), reaped four Genie nominations, including Best Achievement in Direction and Best Motion Picture. This led to a wide variety of prestigious projects, including the 3D documentary "Facing Champlain" (2008), which celebrated the 400th anniversary of Quebec City, and "Glimpses/Impressions" (2010), a five-minute film made in collaboration with Cirque du Soliel for the Canadian pavilion at Expo 2010 that used 3,000 animated photographs to depict a day in a fictitious Canadian city. He returned to dramatic features in 2014 with "Dr. Cabbie," a comedy about an Indian doctor who is relegated to driving a taxi after emigrating to Canada, and decides to use his new job to treat patients on the side.