Phil Comeau


Phil Comeau, CM is a Canadian film and television director, born in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia. He lives in Moncton, New Brunswick and Montreal, Quebec.

Biography

Phil Comeau is a film and television director and scriptwriter, based in Moncton and in Montreal. His documentary and drama films have won 101 awards in North America, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. He has directed films and TV episodes in Canada and in over 20 countries. His films have been translated in 27 languages, and been broadcast in 200 countries. A globetrotter, Phil has travelled on all continents and visited over 50 countries.
His recent award-winning feature documentaries include Acadian Music Wave, Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart, Secretariat's Jockey, Ron Turcotte, and The Nature of Frederic Back. He also directed and co-wrote the award-winning drama feature film Jerome's Secret in Canada, and two TV movies Crash of the Century in France, and Teen Knight in Romania and the USA. His popular drama series include Tribu.com with viewer ratings in Quebec of 1.3 million, La Sagouine, Lassie, Emily of New Moon, Pit Pony, Les couleurs de mon accent, World Legends and the docu-drama series Mayday broadcast worldwide.
Comeau has directed and wrote numerous films about his Acadian culture. Among them, the first independent Acadian drama feature film Jerome's Secret, the first Acadian comedy The Gossips, the first Acadian children's film The Hooked Rug of Grand-Pré, and a popular series remake on an iconic Acadian character La Sagouine. On the subject of the world Acadian diaspora, he had directed an Acadian feature in Louisiana Zachary Richard Cajun Heart, a series in Quebec Les Acadiens du Québec and a documentary in France Belle-Ile-en-Mer, a Breton and Acadian Island.
As an author, he has also published poetry in two books Plumes d'ictte and Éloizes, a published film script Les Gossipeuses, an Acadian dictionary Le parler Acadjonne, and in 2014 was the editor and co-director of the anthology Acadie Then and Now, a 500-page collective containing both history and contemporary articles on the world diaspora Acadian, which won the international award Prix France-Acadie in Paris.
Phil Comeau is a member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Quebec, and the Front des réalisateurs du Canada.

Recognitions

His films and TV series have received 101 awards at film festivals on 5 continents. Phil Comeau has been given 5 Orders: appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011; the Order of New Brunswick and the Ordre de la Pléiade from the Assemblée des Parlementaires de la Francophonie in 2016; the distinction of the Ordre des francophones d'Amérique at the National Assembly in Quebec in 2007; and the rank of "Chevalier" of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2006. He also received two Honorary Doctorats in Arts from the Université de Moncton, N.B. and from Université Sainte-Anne in N.S. ; the Prix Meritas of the Federation acadienne du Quebec in 1999; the Grand-Pre Award from the Minister of Culture of Nova Scotia in 1997, and the Prix Champion in Ottawa in 1995. His feature film Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart was presented at the United Nations in Geneva in 2017.

Filmography

As director

Honors