Jean-François Lesage
After studying law, Jean-François Lesage started out as a journalist for Radio-Canada television in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1998, moved by the discovery of Chinese cinema, he flew to Beijing. He lived there for six years, where he made his first creative documentary, Une nuit en Chine (2004), followed by Comment savoir si les petits poissons sont heureux ? (2009) with his brother Philippe Lesage. Back in Montreal, he directed Conte du Mile End (2013), closing film of Visions du Réel 2014, then Un amour d’été (2015), Grand Prix of the RIDM national feature competition. La rivière cachée (2017), his fourth feature, won the Special Jury Prize in the RIDM National Feature Competition. In 2020, his film Prière pour une mitaine perdue won Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs. Parmi les montagnes et les ruisseaux is his most recent film.