DGC Director and screenwriter Jeffrey St. Jules discusses his distinguished filmography with visual artist and fellow DGC Director Randall Okita (See For Me, The Lockpicker). Okita guides their discussion from St. Jules’ early surrealist short film, The Tragic Story of Nling, through to his latest psychological thriller, Cinema of Sleep. Together they explore the ever-evolving approach to filmmaking that has led St. Jules to become one of Canada’s most distinct storytellers.

Time Stamps

00:00:13 – Introductions

00:01:55 – Does St. Jules dream?

00:04:58 – Childhood storytelling and imagination

00:08:15 – Growing up in rural Nova Scotia

00:13:50 – The Tragic Story of Nling

00:21:33 – Let the Daylight Into The Swamp

00:30:49 – How fatherhood impacted St. Jules’ filmmaking

00:33:11 – Bang Bang Baby

00:36:25 – Cinema of Sleep

00:55:39 – St. Jules’ shooting process

00:58:57 – Are film sets a war zone?

01:00:22 – The creative value of naïveté

01:04:00 – St. Jules’ writing routine

01:12:17 – Closing thoughts

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.

Every year at the St. John’s International Women's Film Festival (SJIWFF), the Directors Guild of Canada presents a Director with the DGC Visionary Award. This episode features The Globe and Mail's Johanna Schneller presenting this year's award to DGC Ontario Director Deborah Chow, whose illustrious career has led her from working on shows like Mr. Robot, American Gods and The Mandalorian, to directing all six episodes of the upcoming Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hear Chow accept the award and speak to Schneller about her path to becoming a Director and the skills she places at the core of the profession. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.

Director Danis Goulet and Indigenous Screen Office Co-Executive Director Kerry Swanson discuss Goulet's acclaimed feature, Night Raiders. Set in a dystopic North American future, the film follows a Cree mother as she attempts to rescue her daughter from a state-run education camp. After premiering at the Berlin Film Festival and showing at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, Night Raiders is set to headline the upcoming imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Goulet and Swanson discuss the initial creative drive behind the film as well as:

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.

Director Bretten Hannam (Wildfire, North Mountain) discusses their feature film Wildhood with Director Shane Belcourt (Red Rover, Tkaronto). Wildhood tells the story of two-spirit Mi'kmaw teenager Link as he flees an abusive home and attempts to rediscover his heritage. The acclaimed film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and opened the 2021 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival. Hannam and Belcourt delve into the making of the feature and discuss: 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.

Director Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz, Stories We Tell, Alias Grace) speaks with Director Thom Fitzgerald (Cloudburst, Forgive Me, Cam Boy) about the process of adapting literature to the screen, while touching upon:

This talk was recorded over Zoom during the first half of 2020. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Aubrey Arnason and Katia Café-Fébrissy.

Director Michael McGowan discusses his latest feature, All My Puny Sorrows, with The Globe and Mail's Johanna Schneller. Adapted from the Miriam Toews novel of the same name, All My Puny Sorrows tells the story of a renowned pianist battling suicidal urges and the sister trying to keep her alive. McGowan's moving film was selected to make its premiere at TIFF 2021. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Aubrey Arnason and Katia Café-Fébrissy.

Orphan Black Co-Creator and Director John Fawcett (Ginger Snaps, The Dark, The Man in the High Castle) and acclaimed actor Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, Perry Mason, She-Hulk) discuss their experience working together on the award-winning sci-fi series. The duo get deep into the dynamics of the Director-Actor relationship and cover:

This talk was recorded over Zoom in 2020. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Aubrey Arnason and Katia Café-Fébrissy.

Director Clement Virgo (Greenleaf, Book of Negroes, The Wire) and TIFF Co-Head Cameron Bailey discuss a wealth of topics, starting from Virgo's early work on a famous episode of The Wire and ranging out to: 

This talk was recorded remotely in the first half of 2020. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.

Director Garrett Bradley discusses her Oscar-nominated documentary, TIME, with TIFF Programmer Lydia Ogwang. Their discussion covers the intergenerational effects of incarceration, the invisibility of the prison-industrial complex, images as evidence, the political significance of the Black Family Archive & building trust with documentary subjects. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.

Directors Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor talk to filmmaker Tiffany Hsiung (Sing Me A Lullaby, The Apology) about the duo's latest documentary, Someone Like Me. The film centers on Drake, a gay Ugandan asylum seeker, as he resettles in Canada and the group of queer volunteers tasked with supporting him. This conversation intertwines personal and professional topics, such as developing and directing as a couple, building relationships with the documentary's subjects, filming during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and big takeaways about Canada's refugee program. 

The DGC Podcast is produced by the Directors Guild of Canada National Directors Division and hosted by filmmakers Katia Café-Fébrissy and Aubrey Arnason.