Sophie Deraspe (born October 27, 1973) is a Canadian director, scenarist, director of photography and producer. Prominent in new Quebec cinema, she is known for a 2015 documentary The Amina Profile, an exploration of the Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari hoax of 2011. She had previously written and directed the narrative feature films Missing Victor Pellerin () in 2006, Vital Signs () in 2009, The Wolves () in 2015,
In 2019 she wrote, directed and shot Antigone, inspired by the 2008 death of Fredy Villanueva in Montreal and loosely adapting the play by Sophocles, saying the story of a woman who defies the law for something greater resonated with her, and she wished to update it. The film, starring Nahéma Ricci, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and won the festival's award for Best Canadian Film. Antigone was chosen to represent Canada in the 2019 Oscars race.
Nominated in 15 categories, her first TV series Dark Soul (Bête noire) won four Gémeaux Awards in 2021, including Best TV Drama Series and Best Director (Drama series). The USA, Australia, France and Norway bought the broadcasting rights and more countries will be added. Her latest TV series, Paradise Motel (Motel Paradis), will be broadcast in 2022.
Deraspe characterizes her work, which often deals with contemporary art, as "constantly questioning limits, particularly those related to representation, as well as the boundaries of reality and fiction."
Sophie Deraspe has been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2020. In 2021 she has received the title .
Biography
After studying visual arts in Austria, Sophie Deraspe majored in French literature and then film studies at the Université de Montréal from 1995 to 1998. After graduating with a B.A., she worked as a trainee in the directing department on such seminal Quebec feature films as Philippe Falardeau's debut feature (The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge, 2000) and André Turpin's (Soft-Shell Man, 2001), and served as director of photography on numerous film and television productions. In 2001 she joined the board of directors of Vidéographe, a Montreal-based artist-run center, serving as chairperson from 2007 to 2008. Also in 2001, her documentary short film was selected for official competition at the Festival du film francophone de Namur (Belgium). , her fiction short, screened at festivals around the world, winning two prizes.
Missing Victor Pellerin (2006) In 2006 Deraspe finished her first independent feature, Missing Victor Pellerin (Recherche Victor Pellerin) — about a mysterious painter who has disappeared — which was 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, and received a Special Jury Mention (International competition) at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montréal.
According to critic Marcel Jean, now director of Cinémathèque québécoise, in the magazine 24 images (no 129), says this about the film: "(...) Both screenwriters, editor, camerawoman and interpreter of Missing Victor Pellerin, Sophie Deraspe plunges completely in this first destabilizing feature film whose discourse - with a non-insignificant resonance - essentially poses the question of appearances. The world is presented as a vast hoax in which the gesture of Victor Pellerin appears scandalous in that it lifts the veil on a corner of this immense deception. The result is promising, too rare being the filmmakers who, from the start, reveal both a real ambition and the ability to make you smile."
Several other critics go to show their positive appreciation: "Is Montrealer Sophie Deraspe's astonishing first film a documentary, mockumentary, cinematic installation piece, true cinema, 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 Gazette); "A little gem of astonishing ingenuity" (Manon Dumais, Voir); "Without contest, one of the Quebec originals 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).