Bio
After studying law, Jean-François Lesage began working as a journalist for Radio-Canada television in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1998, moved by a close-up of Gong Li in the film Red Sorghum, he flew to Beijing. There he spent six years in contact with independent Chinese filmmakers such as Wang Bing, Zhao Liang and Yang Lina. Inspired by their energy and courage, he directed his first creative documentary, Une nuit en Chine (2004), and then, with his brother Philippe Lesage, Comment savoir si les petits poissons sont heureux (2009), a chronicle of the summer of a group of young people in Beijing. Back in Montreal, he directed Conte du Mile End (2013), the closing film of Visions du Réel, then Un amour d'été (2015), Grand Prize of the RIDM national feature film competition. La rivière cachée (2017) is his fourth feature film. The film won the Special Jury Prize in the RIDM National Feature Film Competition and was part of the Burning Lights Competition at Visions du Réel this year. The filmmaker is currently working on a new feature documentary, this time a kind of winter tale: Prière pour une mitaine perdue.