Jump to content

Deanne Foley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Deanne Foley
Born
Deanne Catherine Foley

St. John's,Newfoundland and Labrador,Canada
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Director, Producer, Writer
Years active1998-Present

Deanne Catherine Foleyis aCanadiandirector, writer and producer.[1]She has directed both narrative and documentary films of feature and short length. Her films often centre around flawed female leads and are usually filmed inAtlantic Canada.[2]She has also worked in the television industry, directing episodes for a variety of series. She is best known for her filmsAn Audience of Chairs,Relative HappinessandBeat Down,which received a number of awards, as well as exposure at a number of higher profile film festivals.[1][3]

Biography[edit]

Foley was born and raised inSt. John's,Newfoundlandduring the 1970s.[1]She received her Bachelor of Arts in English in 1995 from theMemorial University of Newfoundland.[4]During her university years, she became interested in becoming a filmmaker after attending theSt. John's International Women's Film Festival.[1]

She is the mother of two children and currently lives in St. John's, Newfoundland.[1]

Career[edit]

Early career[edit]

In 1998, she moved to Halifax to search for opportunities in the film industry.[5]Her first short film,Trombone Trouble,debuted at theAtlantic Film Festivalin 2000. The film is a comedic short in which a girl attempts to get rid of her trombone after her parents force her to take lessons. In Canada, the film was broadcast onCBCandThe Comedy Network,and screened at a number of film festivals.[1]In 2002, she returned to St. John's and produced the short film,This Boy,for which she received the Best Canadian Female Short award at Toronto's Inside Out Film Festival.[5]Also in the early 2000s, Foley worked as a field producer and video journalist for two CBC news series:ZeDandStreet Cents,where she specialized in reports on Newfoundland.[5]In 2009, she directed her second short film,The Magnificent Molly McBride.It won the Audience Choice Award at the 2010Nickel Independent Film Festivalin St. John's.[6]

Feature films[edit]

In 2012, Foley's first feature film,Beat Down,was released. She directed and co-wrote the film. The film is a comedy about a teenager named Fran (played by Marthe Bernard) who hopes to become a professional wrestler like her parents, despite her father's disapproval. The film garnered positive reviews and was nominated for threeCanadian Comedy Awards,including one for Foley's directing.[7]It was also named "Best of the Fest" at theCinequest Film FestivalinSan Jose,California,where it made its debut.[8]

Her second feature film,Relative Happiness,was a Nova Scotia-Newfoundland coproduction.[9]The film is based on the novel of the same name byCape Bretonwriter Lesley Crewe and starsMelissa Bergland,Aaron PooleandSusan Kent.[10]Foley wrote the screenplay along with Iain MacLeod,Sherry Whiteand Crewe. They opted to make the film more comedic than the novel in order for it to become a romantic comedy.[11]The film's plot centres around Lexie (played by Bergland), a bed and breakfast owner who sets out to find love. Foley shot the film inHalifaxover 16 days in Fall 2013.[3]It had a budget of $1.25 million and was funded byTelefilm Canada.[11]The film debuted May 15, 2014 at the Cannes Film Festival as part of Telefilm Canada's Perspective Canada Cannes program.[1]Foley, along with the rest of her directing team, were nominated by the Directors Guild of Canada for the DGC Team Award for their work on the project.[12]

Television[edit]

Foley also has experience with directing television series. In 2014, she directed two episodes of the CBC television seriesRepublic of Doyle.[4]Prior to that she had directed episodes for other television series, such asKINK,a documentary series where people share their sexual fantasies and beliefs, andA Guy and a Girl,a comedy series that aired on theW Network.[5]She was also the creator and one of the directors of the television documentary series,Going the Distance,which aired in 2004 onGlobal Television.The show chronicled the lives of 13 different couples who were in long-term relationships.[13]

Awards and honours[edit]

Foley is a member of theDirectors Guild of Canada,as well as theWriters Guild of Canada,WIFT(Women in Film and Television)-Atlantic and NIFCO (Newfoundland Independent Film Makers Co-Op Ltd).[14]She won the award for Best Debut Feature at theFemale Eye Film Festivalfor her work on the filmBeat Down.[15]In 2015, she was awarded Artist of the Year at the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Awards.[16]She won the 2020 Wave Award from WIFT-Atlantic.

Filmography[edit]

Films[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1999 The Diary Found by a Nasty Kid Associate Producer Short film
2000 Trombone Trouble Writer/Director Short film
2002 This Boy Producer Short film
2005 Boys on the Fringe Writer/Director Documentary short film
2009 The Magnificent Molly McBride Writer/Director Short film
2012 Beat Down Writer/Director First feature film
2014 Sadie Producer Short film
2014 Relative Happiness Co-writer/Director Feature film
2018 An Audience of Chairs Director Feature film
2019 The Death of Winter Executive Producer Short film
2019 Radical Director Short film
2019 Christmas Reservations Director TV movie

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Going the Distance Creator/Director Documentary series
2006 KinK Field Director Thirteen episodes
2014 Republic of Doyle Director 2 episodes ( "True Lies" and "Body of Evidence" )
2022 Hudson and Rex Director 5 episodes
2022 Son of a Critch Director 12 episodes

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgBradbury, Tara (July 20, 2015)."20 Questions for Deanne Foley - Local - The Telegram".thetelegram.Archived fromthe originalon August 17, 2015.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  2. ^"A Night with Jacob Tierney | Deanne Foley | Vic Sarin".At Shutter Speed.November 4, 2015.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  3. ^ab"Cannes screening a major boost for N.L. director".CBC News.April 27, 2014.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  4. ^abHoffe, Mark (2015-07-31).""Artist of the Year" Deanne Foley Talks about Making Films in Newfoundland ".The Overcast.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  5. ^abcdBradbury, Tara (July 23, 2011)."'Wrestling' with relationships - Living - The Telegram ".thetelegram.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  6. ^Vajcner, Chris (2010-07-15)."The Magnificent Molly McBride wins Audience Choice Award at Nickel Film Festival".National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).Retrieved2016-10-18.
  7. ^"The Comedy Network – Canadian Comedy Awards | Nominees".thecomedynetwork.ca.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-12-02.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  8. ^Nemetz, Andrea (2014-04-14)."Life in and outside the ring tackled in new film Beat Down".The Chronicle Herald.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  9. ^Varga, Darrell (2015).Shooting from the East: Filmmaking on the Canadian Atlantic.Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 313–314.
  10. ^Nemetz, Andrea (2014-09-11)."Lesley Crewe more than relatively happy as film version of novel hits big screen".The Chronicle Herald.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  11. ^abBarnard, Elissa (2015-03-19)."Actors echo onscreen bond in Relative Happiness".The Chronicle Herald.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  12. ^"Local filmmaker up for Directors Guild award - Local - The Telegram".cbncompass.ca.June 19, 2015.Retrieved2016-10-19.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^Dinoff, Distin (May 12, 2003)."Ghostship sets sail with animated doc on fairies".Retrieved2016-10-19.
  14. ^"Deanne Foley » Directors Guild of Canada".dgc.ca.Retrieved2016-10-18.
  15. ^"Awards - Pope Productions".Pope Productions.Retrieved2016-10-20.
  16. ^"NLAC - News - July 10, 2015 - Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council announces award winners".nlac.ca.Retrieved2016-10-18.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deanne_Foley&oldid=1234877890"