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Charles Binamé

Charles Binamé was a French-Canadian director whose wide body of work earned him legions of fans both in his native country of Canada, as well as in the United States. Born in Belgium, Binamé moved to Montreal with his family when he was still a very young boy. His interest in filmmaking began when he was in his teens, and by 1971, he began work as an assistant director for Canada's National Film Board. However, although he enjoyed his work as an assistant director, Binamé longed to be behind the camera directing his own material. With that in mind, he moved to London in the 1980s where he was given the opportunity to direct commercials. He spent three years in London, building a reputation as a respected commercial director, before moving back to Canada. In total, Binamé spent several years directing commercials before the urge to direct movies caused him to drop his lucrative career and take a chance by directing his first feature. That film, the made-for-TV movie, "The Other Man" (1990), was a bit hit in Canada, and thus, bestowed Binamé with the confidence he needed to make feature film directing his career. He directed a few more TV projects in the early 1990s, before having a critical hit in 1995 with his second feature, "Eldorado." That film earned Special Distinction at the Cannes Film Festival, thus signaling Binamé as a director to watch. Binamé directed several more films throughout the 90s and 2000s, most notably "Le coeur au poing" (1998) and 2004's "H20" which premiered on HBO in America. He also directed episodes for several acclaimed Canadian TV shows, including "Flashpoint" (CTV, 2008-2011), and "The Listener" (CTV, 2009-2014). Binamé returned to film directing in 2014 with "Elephant Song." That film, a psychological drama adapted from a popular play written by Nicolas Billon, premiered to wide acclaim at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.