Jim Donovan(II)
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Raised in the Montreal film world now based in Toronto, Jim is a CSA award-winning veteran with a flair for visual style and delivering riveting performances. Credits include prime time dramas in both French and English, such as Flashpoint, Heartland, Republic of Doyle, and Le Clan. His gritty, heart-wrenching independent feature 3 Saisons which he co-wrote and directed in 2008 won multiple awards including the Borsos for Best Canadian Feature at the 2008 Whistler Film Festival and a triple nomination at the 2010 Genie Awards including for Best Picture. In 2013 he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a television series for Flashpoint, A Day in the Life.
In 2014 Jim was invited as series director on the acclaimed drama Le Clan, directing all 12 episodes over two seasons for powerhouse Montreal producer Casablanca Films and ICI Radio Canada. The show was invited to the 2015 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival in competition for the new creators award for serial dramas. In 2016 he directed the pilot for CBC's soccer drama 21 Thunder, streaming on Netflix and a 6-part mini-series entitled Le Siège produced by Attraction Images for which he received his 4th DGC Awards nomination for Best Director in 2018. He recently directed the true-crime television movie Believe Me, The Abduction of Lisa McVey which earned 6 nominations at the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards, winning for Best Television Movie. The film went viral internationally, hitting the Netflix top 10 lists in the UK, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Australia and New Zealand in summer 2021. His latest MOW, Poisoned Love, shot for Vancouver's Lighthouse Productions won the 2020 Leo Award for Best TV Movie.
As writer-director he recently finished a feature screenplay with Telefilm Canada support entitled L'Apprenti, in development with Montreal's Attraction Images. Jim also co-wrote the pilot for an epic limited series entitled The Last Tribe, reuniting him with the team from 3 Saisons, Montreal producers Victoria Sanchez and Sandy Martinez.
