Phil Comeau
Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for High Achievement in the Arts
2024 Visual Arts Award’s laureate
Phil Comeau is a documentary and fiction filmmaker whose work has been screened at film festivals around the world, winning over 700 awards. He lives in Moncton, New Brunswick.
A key figure in Acadian cinema, Phil Comeau’s films bear witness to contemporary Acadie. Examining history, culture, and identity, his work is a remarkable fresco, tracing the resilience and emancipation of a people. Renowned for his ability to tell compelling stories that resonate with audiences, Phil unearths characters that move while demonstrating a rare talent for simplifying complex historical events.
For his contribution to Acadian culture and cinema, Phil has received numerous honours including the Order of Canada and the Order of New Brunswick, and was promoted to the rank of Officier de l'Ordre des arts et des Lettres de la France in 2022. His independent film, Belle-Île en Acadie, has earned him a Guinness World Record for the most awards won by a documentary.
What led you to become an artist?
The arts have always fascinated me. As a child, I took part in plays, played the piano, won prizes for my drawings and even created an imaginary village in the forest behind my family's cottage, where I gave guided tours.
But what fascinated me most was cinema. My father was the only person in my community to own a film camera. He made 'home movies' with his little 8mm camera, having to change reels every seven minutes. I was deeply intrigued by this artistic medium of memory. When I was 13, my father gave me his camera, and it was love at first sight: I had an irresistible desire to create images. My first film, at 13, was devoted to a day in the life of our dog Pitou. I saved every penny I spent on school lunches to buy film.
When I was 16, my school got a video camera, and I took the opportunity to found a video club as well as a drama club. From then on, you didn't have to pay to make movies.
How have your training and experiences contributed to your creativity and innovation in your artistic practice?
As director of two clubs at my school, I had the opportunity to invite professional directors and actors to run workshops. In my last school year, we took part in a drama festival in Halifax with my play “The Freak and the Fuzz”. We won awards for Best Play and Best Male and Female Actors. Receiving a Stanley Cup-sized trophy for the club was a huge inspiration!
It inspired me to study drama at the Université de Moncton. Then, thanks to a France-Acadie scholarship, I spent a year in Paris, where I had the chance to intern on professional feature films with renowned directors such as François Truffaut (The Woman Next Door), Alain Corneau (Choice of Arms), José Pinheiro (Les mots pour le dire), Jean Becker (One Deadly Summer) and Claude Sautet (Waiter!). Later, I was assistant director to Quebec filmmaker Jean Beaudin (Mario). These experiences, including my first professional films for the National Film Board of Canada, enriched me deeply and nourished my artistic practice. Since then, every film I make adds to my experience.
What stimulates you most about your practice?
What stimulates me most in my practice is that each new film, whether documentary or fiction, tackles a different subject and highlights unique people. I particularly enjoy exploring an original approach to each project, which gives me a new experience every time.
What drives your creativity?
My creativity is driven by the diversity of ideas, human experiences and the richness of my culture. Every morning, I read the Acadian, Quebec and international newspapers. As I peruse these articles, I imagine whether these stories could make good or bad movies. Then I sit down at my computer and let my fingers dance across the keyboard.
How has living and working in New Brunswick helped and/or inspired you on your journey?
Acadian cinema in New Brunswick is still young, less than 50 years old, with fewer than a dozen films produced each year. This means that there remains a multitude of unexplored subjects, offering an inestimable wealth of creativity. Budgets are often modest, which calls for greater ingenuity in telling stories that seem bigger than the means available. This constraint, far from being a hindrance, stimulates the imagination and encourages me to seek innovative solutions, both technical and narrative, to bring ambitious projects to life.
Why do you think it's important to make art and engage in an artistic process?
I deeply believe that art is essential because it enables us to better understand the world, share ideas and explore emotions in a unique way. To invest in an artistic process is to take part in a human conversation that transcends borders, time and cultural differences. Art has the power to provoke thought, to question the established order, but also to heal and unite people around shared experiences. It is a form of expression that gives a voice to those who sometimes have few, and it helps us to better understand ourselves as individuals and as a society.
By engaging myself in art, I find not only a creative outlet, but also a way to contribute to this collective Acadian reflection, to tell stories that can touch, inspire and even transform those who receive them. In short, art is a way of making the world a richer, more humane place.
You often explore the theme of the Acadian diaspora in your work. Are there specific stories or characters that are close to your heart?
Over the past ten years, the theme of the Acadian diaspora has often recurred in my work, as it embodies both the quest for identity and the resilience of Acadians. There are only 250,000 Acadians in New Brunswick. Around the world, there are millions of people with Acadian roots, especially in Quebec, Louisiana, Maine and France. Think Big.
What I find particularly touching are the Acadians who, after the Deportation, sought to retain their sense of belonging, whether through attempts to return to Acadia or by settling elsewhere.
My characters are often individuals torn between their roots and their desire to integrate into a wider world, but who, deep down, are driven by a desire to preserve their cultural heritage. I'm also inspired by contemporary figures who, despite centuries past, continue to struggle to keep Acadian culture alive in a globalized world. These characters allow me to explore identity, exile and collective memory, while asking the question: what does it mean to be Acadian today?
What have you learned about yourself and New Brunswick's artistic community through your work?
Working at the heart of New Brunswick's artistic community has given me a deeper understanding of my own sensibility and passion for creative expression. I've discovered that artists are beings deeply connected to their emotions and their environment, which sets them apart from the majority.
Today, my aim is simply to touch people, to make them react, to make them feel the emotions I experienced while shooting the film. When I'm in the middle of creating, that's when I feel happiest.
What do you think is the impact of artists' work on communities and the province as a whole?
Among artistic disciplines, musicians attract the largest audiences, but Acadian cinema also manages to fill theatres, including Moncton's grand Capitol Theatre.
The work of artists has a significant impact on communities and the province. It's a strengthening of cultural identity as artists preserve and promote our values. Art can keep history and language alive while renewing a sense of belonging. The work of artists is also important for social cohesion, fostering dialogue between generations and origins, creating links within communities and with the rest of the province. The arts create economic and even tourism dynamism with cultural events that attract visitors and support local businesses, while making environments more attractive to young people. In terms of educational impact, artists enrich young people's perspectives by offering them tools of expression and an alternative vision of society. Finally, art helps to denounce social injustice while providing a platform for imagining solutions. All in all, artists are vectors of transformation, whether in terms of identity, dialogue or economic and social development, and their work is reflected far beyond their own communities.
Describe what you are most proud of in your career?
I'm particularly proud of the fact that nearly half of my films and television programs have an Acadian theme. I'm also proud that I've always avoided depicting violence on screen. Although it would have been more financially profitable to choose more brutal subjects, I have deliberately chosen to devote myself to peaceful works, remaining true to my convictions.
Your films and documentaries have won over 700 awards at film festivals in Canada and abroad. Are there any awards of which you are particularly proud?
I'm especially proud of the awards I've won in Acadie. Among them, the ones that mean the most to me are the audience awards. At the Festival international du film francophone en Acadie (FICFA) in Moncton, my films have received numerous audience awards over the years, including the last two years in a row for my works “The Secret Order” and “Roots, Diaspora & War”. Internationally, I'm most proud of the awards I've won in France.
What would your dream project look like?
I dream that in Acadie we'll be able to produce more feature films. Television shows are fine, but we need a larger, more prestigious filmography as a people.
Are there any Acadian stories you haven't yet explored that you'd like to tackle in future projects?
Yes. About 101 Acadian stories...
Learn more about the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for High Achievement in the Arts, visit: https://artsnb.ca/web/awards/lieutenant-governors-awards/
