Requiem for a Handsome Bastard

An internationally renowned video artist whose work has won numerous awards at festivals around the world, Robert Morin has been making a significant contribution to Quebec cinema for nearly thirty years with a series of very personal films. He has made some thirty short, medium-length and feature films during his career, and in 1977 co- founded – with Marcel Chouinard, Lorraine Dufour, Bernard Émond and Jean-Pierre St-Louis – la Coopéartive de Production Vidéo de Montréal.

Morin’s skilfully constructed films convey a dark, almost pessimistic sensibility, and are often concerned with how society’s more marginal members clash with law enforcement and the justice system. His feature debut, Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur (1992) – about a heartless, small-time hood who escapes from jail for one last perverse joy ride – won the Best Canadian Feature Film award at the Toronto Festival of Festivals (now the Toronto International Film Festival®), the Best Quebec Feature Film and Best Screenplay awards at Les Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois and was nominated for four Genie Awards including Best Director. His 2002 feature Le Nèg’ was named one of Canada’s Top Ten by an independent, national panel of filmmakers, programmers, journalists and industry professionals. —TIFF