Françoise Micheline Lanctôt studied music, fine arts and theatre at the Collège Jésus-Marie in Outrement, a suburb of Montréal, Québec. Later she studied art history at the Université de Montréal and then spent a year at the École des Beaux-Arts. She switched her focus to film animation in the late 1960s, initially working at the National Film Board and then at the Gerald Potterton studios, where she stayed for four years. There, a fateful encounter with Gilles Carle resulted in her 1972 role in La Vraie Nature de Bernadette, for which she won an Etrog (the precurser of a Genie Award) for best female performance. In 1979, she wrote her first full-length film which she also directed. L’Homme à tout faire won the silver medal at the San Sebastian Festival in 1980 and picked up eight Genie nominations including best direction and best film at the Canadian Film Awards in 1981. Her second full-length feature, Sonatine, which launched the career of Pascale Bussières, won numerous awards, including the Lion d’Argent at the Venice Film Festival. In 2000, Lanctôt received the Albert-Tessier Prize for her body of work in cinematography and in 2004 was honoured with a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. In 2014 Micheline Lanctôt was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 16th annual Prix Jutra. Surprising her and the audience was an appearance by Duddy Kravitz director, Ted Kotcheff.
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
Voyage en grande Tartarie (1972)
La vraie nature de Bernadette (1972)
Souris, tu m’inquiètes (1973)
Les corps célestes (aka Heavenly Bodies, 1973)
Noël et Juliette (1973)
Voyage en Grande Tartarie (1974)
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
Child Under a Leaf (1974)
Ti-Cul Tougas (1976)
Blood Relatives (1978)
Blood & Guts (1978)
Mourir à tue-tête (1979)
L’affaire coffin (1979)
The Triune Brain (1983)
Passages nuageux (TV-1984)
Le chemin de Damas (1988)
Ruth (1994)
Scoop 3 (1995)
Les héritiers Duval (TV-1995)
L’oreille d’un sourd (1995)
Scoop 4 (1995)
J’en suis! (1997)
La vengeance de la femme en noir (1997)
Le coeur au poing (1998)
Aujourd’hui ou jamais (1998)
Le petit ciel (1999)
Quand je serai parti… vous vivrez encore (1999)
Le coeur découvert (2001)
Women Without Wings (2002)
Comment ma mère accoucha de moi durant sa ménopause (2003)
Les invasions barbares (2003)
Children of the Setting Suns (2003)
Le bonheur c’est une chanson triste (TV-2004)
A Year in the Death of Jack Richards (2004)
Tripping the Wire: A Stephen Tree Mystery (2005)
Familia (2005)
A Year in the Death of Jack Richards (2005)
Children of the Setting Suns (2006)
Suzie (2009)
Good Neighbours (2010)
Sarah préfère la course (2013)
Les Jaunes (2014)
My Internship in Canada (2015)
Early Winter (2015)
Nitro Rush (2016)
Pays (aka Boundaries, 2016)
Les Affamés (2017)
Simple comme Sylvain (aka The Nature of Love, 2023)
TV Series – Cast:
Jamais deux sans toi (1977-1980)
Jamais deux sans toi (1990-1992)
Triplex (1994-1995)
Omerta, la loi du silence (1996)
Réseaux (1998)
Le Polock (1999)
Tag (2000)
Bunker, le cirque (2002)
Un monde à part (2004-2006)
Le 7e round (2006)
Belle-Baie (2008-2009)
Unité 9 (2012-2015)
Credits as a Director:
A Token Gesture (1975)
L’homme à tout faire (1980)
La poursuite du bonheur (1987)
Onzième spéciale (1988)
Sonatine (1984)
Deux actrices (1993)
La vie d’un héros(1994)
The Edge: The Sin of Jesus (1997)
Talk Radio (TV-2000)
Le piège d’Issoudun (2003)
Les guerriers (TV-2004)
Suzie (2009)
Pour l’amour de dieu (2011)
Autrui (2015)
Simple comme Sylvain (aka The Nature of Love, 2023)
TV Series – at least 1 episode of:
According to Jim (2001)
Eve (2003)
The Stones (2004)
Credits as a Screenwriter:
L’homme à tout faire (1980)
Sonatine (1984)
Deux actrices (1993)
La vie d’un héros(1994)
Le piège d’Issoudun (2003)
Les guerriers (TV-2004)
Pour l’amour de dieu (2011)
Autrui (2015, co-writer with Hubert-Yves Rose)
Northernstars.ca is published by the Canadian Independent Visual
and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895