Phil Comeau is a film and television director and scriptwriter, based in Moncton (New Brunswick) and in Montreal (Quebec). His documentary and drama fiction films have won over 50 awards in North America and Europe. He has directed films and TV episodes in Canada and in over 20 countries, and they have been broadcast on over 70 TV networks worldwide.
His recent films include the award-winning feature-length documentaries Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart Secretariat's Jockey, Ron Turcotte and The Nature of Frederic Back. His popular adult drama series Tribu.com (I & II) received viewer ratings of 1.3 million in Quebec, Canada. Other popular drama series include the TV remakes of La Sagouine (2006)) and Lassie (1997). Other TV series include Emily of New Moon, Pit Pony, Les couleurs de mon accent, World Legends and Mayday which has been translated in 26 languages and broadcast worldwide. He also directed and co-wrote the drama feature film Jerome's Secret in Canada, and two TV movies Crash of the Century in France, and Teen Knight in Romania and the USA.
Comeau has directed and wrote numerous films about his Acadian culture. Among them, the first independent Acadian drama feature film Jerome's Secret in 1994, the first Acadian comedy The Gossips in 1978, the first Acadian children's film The Hooked Rug of Grand-Pré in 1986, and a popular series remake La Sagouine in 2006 which was entirely shot by an Acadian crew for the Canadian national TV network Radio-Canada.
A globetrotter, Phil has travelled on all continents and visited over 50 countries. As an author, he has also published poetry in two books Plumes d'ictte and Éloizes, a published script Les Gossipeuses, an Acadian dictionary Le parler Acadjonne, and in 2014 acted as editor and co-director of Acadie Then and Now, a 500-page collective essaie containing both history and contemporary chapters on the Acadian world diaspora, which won the international award Prix France-Acadie in Paris.
Film awards and honours
His films and TV series have received over 50 awards at festivals in North America and Europe. Phil Comeau has received 5 Orders. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011; the Order of New Brunswick and the Ordre de la Pléiade from the Assemblée des Parlementaires de la Francophonie in 2016; the distinction of the Ordre des francophones d'Amérique at the National Assembly in Quebec in 2007; and the rank of "Chevalier" of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2006. He also received two Honorary Doctorats in Arts from the Université de Moncton, N.B. (2013) and from Université Sainte-Anne in N.S. (2007); the Prix Meritas of the Federation acadienne du Quebec in 1999; the Grand-Pre Award from the Minister of Culture of Nova Scotia in 1997, and the Prix Champion in Ottawa in 1995. His feature film Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart was presented at the United Nations in Geneva in 2017.
