Evan Beloff

Evan Beloff is a Canadian film writer/producer/director and production company executive.

Biography

Early life

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Evan Beloff graduated from Concordia University with a double major in Playwriting and Theatre. Since then, he has worked as a writer, actor, director, script editor and producer. He has written plays for the theatre (see Credits section below) and scripts for film. He is a former researcher, archivist and cameraman for Steven Spielberg's visual history archives of World War II (The Shoah Foundation. More recently he has moved into the world of docu-series, mockumentaries and documentary film writing, directing and production.

1990s

In 1998, Beloff co-founded the Montreal film-house Diversus Productions and in 1999 co-produced the Felix Award-winning music video (Best music video, Quebec) "La Vie est Laide" for Quebec rock star Jean Leloup.

2000s

In 2000-2001, Beloff served as the Producer and Second Unit Director for the Gemini Award-nominated documentary "Too Colorful for the League: A History of Blacks in Hockey" for the CBC. Then, in 2002, he produced, starred in and narrated the festival hit mockumentary "Schmelvis: Searching for the King's Jewish Roots" (Nodance, HBO Comedy Arts Fest).

In 2002 and 2003, Beloff co-produced, wrote and directed the popular 19 part documentary series (two seasons) "Women Warriors" for WTSN, SCN, CBC, Radio Canada and CFCF12/CTV. He also produced an episode of "Life & Times" for CBC on one of Canada's most famous poets, Irving Layton. In 2003 Beloff co-produced the reality comedy-documentary "Cruising Quebec" for Global, and produced, co-wrote and co-directed the mockumentary "The Legend of Memphre" for Space and City TV. In 2004 he co-produced "Being Osama" for CBC's Passionate Eye, RDI and Al Arabiya. His final documentary project at Diversus was an architecture and travel documentary for Global titled "Winter Wonderland: The Making of the Ice Hotel". Beloff wrote, directed and produced the film which is distributed by the National Film Board of Canada and broadcast internationally on such channels as: HBO Europe, Spektrum TV RT Hungary, CPS Czech Republic, TVC Spain, NHK Japan and TV2 in France

In 2005, Beloff relinquished partnership in Diversus Productions to establish his own company, Ontic Media Inc. and has since written, directed and produced (in collaboration with Bunbury Film's Frederic Bohbot) the award-winning, biopic thriller, "Once a Nazi" on former Waffen SS soldier turned professor Adalbert Lallier for SCN, CTV, Canal D, CLT, American Public Television / PBS and distributed internationally by the National Film Board of Canada • • • Once a Nazi... was awarded the 2006 J. I Segal Award for Canadian, Jewish-Themed Film of the Year • • •

http://www.jewishpubliclibrary.org/images/Flyer%20JI%20Segal%202006.pdf

In 2007, he produced the documentary "Quitter le Bercail" ("Leaving the Fold") by acclaimed director Eric Scott for [Radio Canada] and co-wrote/produced/directed an update of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch legend titled "Bigfoot's Reflection" for CHUM, City TV, CLT, Space and SCN *World Premiere Broadcast on May 23rd, 2007 - 9 PM EST on Space*

In 2008, Beloff is producing the environmental, access documentary "Burning Water: Rosebud" along with Frederic Bohbot's Bunbury Films for CBC. The film is directed by Cameron Esler and Tadzio Richards.

Awards and honors

Evan is also the recipient of a prestigious CTV Producer's Fellowship from the Banff International Television Festival (2000).

Credits

Plays

*"The Wait", produced by Vilna Players
*"Never" by Rightime Productions
*"Natural Times ", produced by the OK Theatre

Films

*"Winter Wonderland: Making of the Ice Hotel"
*"Schmelvis: Searching for the King's Jewish Roots"
*"Too Colorful for the League: A History of Blacks in Hockey"
*"Cruising Quebec"
*"The Legend of Memphre"
*"Being Osama"
*"Once a Nazi..." (Nazi un Jour...)
*"Bigfoot's Reflection"
*"Quitter le Bercail" ("Leaving the Fold")

Television

*"Women Warriors"
*"Life & Times: Irving Layton"

Music videos

*"La Vie est Laide"

Sources and references

* [http://www.jewishtribune.ca/tribune/jt-051201-14.html Article citing Beloff's documentary work]
* [http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.04.19/arts2.html Review of film "Schmelvis: Searching for the King's Jewish Roots"]
* [http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=6368 Another article on "Schmelvis"]
* [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/107/story_10778_2.html Yet another article on "Schmelvis"]
* [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/film/reviews/51415/schmelvis1/ more "Schmelvis" ]
* [http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=52651&v=h&lg=en&exp= Article on "Winter Wonderland" directed by Beloff]
* [http://www.onticmedia.com Ontic's official website]
* [http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=9935 On "Once a Nazi" directed by Beloff]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/beingosama.html On "Being Osama" produced by Beloff]
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0405455/fullcredits On "Voices from the List" Beloff as interviewer for Shoah Foundation/Spielberg produced documentary]
* [http://www.playbackmag.com/articles/daily/20070308/bigfoot.html An article on Bigfoot Documentary]
* [http://www.hour.ca/film/film.aspx?iIDArticle=10304 Review of "Once a Nazi" directed and produced by Beloff]
* [http://www.thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=56472660417324026366198455114&ctid=1000266&cnid=1011996 An Article on Beloff's doc '9-13']
* [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=e0843ccd-557f-4648-8306-ce353d23baba Another review of "Once a Nazi"]
* [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/movies/story.html?id=a19c8831-8367-4ced-aaae-3ae297eddb01&p=2 Montreal Gazette review of Leaving the Fold]