On June 2, Clement Virgo (Brother) and Michael McGowan (All My Puny Sorrows) discussed the craft of filmmaking – part one of our new spring/summer series celebrating the winners of the 2023 WGC Awards. From their different approaches to dialogue and structure, to how they think of themselves as artists, it was a fascinating conversation between two of Canada's finest filmmakers.
WATCH IT NOW ON THE WGC'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
(COMING SOON TO THE WGC'S WRITERS TALKING SCREEN PODCAST.)
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
One of Canada’s foremost film/TV directors, Clement Virgo directed and wrote the screen adaptation of David Chariandy’s Brother, which premiered at TIFF 2022, and won 12 CSAs, including Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as the 2023 WGC Screenwriting Award for Best Feature. His first feature, Rude, premiered in Cannes Official Selection 1995. He co-wrote and directed the six-part series The Book of Negroes, based on Lawrence Hill’s novel, which opened MIPCOM 2015 and was a Peabody Award nominee. His TV credits include The Wire (HBO), Dahmer (NETFLIX) and Greenleaf (OWN) where he also served as executive producer with Oprah Winfrey.
Michael McGowan is a multi-hyphenate content creator. He has written, directed and produced six award-winning feature films, including most recently the acclaimed screen adaptation of Miriam Toew’s novel, All My Puny Sorrows. In a five-star review, the New York Times hailed Still Mine as “more vital that a thousand movies.” As a former journalist and bestselling YA novelist, McGowan’s career has spanned numerous genres. He has directed commercials for Nike and created shows for Netflix. From opening the Toronto International Film Festival to running a stop-motion animation studio, the constant in McGowan’s work has been a unique creativity.
A WGC Writers Talking Screen virtual event, sponsored by Dept.9 Studios.
