Carl Bessai is a Canadian film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

. Bessai studied at OCAD University and at York University

York University

York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....

 in Toronto graduating with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. He got his start directing documentary films

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 before moving to Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 and directing his debut feature film Johnny in 1999. Bessai has made a career working on low-budget independent features but has worked with A-List actors Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...

 and Deborah Kara Unger

Deborah Kara Unger

Deborah Kara Unger is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Crash , The Game , The Hurricane , White Noise , Silent Hill and 88 Minutes...

 on his film Emile

Emile (film)

Emile is a Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai but not released widely until 2004. The cast included Ian McKellen and Deborah Kara Unger...

 and Carrie-Anne Moss

Carrie-Anne Moss

-External links:...

 on his film Normal

Normal (2007 film)

Normal is a 2007 Canadian drama film about a group of unrelated people who are brought together in the wake of a deadly car accident. The film was directed by Carl Bessai, and stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie and Andrew Airlie....

. He was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction

Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction

The Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian film director.-1st Genie Awards:*Bob Clark, Murder by Decree*Peter Carter, Klondike Fever...

 for the latter film. Bessai is a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada, the Writer’s Guild of Canada, and the Canadian Film and Television Producer's Association.

Selected filmography

• Sisters & Brothers (2011)
• Fathers & Sons (2010)
• Repeaters (2010)
• Cole (2009)
• Mothers & Daughters (2008)
• Normal
  Normal (2007 film)
  Normal is a 2007 Canadian drama film about a group of unrelated people who are brought together in the wake of a deadly car accident. The film was directed by Carl Bessai, and stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie and Andrew Airlie....
  
  (2007)
• Unnatural & Accidental
  Unnatural & Accidental
  Unnatural & Accidental is a 2006 award-winning Canadian film directed by Carl Bessai and adapted from a Marie Clements play The Unnatural and Accidental Women.- Plot :...
  
  (2006)
• Severed
  Severed
  Severed: Forest of the Dead is a 2005 zombie suspense horror film directed by Carl Bessai and set in a remote logging community following an incident where a genetic experiment goes wrong.-Premise:...
  
  (2005)
• Emile
  Emile (film)
  Emile is a Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai but not released widely until 2004. The cast included Ian McKellen and Deborah Kara Unger...
  
  (2003)
• Lola (2001)
• Johnny (1999)

External links