Jim Donovan
Originally from Montreal and now based in Toronto, I caught the film bug in my teens. Since then my body of work has flowed through the eclectic worlds of music videos, commercials, independent film, docs and scripted television.
​
In episodic TV, I work on both English and French prime time series with such accomplished producers such as Epitome, Lighthouse Films, Cineflix, 7-24, Casablanca Films, Attraction Image; and for networks such as CTV, CBC, SRC, MTV, CBS, LMN, NatGeo, Discovery, Fox, and Showcase. Highlights include: Are You Afraid of the Dark, Instant Star, Flashpoint, Heartland, Republic of Doyle, Le Clan, and Cracked.
My second feature, Pure, was nominated for Best Direction at the 2005 DGC Awards. 3 Saisons, my follow up film, was invited to over 25 international festivals and won multiple awards including the Borsos for best Canadian feature at the 2008 Whistler Film Festival, and a triple nomination at the 2010 Genie Awards including for Best Picture.
In 2013, I won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a TV series for Flashpoint, "A Day in the Life." The episode of Cracked, "Ghost Dance," that I directed was nominated for Best TV Drama at the 2014 DGC Awards.
In 2014-2015 I was tapped for 2 seasons as series director on the acclaimed French-language drama Le Clan for SRC, now streaming on Netflix. In 2016 I directed the pilot for soccer drama 21 Thunder for CBC, also streaming on Netflix. In 2017, I helmed the 6-part mini-series entitled Le Siège for SRC and TV5 Monde produced by Attraction Images which received a DGC Nomination for Best Director in the 2018 gala. Recent projects include the true-crime television movie Believe Me, The Abduction of Lisa McVey for Cineflix which received 6 nominations at the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards, winning for Best TV Movie.
This past winter I completed a first person documentary with producer Byron A. Martin entitled Mancation, gearing up for a festival run in the coming months.
Currently in post-production is a new comedy series Edgar for Bell’s Super Écran and the newly launched French language, premium streaming service Crave. I am also writing a french-language feature with Telefilm Canada support entitled L’Apprenti with Montreal producer Attraction Images.