Deanne Foley facts for kids

Deanne Catherine Foley is a talented Canadian director, writer, and producer. She creates both movies and shorter films, as well as TV shows. Her films often tell stories about strong female characters and are usually filmed in Atlantic Canada. Deanne Foley is well-known for her movies like An Audience of Chairs, Relative Happiness, and Beat Down. These films have won many awards and were shown at important film festivals.

About Deanne Foley

Deanne Foley grew up in St. John's, Newfoundland, in the 1970s. She studied English at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and graduated in 1995. During her time at university, she became very interested in making films after attending the St. John's International Women's Film Festival.

Today, Deanne Foley lives in St. John's, Newfoundland, and is a mother of two children.

Deanne Foley's Career

Starting Out in Film

In 1998, Deanne Foley moved to Halifax to find chances to work in the film world. Her very first short film, Trombone Trouble, was shown at the Atlantic Film Festival in 2000. This funny short film is about a girl who tries to get rid of her trombone because her parents make her take lessons. The film was shown on CBC and The Comedy Network in Canada and at many film festivals.

In 2002, she went back to St. John's and produced another short film called This Boy. For this film, she won the Best Canadian Female Short award at the Inside Out Film Festival in Toronto. In the early 2000s, Deanne also worked for two CBC news shows, ZeD and Street Cents. She was a field producer and video journalist, focusing on stories from Newfoundland. In 2009, she directed her second short film, The Magnificent Molly McBride. This film won the Audience Choice Award at the 2010 Nickel Independent Film Festival in St. John's.

Making Feature Films

In 2012, Deanne Foley's first full-length movie, Beat Down, was released. She directed and helped write this film. It's a comedy about a teenager named Fran, played by Marthe Bernard, who wants to become a professional wrestler like her parents. However, her father doesn't approve. The movie received good reviews and was nominated for three Canadian Comedy Awards, including one for Deanne's directing. It was also named "Best of the Fest" at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California, where it was first shown.

Her second full-length movie, Relative Happiness, was made with teams from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The film is based on a book by Cape Breton writer Lesley Crewe. It stars Melissa Bergland, Aaron Poole, and Susan Kent. Deanne Foley wrote the script with Iain MacLeod, Sherry White, and Lesley Crewe. They decided to make the movie funnier than the book, turning it into a romantic comedy. The story is about Lexie, played by Melissa Bergland, who owns a bed and breakfast and is looking for love. Deanne filmed Relative Happiness in Halifax over 16 days in the fall of 2013. The movie had a budget of $1.25 million and received funding from Telefilm Canada. It was first shown on May 15, 2014, at the Cannes Film Festival. Deanne and her directing team were nominated for an award by the Directors Guild of Canada for their work on this project.

Directing for Television

Deanne Foley has also directed many television series. In 2014, she directed two episodes of the CBC show Republic of Doyle. She also directed episodes for other TV series, such as A Guy and a Girl, a comedy show that aired on the W Network. She also created and directed a TV documentary series called Going the Distance, which was shown in 2004 on Global Television. This show followed the lives of 13 different couples who had been together for a long time. In recent years, she has directed episodes for popular shows like Hudson and Rex (5 episodes in 2022) and Son of a Critch (16 episodes in 2022).

Awards and Recognitions

Deanne Foley is a member of several important groups for filmmakers and writers. These include the Directors Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of Canada, WIFT (Women in Film and Television)-Atlantic, and NIFCO (Newfoundland Independent Film Makers Co-Op Ltd). She won the award for Best Debut Feature at the Female Eye Film Festival for her movie Beat Down. In 2015, she was named Artist of the Year at the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Awards. She also won the 2020 Wave Award from WIFT-Atlantic.

Deanne Foley's Filmography

Films

Television