Blaine Thurier | |
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Background information | |
Born | 1967 (age 56–57) Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada |
Origin | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Genres | Indie rock, power pop |
Occupation(s) | Musician, director, writer, editor |
Instrument(s) | Synthesizer |
Years active | 1997–present |
Blaine Thurier (born 1967) is a Canadian musician and filmmaker. He played synthesizer with the Canadian indie pop supergroup The New Pornographers from their inception in 1997 up to 2021. He also directed several music videos for the band during his tenure. Thurier has written and directed feature films, which have been screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), South by Southwest Film Festival, Slamdance and other festivals. Thurier served as a 2011 panelist for the TIFF. [1]
Thurier was born in 1967 Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada. [2] [3] He lives in Vancouver with his wife and son. [4]
Thurier considers filmmaking his main creative outlet, while treating music as a job. [5] He plays synthesizer with the Canadian indie pop supergroup The New Pornographers. [6] [7] Thurier has directed three of the band's videos "Use It", "All For Swinging You Around" and "The Laws Have Changed". [8]
Thurier's first full-length feature Low Self-Esteem Girl [9] [10] [11] premiered at the September 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. [12] Thurier used the attention from his film debut to promote The New Pornographers who were still a few months away from releasing their debut album Mass Romantic . [13] The film was awarded Best Narrative Feature at the South by Southwest Film Festival. [2] [14] [15]
Thurier's second full-length feature, a comedy, Male Fantasy received a nomination at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was released to DVD in 2008. [16] A Gun to the Head, a crime comedy, was Thurier's third full-length feature film. [17] Thurier's fourth film 12 Takes was made in 2010. It is a short documentary. [18]
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2003 | "The Laws Have Changed" | from the album Electric Version |
2003 | "All For Swinging You Around" | from the album Electric Version |
2005 | "Use It" | from the album Twin Cinema |
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | Low Self-Esteem Girl | Screenwriter Producer Director Editor Sound Casting director Cinematographer | Best Narrative Feature at the SXSW Film Festival |
2004 | Male Fantasy | Screenwriter, Producer, Director, Editor | |
2009 | A Gun to the Head | Lester | Screenwriter Director |
2012 | 12 Takes | Editor | TV documentary Segment: "Carl Newman" |
2014 | Teen Lust | Director | |
2015 | A Matter of Time | Himself | TV film |
2021 | Kicking Blood | Director |
The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.
The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective and supergroup of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band has released nine studio albums to date. The band have received critical acclaim for their use of multiple vocalists and songwriters, as well as for the elements of power pop incorporated into their music. Pitchfork has described the band's sound as "peppy, gleeful, headstrong guitar pop", while Stereogum has retrospectively praised the band's debut album Mass Romantic as "one of the greatest and most immediate power pop albums ever rendered".
Mass Romantic is the debut studio album by Canadian indie rock supergroup the New Pornographers. Produced by David Carswell and band bassist John Collins, it was released on Mint Records on November 28, 2000. The album was three years in the making, with musicians A.C. Newman and Dan Bejar writing songs as early as 1998. With encouragement from peers, they recorded an album with other Canadian musicians from groups including the Evaporators, Zumpano, and Destroyer.
Zumpano was a Canadian power pop group in the 1990s.
Daniel Bejar is a Canadian singer and musician from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the frontman of Destroyer, and was a member of indie rock band the New Pornographers.
The 2000 Toronto International Film Festival, the 25th annual festival, ran from September 7 to September 16, 2000. Along with special events to commemorate the anniversary, there were a total of 330 films screened. There was a special screening of Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky featuring musical accompaniment by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Also, 25 digital video shorts were made by attending filmmakers.
The Choir Practice is a Canadian indie pop band from Vancouver formed in 2005.
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography Creation. The Young Victoria, based on the early years of Queen Victoria, closed the festival on September 19.
Alan Zweig is a Canadian documentary filmmaker known for often using film to explore his own life.
Connor William Jessup is a Canadian actor, writer, and director. He is known for his roles as Ben Mason on the TNT science fiction television series Falling Skies (2011–2015), Taylor Blaine and Coy Henson in the ABC anthology series American Crime (2016–2017), and Tyler Locke in the Netflix series Locke & Key (2020–2022). He has also starred in feature films, most notably in the award-winning Blackbird (2012) and Closet Monster (2015).
Alison Dyan Liebert is a Canadian actress, director, model and producer. She was a recipient of a Canadian Screen Award for work in the wartime series Bomb Girls.
Allan Carl Newman is a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter. He was a member of the indie rock bands Superconductor and Zumpano in the 1990s. Following the breakup of those bands, he reemerged as the leader of the New Pornographers in 2000, a band who have enjoyed both commercial and critical success.
Heather Young is a Canadian filmmaker based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall was the opening night film. A Little Chaos, a British period drama directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet closed the festival. More films for each section were announced on 12 August, with the line-up completed on 19 August. A total of 393 films were shown, including 143 world premieres. The first Friday was dubbed "Bill Murray Day", as festival organisers dedicated a day to the actor by screening a select number of his films for free.
Mouna Traoré is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in a variety of television series, such as Global TV's Rookie Blue (2012), CBC's Murdoch Mysteries (2015–2018), and Netflix's The Umbrella Academy (2020). Her film work includes the 2017 films The Drop In, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Brown Girl Begins, directed by Sharon Lewis.
Whiteout Conditions is the seventh studio album by Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers. It was released on April 7, 2017, and is the first album not to feature either longtime drummer Kurt Dahle or singer-songwriter Dan Bejar.
Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films. The list was first introduced in 2001 as an initiative to help publicize Canadian films.
Jasmin Mozaffari is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her debut feature film Firecrackers.
Low Self-Esteem Girl is a 2000 Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Blaine Thurier. Shot on digital video for a budget of less than $10,000, the film stars Corrina Hammond as Lois, a naive woman with low self-esteem who gets drawn into unusual situations because of her overly trusting nature.
Kicking Blood is a 2021 Canadian horror comedy film directed and co-written by Blaine Thurier. The film stars Alanna Bale as Anna, a vampire who decides to try to quit her addiction to blood after meeting and falling in love with Robbie, a human recovering alcoholic.