Clement Virgo

Last updated
Clement Virgo
Clement Virgo at the 2017 CFC Alumni at TIFF Reception (37034658296).jpg
Virgo in 2017
Born (1966-06-01) June 1, 1966 (age 57)
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Nationality Canadian
Occupation(s) Film director, television director, film producer, television producer, screenwriter
Years active 1991–present
Website www.conqueringlionpictures.com

Clement Virgo (born June 1, 1966) is a Canadian film and television writer, producer and director who runs the production company, Conquering Lion Pictures, with producer Damon D'Oliveira. Virgo is best known for co-writing and directing an adaptation of the novel by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes (2015), a six-part miniseries that aired on CBC Television in Canada and BET in the United States.

Contents

In 2023, Virgo directed Brother, which was critically acclaimed and received numerous accolades, including a nomination at the 24th Annual Black Reel Awards for Outstanding International Film and 12 awards at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards. [1]

Early life

Virgo was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 11 and grew up in Toronto. [2] [3] In the summer of 1991, he attended the Canadian Film Centre's inaugural Summer Lab initiative as a screenwriter, where he developed the screenplay for what would later become his feature film debut, Rude (1995). [4]

Career

Early work

At the Canadian Film Centre, Virgo met a number of Canadian filmmakers, including Damon D'Oliveira. Virgo wrote and directed the stylized short film, Save My Lost Nigga' Soul, with D'Oliveira as producer, through the CFC's Short Film Program. The film won Best Film prizes at the Toronto, Fespaco and Chicago Film Festivals. [5]

Virgo and D'Oliveira were invited to participate in the CFC's film residency program in 1992. Together, the pair established Conquering Lion Pictures and produced their first feature film, Rude. It had its world premiere at Cannes as part of the Un certain regard program. [6]

Virgo's next films, The Planet of Junior Brown, [4] which earned an Emmy nomination, and Love Come Down, were followed by Lie with Me , which caused a stir at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival because it portrayed explicit sexual themes. [7] Starring Lauren Lee Smith and Eric Balfour, Lie With Me had its European premiere at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival, Panorama Section. It has been distributed internationally, and sold to Showtime in the United States. The film was based on the novel of the same name, written by his wife, the author Tamara Faith Berger. [8]

2007–present

Virgo next created a boxing drama, Poor Boy's Game , starred Danny Glover and Rossif Sutherland. It was first screened at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival, Panorama Special Section, and was presented as a Special Selection at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Poor Boy's Game earned Virgo a nomination in 2007 for the Directors Guild of Canada Outstanding Achievement Craft Award for direction of a motion picture film. In a review for Variety, critic Leslie Felperin praised the film's treatment of race, identity and sexuality, declaring it to be Virgo's best work up to that time. [9]

Virgo co-wrote and directed the six-part miniseries adaptation of Lawrence Hill's bestselling novel The Book of Negroes (2015), starring Aunjanue Ellis, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lou Gossett Jr., Ben Chaplin, Jane Alexander and Lyriq Bent. The series aired to wide acclaim and a record-breaking 1.7 million Canadian viewers in January 2015 on CBC in Canada. [10] It premiered in February 2015 in the United States, drawing landmark ratings for BET (Black Entertainment Television.) [11] The series won 11 Canadian Screen Awards, [12] [13] two U.S. Critics Choice Television Awards nominations for Best Limited Series and Best Actress in a Limited Series (Aunjanue Ellis), [14] three 2015 NAACP Image Award Nominations, including Best Miniseries, Best Actor (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Best Actress (Ellis), and the NAACP Award for Best Writing in a TV Movie or Miniseries for Virgo and Lawrence Hill. [15] The Book of Negroes was also named one of 60 finalists for the 2016 Peabody Awards. [16]

Virgo's television credits include The Wire for HBO, The L Word for Showtime, Baz Luhrmann's Netflix drama The Get Down (2016), and American Crime for ABC. He directed several episodes of the OWN drama series Greenleaf (2016), [17] on which he served as executive producer with Oprah Winfrey. [18] [19]

From 2010 to 2014, Virgo and the Canadian Film Centre co-hosted a series of annual talks to celebrate Black History Month in Toronto, with guests Lee Daniels, Norman Jewison, Spike Lee, Pam Grier, John Singleton, and Chris Tucker.

In 2021 Virgo began production on Brother , an adaptation of the award-winning novel by David Chariandy. [20] The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2022 and was nominated at the 24th Annual Black Reel Awards for Outstanding International Film. [21]

In November 2021, he was announced as directing the upcoming Black Cyclone, a biopic on legendary cyclist Major Taylor, for Mind's Eye Entertainment. [22]

Accolades

In 2017, Virgo and D'Oliveira as Conquering Lion Pictures co-founders received the Canadian Film Centre's Award for Creative Excellence. [23]

He won the Canadian Screen Awards for Best Director and the Best Adapted Screenplay at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023 for Brother, which was also named Best Picture. [24] The film won twelve Canadian Screen Awards overall, the most of any film since Night Zoo (Un zoo la nuit) nearly swept the 9th Genie Awards in 1988.

Filmography

Film

Television

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Jewison</span> Canadian filmmaker (1926–2024)

Norman Frederick Jewison was a Canadian filmmaker. He was known for directing films which addressed topical social and political issues, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. Among numerous other accolades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades, for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987). He was nominated for an additional four Oscars, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a BAFTA Award. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Hill</span> Canadian novelist, essayist, and memoirist (born 1957)

Lawrence Hill is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He is known for his 2007 novel The Book of Negroes, inspired by the Black Loyalists given freedom and resettled in Nova Scotia by the British after the American Revolutionary War, and his 2001 memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada. The Book of Negroes was adapted for a TV mini-series produced in 2015. He was selected in 2013 for the Massey Lectures: he drew from his non-fiction book Blood: The Stuff of Life, published that year. His ten books include other non-fiction and fictional works, and some have been translated into other languages and published in numerous other countries.

Poor Boy's Game is a 2007 Canadian drama film directed by Clement Virgo. Co-written with Nova Scotian writer/director Chaz Thorne, it is the story of class struggle, racial tensions, and boxing, set in the Canadian east coast port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The film premiered on February 11, 2007, at the Berlin International Film Festival. The movie stars Danny Glover, Rossif Sutherland, Greg Bryk, Flex Alexander and Laura Regan.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Direction to the best work by a director of a Canadian film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Chariandy</span> Canadian writer (born 1969)

David John Chariandy is a Canadian writer and academic, presently working as a professor of English literature at Simon Fraser University. His 2017 novel Brother won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and Toronto Book Award.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Dramatic Series. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards program, since 2013 the award has been presented as part of the expanded Canadian Screen Awards.

<i>The Book of Negroes</i> (novel) Novel by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill

The Book of Negroes is a 2007 novel from Canadian writer Lawrence Hill. In the United States, Australia and New Zealand, the novel was published under the title Someone Knows My Name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Film Centre</span> Film school in Toronto, Canada

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded in 1988 by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally launched as a film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for professionals in the Canadian film, television and digital media industries, including directors, producers, screenwriters, actors and musicians.

Rude is a 1995 Canadian crime film directed by Clement Virgo in his feature-length directorial debut. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, before having its Canadian premiere at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival as the opening film of the Perspectives Canada program.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Comedy Series.

Conquering Lion Pictures (CLP) is an independent Canadian film production company founded by Clement Virgo and Damon D'Oliveira. Virgo and D'Oliveira met in 1991 while studying at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), and formed CLP while working on Rude, their first feature film at the CFC.

<i>The Book of Negroes</i> (miniseries) Television series

The Book of Negroes is a 2015 television miniseries based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill. The book was inspired by the British freeing and evacuation of former slaves, known as Black Loyalists, who had left rebel masters during the American Revolutionary War. The British transported some 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia for resettlement, documenting their names in what was called the Book of Negroes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damon D'Oliveira</span> Canadian actor and film producer

Damon D'Oliveira is a Canadian actor and film and television producer, best known as a partner with Clement Virgo in the production firm Conquering Lion Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. J. Scott</span> Director, stunt performer and actor

T. J. Scott is a Canadian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, and former stuntman and actor. He is primarily known for his work directing popular television series such as Orphan Black, Xena: Warrior Princess, Gotham, Star Trek: Discovery, Longmire, 12 Monkeys, The Strain, and Spartacus.

CBC Presents the Stratford Festival is a Canadian film and television series. Produced by the Stratford Festival in conjunction with CBC Television, the series aims to film a Stratford production of every William Shakespeare play by 2025. In addition to airing on CBC Television, the films will also be distributed theatrically both in and outside of Canada.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Feature Length Documentary. First presented in 1968 as part of the Canadian Film Awards, it became part of the Genie Awards in 1980 and the contemporary Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.

Save My Lost Nigga Soul is a 1993 Canadian short film, directed by Clement Virgo. An adaptation of the story of Cain and Abel, it was made while Virgo was a student at the Canadian Film Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thyrone Tommy</span> Canadian film director

Thyrone Tommy is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. After writing and directing the short film Mariner (2016), Tommy received acclaim for his work on the feature film Learn to Swim (2021), both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lovell Adams-Gray is a Canadian actor. He is best known for the role of Dru Tejada in Power Book II: Ghost, and his performance in the web series 21 Black Futures, for which he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Performance in a Web Program or Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.

<i>Brother</i> (2022 film) 2022 Canadian film

Brother is a 2022 Canadian drama film, written, produced and directed by Clement Virgo. An adaptation of David Chariandy's award-winning novel of the same name, the film centres on the relationship between Francis and Michael, two Black Canadian brothers growing up in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario in the early 1990s.

References

  1. ↑ Complex, Valerie (December 15, 2023). "Black Reel Awards Nominations: 'The Color Purple' And 'Rustin' Dominate". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  2. ↑ Wyndham Wise, "Clement Virgo", The Canadian Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ "From rap battles to the Cinesphere getting its groove back, here's what's new at TIFF '17". Ali Chiasson · CBC News · Sep 06, 2017
  4. 1 2 "Great Toronto movies that aren't so white". NOW Magazine, by Norman Wilner, Susan G. Cole, February 24, 2016
  5. ↑ Sheila Petty; Sheila J. Petty (2008). Contact Zones: Memory, Origin, and Discourses in Black Diasporic Cinema. Wayne State University Press. p. 230. ISBN   978-0-8143-3099-9.
  6. ↑ DeRosia, Margaret. "Close-Up: Conquering Lion Pictures". Canadian Film Centre. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  7. ↑ Walker, Susan. (September 25, 2005). "Lie With Me." Toronto Star.
  8. ↑ Clements, Warren (10 February 2006). "For your Valentine's viewing pleasure" . Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  9. ↑ Felperin, Leslie. (February 12, 2007). "Berlin Reviews". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932781?refcatid=2478. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
  10. ↑ "Book of Negroes tops ratings for its time slot". cbc.ca. January 9, 2015.
  11. ↑ "The Book of Negroes Extras & Exclusives". bet.com.
  12. ↑ "The Book of Negroes wins 11 Canadian Screen Awards - TO411 Daily". to411daily.com.
  13. ↑ "‘The Book of Negroes’ wins at the Canadian Screen Awards". RAdio Canada International, By Carmel Kilkenny | 10 March 2016
  14. ↑ "Two Critics' Choice Awards nominations for The Book of Negroes - CBC News". cbc.ca.
  15. ↑ "NAACP Image Awards: Winners and Nominees". Archived from the original on 2016-08-28. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  16. ↑ "The 60 Peabody Finalists". peabodyawards.com. 12 April 2016.
  17. ↑ Regan Reid, "What shows topped the digital charts in 2017?". Playback , December 18, 2017.
  18. ↑ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (14 September 2015). "OWN's Megachurch Drama 'Greenleaf' Adds 'The Wire' Alum as EP and Director". variety.com.
  19. ↑ Chris Jancelewicz, "‘Greenleaf’: What to expect from Oprah Winfrey’s new show". Global News, June 21, 2016.
  20. ↑ Liza Sardi, "Rising stars assemble for Brother". Playback , October 18, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Clement Virgo’s ‘Brother’ to premiere at Toronto International Film Festival". Toronto Star , July 6, 2022.
  22. ↑ Jackson, Angelique (22 November 2021). "Clement Virgo Tapped to Direct 'Black Cyclone' Biopic About Bicycle Racer Major Taylor (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  23. ↑ "CFC Celebrates Damon D'Oliveira, Clement Virgo and Acclaimed Conquering Lion Pictures with Fourth Annual Award for Creative Excellence". Canadian Film Centre. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  24. ↑ Jenna Benchetrit, "Brother dominates with a dozen wins on third night of Canadian Screen Awards". CBC News, April 13, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.