Raphaël Houde-Belle-Isle
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Originally from Quebec City, I have been passionate about creative expression all my life. In elementary school, I was very active in improv and, at age 14, I wrote my first screenplay: a comedy about a camping trip gone bad called "Drôle de camping." Later in high school, I found an interest in videography and photography, mostly through music and festive events.
Early in adult life, I moved to Montreal where I began studying at the University of Montreal. There, I discovered a love for documentary filmmaking, mostly through an editing class and a workshop with documentary TV series host and director Philippe Desrosiers. I further developed this passion through backpacking and travel.
In 2017, I participated in my first professional documentary with Radio-Canada called "Récits du large," as part of the "Reporters RDV2017" project. I took part in the pre-production process with director Richard Laferrière and team member Romy Boutin St-Pierre, and then, for two weeks, Romy and I sailed on board the Bark Europa from Miramichi to Quebec City alongside a cameraman. We shared our experience daily on camera and through smartphones, with other reporters on different tall ships doing the same. The production aired internationally.
I then flew to Central America and Peru, where I directed and shot my first documentary called "Ceiba: le coeur." It explored the pattern of living one's life wholeheartedly through five different life stories told by their protagonists, and I later found resonance with Joseph Campbell's concept of the "hero's journey."
Its premiere was on the night of April 28, 2018. Sadly, it's also the night when I feel I lost my creative alignment, even though I had just been accepted in Film Production at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. I still attended the school and eventually turned to fiction filmmaking, as I directed my first narrative short films there and wrote the script for my first professional project called "Le sacrifice du roi" ("The King's Sacrifice" in English). However, my creative alignment loss got no better, and my film project wasn't selected in the end by my class jury for production. Therefore, I interrupted my schooling at the MHSoC in 2020 to readjust myself.
At this point, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. I decided to review my script and intended to produce the film when this worldwide calamity would subside through my own and newly created production company called "Productions HLV Inc." This is what gave me the strength to overcome my hardships and start regaining my creative alignment in a much more evolved and potent form. Despite public health measures restricting the production process, "Le sacrifice du roi" was finished in 2023 and has received recognition from film festivals internationally, such as the "Best Cinematography" award at the Canadian Independent Film Festival in Montreal on May 26, 2024.
In September 2024, I went back to the MHSoC to properly complete my BFA in Film Production.
Early in adult life, I moved to Montreal where I began studying at the University of Montreal. There, I discovered a love for documentary filmmaking, mostly through an editing class and a workshop with documentary TV series host and director Philippe Desrosiers. I further developed this passion through backpacking and travel.
In 2017, I participated in my first professional documentary with Radio-Canada called "Récits du large," as part of the "Reporters RDV2017" project. I took part in the pre-production process with director Richard Laferrière and team member Romy Boutin St-Pierre, and then, for two weeks, Romy and I sailed on board the Bark Europa from Miramichi to Quebec City alongside a cameraman. We shared our experience daily on camera and through smartphones, with other reporters on different tall ships doing the same. The production aired internationally.
I then flew to Central America and Peru, where I directed and shot my first documentary called "Ceiba: le coeur." It explored the pattern of living one's life wholeheartedly through five different life stories told by their protagonists, and I later found resonance with Joseph Campbell's concept of the "hero's journey."
Its premiere was on the night of April 28, 2018. Sadly, it's also the night when I feel I lost my creative alignment, even though I had just been accepted in Film Production at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. I still attended the school and eventually turned to fiction filmmaking, as I directed my first narrative short films there and wrote the script for my first professional project called "Le sacrifice du roi" ("The King's Sacrifice" in English). However, my creative alignment loss got no better, and my film project wasn't selected in the end by my class jury for production. Therefore, I interrupted my schooling at the MHSoC in 2020 to readjust myself.
At this point, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. I decided to review my script and intended to produce the film when this worldwide calamity would subside through my own and newly created production company called "Productions HLV Inc." This is what gave me the strength to overcome my hardships and start regaining my creative alignment in a much more evolved and potent form. Despite public health measures restricting the production process, "Le sacrifice du roi" was finished in 2023 and has received recognition from film festivals internationally, such as the "Best Cinematography" award at the Canadian Independent Film Festival in Montreal on May 26, 2024.
In September 2024, I went back to the MHSoC to properly complete my BFA in Film Production.
