Misplaced Pages

Chandler Levack is a Canadian writer, director, and filmmaker.

Levack is best known for her work as an entertainment writer, and for her feature film directorial debut, I Like Movies, which premiered in the Discovery program at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival to universal critical acclaim.

Early life

Levack was born in Toronto and raised in Brantford, Ontario. In 2004, Levack returned to live in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood.

Career

Early work

Levack dropped out of her cinema studies courses at the University of Toronto to pursue a career as a writer. Since then, she has worked an arts and entertainment writer for publications including Eye Weekly, Toronto Life, SPIN, The Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star.

Levack is a two-time Juno Award nominee for Video of the Year, receiving nominations alongside Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux at the Juno Awards of 2015 for directing PUP's "Guilt Trip" music video, and at the Juno Awards of 2016 for directing PUP's "Dark Days" music video.

She was a Prism Prize nominee for both "Guilt Trip" and "Dark Days", and has also directed music videos for DZ Deathrays and Jeremy Dutcher.

Her debut as a narrative filmmaker, the short film We Forgot to Break Up, premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and won the award for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2017 Whistler Film Festival.

Levak later studied screenwriting at the Canadian Film Centre.

I Like Movies

I Like Movies, Levack's debut feature film, premiered in the Discovery program at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, and received widespread acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2022.

Levack won the $10,000 RBC Emerging Artist Award at the 2022 Calgary International Film Festival for the film.

In 2023, Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail named the film as one of the 23 best Canadian comedy films ever made.

Upcoming projects

In November 2023, she was announced as the director of My Dead Mom, a short-form comedy series in production for Crave.

Matthew Miller's production company Zapruder Films (which he co-founded with Matt Johnson), launched a contest to back a first-time female screenwriter with $12,000 in funding, story editor guidance, and script optioning; Levack and her feature film Anglophone were announced as the winners from 137 entries. In 2024, it was announced that Levack's second feature, Mile End Kicks (retitled from Anglophone), would star Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons, and Juliette Gariepy. The film's screenplay is "based on her own experiences as a young female music critic."

Accolades

References

1. Meghan Collie, "Chandler Levack on Her New TIFF Short & the Importance of Telling Trans Stories" Archived 2020-07-13 at the Wayback Machine. Flare, September 13, 2017.
2. ^ Kay, Jeremy. "Daniel Radcliffe as "Weird Al" Yankovic leads TIFF Midnight Madness; Discovery, Wavelength sections also unveiled". Screen. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
3. ^ "I Like Movies". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
4. ^ "The 23 best Canadian comedies ever made". The Globe and Mail. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
5. ^ "The Toronto Portraits - Chandler Levack". www.blogto.com. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
6. Brodsky, Jennie Punter,Katherine (2022-11-22). "Meet Variety's 10 Canadians to Watch Set to be Honored at the Whistler Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved 2024-08-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. "Juno Awards 2015: Avril Lavigne, Nickelback and Kiesza among nominees". Hello! Canada, January 28, 2015.
8. "Junos 2016: Complete list of Juno Award nominees". CBC News, February 2, 2016.
9. "Prism Prize announces Top 10 best Canadian music videos of 2014" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Vancouver Sun, February 12, 2015.
10. Sarah Murphy, "Prism Prize Announces Top 20 Finalists for 2016". Exclaim!, February 9, 2016.
11. Jordan Adler, "We Forgot to Break Up premieres at TIFF". Canadian Jewish News, September 5, 2017.
12. Craig Takeuchi, "It's a tie for best Canadian feature at the 2017 Whistler Film Festival". The Georgia Straight, December 4, 2017.
13. "Alumni Spotlight – IWD Edition: Chandler Levack". Canadian Film Centre. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
14. Mullen, Pat (December 8, 2022). "Three Feature Docs Make Canada's Top Ten". Point of View.
15. Michele Jarvie, "Calgary International Film Festival jury winners announced". Calgary Herald, September 27, 2022.
16. "TV & Film News – Chandler Levack makes TV directorial debut with Crave's ‘My Dead Mom’". Broadcast Dialogue, November 16, 2023.
17. "Winner Selected from 137 Entries". Zapruder Films. 2016. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
18. Ramachandran, Naman (2024-08-29). "'Euphoria' Star Barbie Ferreira to Lead XYZ's Rom-Com 'Mile End Kicks' With Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons, Juliette Gariepy (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
19. "'Euphoria' Star Barbie Ferreira to Lead Montreal-Set Rom-Com 'Mile End Kicks' │ Exclaim!". 'Euphoria' Star Barbie Ferreira to Lead Montreal-Set Rom-Com 'Mile End Kicks' │ Exclaim!. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
20. "Chandler Levack resurrects the video store for coming-of-age film 'I Like Movies'". CityNews Kitchener. 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
21. ^ "Vancouver Film Critics Like I Like Movies". Northern Stars, February 14, 2023.

External links

• Chandler Levack at IMDb

• Canadian women film directors
• Canadian women journalists
• Canadian music video directors
• Canadian television directors
• Canadian film critics
• Canadian Film Centre alumni
• Living people
• Canadian women television directors
• Film directors from Ontario
• Canadian women film critics