26/03/2025 - The producer from Canada, this year's guest country of the Emerging Producers programme, discusses the personal responsibility that comes with filmmaking and her upcoming projects

A graduate of Concordia in Film Production (Montreal, Quebec), Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre works on 17 feature and short films with the award-winning company Metafilms. Eurodoc and the Entrepreneurship Program from HEC Montreal strengthened her journey. To this day, she has launched 8 features including Rojek by Zaynê Akyol (Canada's choice at 96th Oscars, Vision du Réel, Doc NYC), That Kind of Summer by Denis Côté (Berlinale, Karlovy Vary) and Damascus Dreams by Emilie Serri (IFFR, FNC). An interview with her, now working for Portage Films and selected for the 2025 Emerging Producers programme (read her EP profile here).

Why do you produce documentaries? Do you see documentary cinema as an instrument of social and political change?
Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre: When you make the gift of your time to something, you're already opening up to something that might change you. Cinema has a responsibility towards its audience by making them reflect on the world we live in. I've always been deeply and profoundly moved by the medium and this long-lasting passion is the fuel of my days. 

How do you achieve and maintain work-life balance and foster overall well-being?
I have learned that a break isn't a luxury but a necessity. We're lucky enough today that it is valued, so yes, bikepacking, reading, nature and camping are part of the activities that I nurture. At some point in my life, I had to ask myself: without film production, who am I? From that moment onwards, I have been putting conscious effort in feeding that question and making sure it never goes unanswered. 

Where do you find audiences for your films?
Finding audiences is still a very mysterious act of trust for me. Even after producing eight feature documentaries that went to major film festivals (including an Oscars campaign) and won numerous prizes, I still don't quite understand how a distribution path can be measured as a success story. I like to think of filmmaking as a mark in time so giving them an atemporal twist is part of my duty. For that reason, and because I still receive messages from my oldest films to this day, it's important for me to think of audiences in terms of timeless.

What projects do you have underway (including fiction films and other projects)?
Portage Films is involved in eight feature documentaries at different stages (including three co-productions), one fiction film, and one short animated film. Diversification and risk-taking have always triggered me positively, that's why I don't focus on genres as much as telling a true and important story. The films that will be released throughout 2025-2026 are directed by Carol Nguyen (No Crying at the Dinner Table, 2019), Yasmine Mathurin (One of Ours, 2021) and Julien Faraut (John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], 2018). 

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EMERGING PRODUCERS is a leading promotional and educational project, which brings together talented European documentary film producers. The programme is organised and curated by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Deadline for applications to the EMERGING PRODUCERS 2026 edition is 31 March 2025.