Gabriel Tougas

Gabriel Tougas was born and raised in Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg's french quarter. Self-taught by nature, he wrote and directed a few medium- and feature-length films in his adolescence. He began his professional career at the age of 19 with Les Productions Rivard in Winnipeg, directing his first documentaries for "Perspectives", broadcast nationally on TVA. He also co-directed "Identité 2.0" for TFO, before being hired to helm "Viens voir ici!" in 2014, directing 78 half-hour episodes over two seasons. Among his fiction work, he directed and co-wrote "Exposing Héliosols", the first independent fiction feature directed and produced by Western Canadian francophones. He was a cultural commentator for TFO 24.7, and directed "Ceci est notre message", a short film about young Franco-Manitobans' identity. Gabriel is also an instructor and speaker: he has been a panellist for discussions regarding media, the arts or the Francophonie, has taught filmmaking workshops in schools, and has given talks about culture and career development at youth or artists' conferences. Frequent themes in Gabriel's work include ecology, environmentalism, cultural identity and youth engagement.