Maxime Rémillard
| Maxime Rémillard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
17 January 1975 Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation | Film Producer, CEO of Remstar Corporation and V Television |
| Partner(s) | Karine Vanasse (2006–September, 2014) |
Maxime Rémillard, born on January 17, 1975 in Greenfield Park, Quebec, is co-president and chief operating officer of Remstar Corporation, founded in 1997. The company produces and distributes cinema and television products, including the V TV network.
Cinema
After taking film studies at the University of Ottawa and another unnamed university in California, Maxime returned to Montreal and founded Remstar with his brother Julien. The company was funded by their father, Lucien Rémillard, who owns a major trash business in Quebec.
Initially focusing on film distribution, Remstar ensured the Canadian success of a number of productions, including Karakter (Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film); Monster (Academy Award for Best Actress/Charlize Theron); The Triplets of Belleville (Genie Award for Best Film); The Beat That My Heart Skipped (César for Best Film); Tanguy; and the mega-production Napoléon. More recently, Remstar distributed The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke, Sticky Fingers by Ken Scott and the animated film Planet 51.
Maxime then began focusing on financing and producing projects such as No Good Deed starring Samuel L. Jackson and Milla Jovovich; TV mini-series Dangerous Liaisons with Catherine Deneuve; Head in the Clouds with Charlize Theron and Penélope Cruz; The Five of Us and A Family Secret by Ghislaine Côté; An American Haunting with Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek; My Daughter, My Angel starring Michel Côté and Karine Vanasse; Battle in Seattle with Charlize Theron; and Mesrine: Killer Instinct starring Vincent Cassel and Roy Dupuis.
Maxime also developed, produced and distributed Polytechnique, which won five Jutra Awards and 11 Génie Awards, including Best Film. The film was also presented at the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight. As producer and distributor of Polytechnique, Maxime worked closely on the development of the project, along with Denis Villeneuve and his team.
Remstar recently brought a number of films to Canadian screens, including Xavier Dolan’s Heartbeats, Daniel Roby’s Funkytown, Dominic James’s Angle mort, Benoît Pilon’s Décharge, Daniel Monzon’s Cell 211 and Romain Gavras’s Our Day Will Come. Remstar’s most recent acquisitions include La peur de l’eau, Liverpool and Le Torrent, in addition to animated film The Prodigies. Maxime also continues to develop and produce English-language film projects.
Television
In March 2008, Remstar began the process of acquiring TQS following the company’s technical bankruptcy. In April 2008 Remstar was criticized by all parties in the Quebec legislature when it announced that it had decided to lay off 270 TQS employees (more than half of the company's workforce) and completely close its long-running news operation.
TQS' successor, V TV, was launched on August 19, 2009. The network’s shows include Un souper presque parfait, Les Détestables and Price Is Right: À vous de jouer! The network was a member of the Olympic broadcasting consortium for the Vancouver 2010 and will be for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Awards
Maxime won the Génie Award for Best Canadian Film with Polytechnique.[1] Films that he produced or distributed have also won various Jutra, Génie, Cesar and Academy Awards, as well as prizes at various festivals.