Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vivien Forsans. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Vivien, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I wasn’t always a great student in school; I tended to have good grades in subjects that I deemed interesting and catastrophic ones in subjects I wasn’t into. This tended to annoy many of my professors, but I was incredibly lucky to have a few who believed in me. The teacher that probably had the biggest impact on me and helped me the most is Shira Avni, professor in Film Animation at Concordia University.

I first met Shira during my final year of high school. Concordia University were holding ‘portfolio days’ events during their open house events, where art teachers would review portfolios and give advice to make the portfolios better fit the needs of their program. Back then, my high school education was theory-heavy with a focus on litterature. My love for drawing, film and animation was something that I was mostly entertaining on the side. I met with Shira, and her feedback was straight to the point : my portfolio seemed amateurish and immature.

It was a rough blow to my 18 year old ego, but I still applied to the program – worst case scenario I’ll go in Film Studies to learn more about cinema while working on a new portfolio, and eventually apply for a transfer. And that’s exactly what happened. After my first year in Film Studies, I tried to enter Film Animation again, and was rejected a second time. There’s a french expression that says ‘jamais deux sans trois’, translated ‘never two without three’ – so I tried a third time. But before my third attempt, I went to the Portfolio day event again, and ended up face to face with Shira again. She looked at my new work, liked it, and told me she had noticed my name coming back every year. She told me to write her an e-mail if I got rejected again.

And guess what ? I got rejected a third time. I reached out to Shira, hopeless. And it is there that Shira did the kindest thing anybody has ever done for me: She let me access first year animation classes as a Film Studies student, to show what I can do. In that first animation year, I was able to direct my first animated short film COPING, which was then screened in 20 festivals around the world – this eventually led me to do a double major in Film Animation and Film Studies for the rest of my time at Concordia. COPING led to the creation of three other student animated short films, and was the starting point of my whole filmmaking career,

Shira changed my life with this random act of kindness. I wouldn’t be able to do what I love for a living without her help.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a franco-quebecois animation filmmaker based in Montreal. Since 2016, I have directed six short films, which were screened and awarded in over 80 festivals around the world such as the TIFF Next Wave, the Sommets du Cinéma d’Animation or the Annecy Festival. My animated film work, colorful and digital, tends to play with both narrative and experimental means, as well as genres and categories of film such as comedy, documentary, drama, and horror to approach many social themes often revolving around mental health. In 2022, I obtained a B.F.A from Concordia University with a double major in Film Animation and Film Studies. I’m now working on my first professional short film, an Opera-inspired musical based on Charles Baudelaire’s poem ‘Don Juan aux Enfers’. I also work as a teacher and a freelance animator using all kinds of digital techniques for feature films, shorts films, music videos, advertisement…

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Making a stable living out of my own creations.
While the tools for creation are getting more and more accessible, the current oversaturation of media is making it harder and harder to find a public, or clients when you’re freelancing. If I one day manage to make living from my own art (while continuing teaching, to be honest), it would already be a gigantic privilege.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

When I was a teenager, reading up biographical books about the life and career of artists – especially filmmakers – was incredibly formative. It helped me undesrtand that there was many, many possible paths to becoming a professionnal artist. Some came from big universities, others don’t have a single diploma, Some started as teenagers, other waited until their late thrirties. Everybody can create greatness, and we need to help out each other as creatives so as many of us as possible get to tell their stories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vivienforsans.com
• Instagram: @vivienforsans
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@vivienforsans

Image Credits

Photo 1: Annecy Festival
Photo 2: Longue Vue sur le Court Festival
Poster: Vivien Forsans
Drawing: Vivien Forsans