Sylvaine Dufaux

Movies

Evan's Drum
Director of Photography
For generations, the sound of traditional Inuit drum dancing fell silent in Labrador due to colonization. In the early 21st century, the beat of the drum returned, and with it a renewed sense of pride in Inuit culture. Evan’s Drum tells the story of seven-year-old Evan Winters of Happy Valley-Goose Bay as he learns from his mother, Amy, how to drum dance. Amy hopes that her son will continue this newly reclaimed tradition and help to pass it on to future generations of Inuit. Labrador Inuk filmmaker Ossie Michelin brings us into the home of the Winters-Allen family for an intimate look as the revitalized tradition of drum dancing is once more passed down through the generations. Evan’s Drum provides a window into modern Inuit family life through the story of Evan and his family, who work alongside their community to keep the drumbeat alive.
Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again
Director of Photography
After marrying a settler, Mary Two-Axe Earley lost her legal status as a First Nations woman. Dedicating her life to activism, she campaigned to have First Nations women's rights restored and coordinated a movement that continues to this day. Kahnawake filmmaker Courtney Montour honours this inspiring leader while drawing attention to contemporary injustices that remain in this era of truth and reconciliation.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
"C" Camera Operator
Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."
Radical
Director of Photography
Deanne Foley profiles fellow Newfoundlander Mary Walsh, the Great Warrior Queen of Canadian comedy, musing on time wasted as an object of desire and time well spent as the fearless agent of her own destiny. A joyous call to action.
The Glass Castle
Camera Operator
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Camera Operator
After the re-emergence of the world's first mutant, world-destroyer Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan.
Pawn Sacrifice
Second Unit Director of Photography
American chess champion Bobby Fischer prepares for a legendary match-up against Russian Boris Spassky.
White House Down
Camera Operator
Capitol Policeman John Cale has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer. Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation's government falling into chaos and time running out, it's up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.
Foxfire
Camera Operator
Set in the 1950s, a a group of young girls in upstate New York form their own gang.
Timuti
Cinematography
In Inukjuak, an Inuit community in the Eastern Arctic, a baby boy has come into the world and they call him Timuti, a name that recurs across generations of his people, evoking other Timutis, alive and dead, who will nourish his spirit and shape his destiny.
Source Code
Camera Operator
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
Cry Rock
Cinematography
The wild beauty of the Bella Coola Valley blends with vivid watercolor animation illuminating the role of the Nuxalk oral tradition and the intersection of story, place and culture.
Death Race
Camera Operator
Terminal Island, New York: 2020. Overcrowding in the US penal system has reached a breaking point. Prisons have been turned over to a monolithic Weyland Corporation, which sees jails full of thugs as an opportunity for televised sport. Adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for violence and a spectacular, enclosed arena come together to form the 'Death Race', the biggest, most brutal event.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Camera Operator
Dr. Henry Jekyll is a well-regarded physician whose evenings are spent researching a rare and sacred Amazonian flower so potent it's said to literally separate the soul, giving life to man's Dark Self. The obsessive experiments to isolate its psychotropic properties happen to coincide with a series of brutal murders gripping the city with fear. Jekyll knows it's no coincidence. While his nights are lost to him, he awakens with bloody mementos and violent memories of the screams of his victims.
The Fountain
Second Unit Cinematographer
Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.
The Woods
Camera Operator
Set in 1965 New England, a troubled girl encounters mysterious happenings in the woods surrounding an isolated girls school that she was sent to by her estranged parents.
Gothika
Additional Camera
After a car crash, a criminal psychologist regains consciousness only to find that she's a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. It seems she's been accused of murdering her husband—but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to regain her memory and convince her co-workers of her innocence, a vengeful spirit uses her as an earthly pawn, which further convinces everyone of her guilt.
The Cradle
Cinematography
An angry mob interrupts a witch as she prepares breakfast for her collected children.