Nadia Louis-Desmarchais is an award-winning Afro-feminist director whose work, deeply intimate and resolutely political, is today establishing itself as an essential voice in contemporary Quebec and Canadian cinema. At the crossroads of documentary and fiction and experimental, her work explores the zones of silence left by the dominant story. His cinema acts as a space for repair, resistance and reappropriation, where storytelling becomes an act of survival and collective healing.
Born and raised in Montreal, Nadia Louis-Desmarchais developed an acute awareness of the issues of representation and systemic inequalities at an early age. She completed an International Baccalaureate DES at Joseph-François-Perrault High School (2010—2015), before undertaking a DEC in cinema and communication at Cégep de Saint-Laurent (2015—2016). She then pursued a bachelor's degree in cinema — directing profile at the University of Quebec in Montreal (2018—2021). From her first films, Nadia has distinguished herself by a courageous look and a strong desire to give a voice to those we too often refuse to hear. In 2019, she directed Tell me about my body, a short documentary exploring the stigma of fat people through Naila Rabel's intimate relationship with her body. The film was selected in particular at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema (RVQC), the Filministes Festival, the Gimli International Film Festival, the Benin City Film Festival and Morvand'iel.
The same year, she signed Rated X, a daring short documentary giving a voice to actors in the pornographic industry in a positive and destigmatizing perspective. The film won the Jury Prize at the Vox Feminae Film Festival and was widely circulated internationally, including at the Regard Festival, the Filministes Festival, the San Francisco Porn Film Festival, the Athens Porn Film Festival, the Athens Porn Film Festival and the Erotic and Art Film Festival in Spain. In 2021, Nadia directed Are you sleeping?, a fictional short film in which two cousins see their innocence upset by a traumatic event. The film received the Award for Best Editing, the Sound Design Award and a Coup de Coeur Plein (s) Écran (s), and was presented in more than ten festivals. That same year, she received a Best Documentary Award (Chaire René Malo & ONF), a grant from the Je me Vie à l'Écran residency from Black on Black Films and a Jeunes en Action — Rising Youth grant, awards that support both her creation and her social commitment.
In 2022, she directed Urban, a short documentary following five teenage girls in search of their identity through krump. The film was selected at Lift-Off Berlin and broadcast on Unis TV. The same year, she signed Bird's nest, a striking short fiction film about a little black girl confronted with racism and beauty standards. The film enjoyed considerable influence: it won the André-Melançon Prize for the best Quebec short film at the Rimouski International Film Carrousel, received several mentions from the jury (Filministes Festival, Vues d'Afrique, FICFA) and was a finalist for the Prix RÉALS for best fiction short film. It has been presented in more than thirty festivals around the world.
Alongside her work in short films, Nadia asserts her voice on television. She directs the episode Migrations From the documentary series Black Life: Untold Stories (CBC), presented in
premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2023. The series traces 400 years of black history in Canada and confirms the importance of its perspective in the national audiovisual landscape.
With The Meteorites (2024), Nadia Louis-Desmarchais signed her first fictional web series as a writer and director. Produced by Inaru Films and supported by ICI Tou.tv and the Canada Media Fund, the 10-episode series chronicles the complex relationship of two black sisters placed in a white foster family. Broadcast on ICI Tou.tv from February 22, 2024, The Meteorites has an exceptional reputation in Canada and internationally. The series is the recipient of a Gémeaux award, the one for the most successful production internationally, and won numerous honors: Prize for the best foreign French-language series at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival, Prize for the best medium-format series to Short of one evening, Award for the best drama series and Prize for the best drama series and award for best direction at the T.O. Webfest, Numix Prize — Diversity and Inclusion, as well as several awards at the New York Webfest, including the awards for Best Series, Best Cinematography and Best Cinematography interpretation. The series also received three Gemini Award nominations.
In 2025, she directed her first feature-length documentary, Recomposed, produced by Pimientos Productions and supported by Telefilm Canada, SODEC and the New Dawn International Fund. The film tells the quest of a Métis filmmaker, adopted by a white family in Quebec, who goes in search of her Haitian mother who disappeared before they were reunited. Selected at DOC NYC, Recomposed won the Public Prize and the Student Jury Prize at the RIDM, and its theatrical release is scheduled for November 2025.
Beyond production, Nadia Louis-Desmarchais multiplies related professional and artistic commitments. She acts as photo director for the three-screen video exhibition Connecting from the Inside Out (2024) by the artist My-Van Dam, presented at MAI — Montreal, intercultural arts. She is regularly called upon as a jury member, in particular for the Filministes Festival, the One-Night Courts Festival and the RÉALS Prizes of the Quebec Directors Association. She also acts as a speaker and trainer at Cégep de Saint-Laurent and Concordia University, and participates in major panels, including Amplifying the voices of black creators at the Dynastie Gala.
In parallel with her career, Nadia is an actor of structural change in the industry. In 2021, she founded the BIPOC Film Team page, a professional solidarity network for racialized film, television and audiovisual technicians in Quebec. Designed as a safe space and a collective bank of applications, the initiative responds to the glaring absence of inclusive employment networks in the industry. The community now has 644 members, helping to diversify film crews and transform production practices.
Winner of numerous grants and awards, including the Pitch First Works Prize presented by Netflix, a finalist for the Prix Gémeaux de la Relève and the Prix RÉALS, and a participant in the Black Women Director Accelerator Program at the Black Screen Office, Nadia Louis-Desmarchais is now continuing to develop ambitious projects, both in documentary and in fiction, including her first feature-length fiction film Desert flowers. Through each work, she continues to make cinema a space for memory, healing and collective emancipation.