Chris Lavis
Co-Founder, Clyde Henry Productions & Director, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, The National Film Board
Chris Lavis’s first film, Madame Tutli-Putli (2007, NFB), madewith creative partner Maciek Szczerbowski, was recognized with an Oscar® nomination for Best Animated Short. Lavis and Szczerbowski went on to direct Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life (2010, NFB, Warner Brothers, co-produced by Spike Jonze), based on Maurice Sendak’s children’s book of the same name. In 2016, they were the art directors for Guy Maddin’s feature The Forbidden Room, and in 2017, 20 years of artistic creation was celebrated with retrospectives at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. In 2019, they collaborated with Felix & Paul Studios and the NFB to create Gymnasia, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and went on to win numerous awards, including a Canadian Screen Award for Best Immersive Experience. Their latest project, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, was chosen as the opening film of the 2025 Annecy festival.