Benoît Charest
Benoît Charest (born in 1964) is a Canadian guitarist and film score composer from Quebec. He is best known for the soundtrack of the animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003), for which he won a César Award for Best Music Written for a Film as well as a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music. The song "Belleville Rendez-vous", in particular, earned him an Academy Award nomination as well as a Grammy Award nomination.
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[edit] Soundtrack and film score work
In the late 1990s, Benoît Charest attended a performance in Montreal by DJ Mad Max (a previous alias used by Maxime Morin, who currently performs under the name DJ Champion). After the show, Charest approached Morin with a business proposal; the two men went on to become co-owners of Ben & Max Studios — a company specializing in jingles and soundtracks. Ben & Max Studios became quite successful, however in 2001 Morin sold his share in the company back to Charest in order to continue his own personal musical career.[1]
In 2003 Morin also assisted Charest on the soundtrack for Les Triplettes de Belleville. Morin performed the bass and percussion on the song "Belleville Rendez-vous" and he also performed the song live, along with Charest and his then wife, vocalist Béatrice Bonifassi, at the 76th Academy Awards ceremony — Morin played percussion on a bicycle during the live performance.[1][2]
Charest composed the score for the 2009 National Film Board of Canada animated short Runaway, written and directed by Cordell Barker.[3] More recently, he wrote the music for the feature films Polytechnique, Route 132, A bottle in the Gaza sea and Upside Down. He is currently working on Martin Villeneuve's much anticipated sci-fi film Mars et Avril, set to be released in 2012.[4]
[edit] Selected filmography
- 1992: Montréal rétro
- 1999: Matroni et moi
- 2000: La Vie après l'amour
- 2000: The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (TV series, 1 episode)
- 2003: Les Triplettes de Belleville
- 2005: 76th Academy Awards ceremony: "Belleville Rendez-vous"
- 2006: Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (documentary)
- 2007: Ma tante Aline
- 2008: Adam's Wall
- 2009: Runaway (short)
- 2009: Polytechnique
- 2010: Route 132
- 2011: A bottle in the Gaza sea
- 2012: Upside Down (post-production)
- 2012: Mars et Avril (post-production)
[edit] Personal life
In 1997 Charest met French-born vocalist Béatrice Bonifassi after having watched her sing Jimi Hendrix covers at a Montreal jazz club.[5][6] Later that year she moved from France to Montreal to join Charest.[6] The two are no longer together.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Devlin, Mike, "Laptop loaded, DJ hits the road", Times Colonist, Mar 24, 2007
- ^ Benson, Denise, "Champion & His G-Strings", Eye Weekly, Nov 23, 2006
- ^ "Winnipeg animator wins jury award at Annecy". CBC News (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Jun 15, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/06/15/annecy-win.html. Retrieved Mar 9, 2010.
- ^ Denis Villeneuve's brother Martin imagines future Montreal with 'Mars et Avril', article from Canadian Press, October 26, 2011
- ^ Cormier, Sylvain, “Ben et Betty voient triple”, Le Devoir, Jan 9, 2004 (French text) Retrieved Jun 17, 2010
- ^ a b Bonifassi’s interview with Monique Giroux of Radio-Canada, Sep 13, 2004 (French text and audio) Retrieved Jun 17, 2010
- ^ Leijon, Erik, “Beast Emerge From The Champion Camp”, CHARTattack, Apr 9, 2008 Retrieved Jun 17, 2010
[edit] External links
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