Mars Roberge
| Mars Roberge | |
|---|---|
| File:Mars Roberge.jpgMars_Roberge.jpg | |
| Born | November 30, 1972 Scarborough |
| 💼 Occupation | |
Mars Roberge is a Canadian-American dual-citizen filmmaker, born in Scarborough (borough of Toronto) on November 30, 1972.
Roberge is a film production graduate of York University. He is a director, producer, screenwriter and editor. U.K. press has called Mars a leading figure of the Hellawood film movement for underground filmmakers in Hollywood who create their art by any means necessary. [1] Roberge is responsible for launching a new film genre in 2016 which he calls "Rocktopia" and defines it as "an individual's struggle against the ideals of a Utopian society where the only freedom of escape is to rock out." He is also performing as an underground Dj named "Die J! Mars" playing every major venue in Toronto, NYC and Los Angeles since the early nineties and runs a vinyl record label called World Domination Records. He has had exhibits of his work at ARS Gallery in Japan presented by Nakamura Keith Haring Gallery, Chashama Gallery (Harlem) and Sur Le Mur (Los Angeles).
Life and career
After graduating in 1995, Roberge was working in the music video boom – from being an editor at Black Walk Productions to being the original First Assistant Director for Jessy Terrero. It was during the 90s that Mars worked in every field of the film industry from commercials to features, from assisting art director Kenny Baird to working as a grip permittee for I.A.T.S.E. to cleaning up exploding model buildings under John Gajdecki at GVFX.
In the early 2000s, Roberge moved to New York and worked as a stylist for Patricia Field (Sex & the City) while performing as a dj (Roberge was playing in big clubs like Limelight, Webster Hall, etc.) and performing in various bands (Rise NYC, Tulips for Tina) as a guitarist, singer and programmer with releases on International Deejay Gigolos and Mogul Electro. While working for Patricia Field, Mars made his first feature film, a documentary about NYC's underground drag and art world called "The Little House That Could" which had a world premiere in 2013 at Frameline and won the 2015 Audience Choice Award for Best Film at NewFilmmakers Los Angeles.
Roberge moved to Los Angeles in 2011 and directed two more feature films under his film company, World Domination Pictures: the punk comedy Scumbag,[2] which had a world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2017,[3] “Scumbag,” won Best Ensemble Narrative Feature at Queens World Film Festival and was nominated for Best Director Narrative Feature.[4]
and the feel-good dramedy Mister Sister, which premiered as the official closing night film for Dances With Films in 2021. Mister Sister went on to win Best NYC Film in 2021 at the Winter Film Awards International Film Festival where it was also the closing night film[5]. Mister Sister also won Best LGBTQ Film at the L.A. Punk Film Festival.
Also in 2021, Roberge won We Make Movies "Make Your Feature" international pitch contest where they completely funded his latest microbudget feature that he shot in March 2022: a black and white drama called Stars, adapted from a play written by Doron Braunshtein about a group of NYC homeless women, starring Rah Digga, Sophia Lamar and Debra Haden. The film had its world premiere at the official opening night film for Winter Film Awards International Film Festival on February 17th 2023.[6] In that year Roberge taught masterclasses on Microbudget Filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Alumni Events and at Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Currently, Mars Roberge is filming his 5th feature film, a horror anthology called “Rufus” starring Freeway Rick Ross, Rah Digga, David J, Jim Sclavunos, Debra Haden, Princess Frank, Angelo Moore, Keith Morris, Monique Parent, Verona Blue, Don Bolles and Spookey Ruben which he hopes to premiere in early 2025. One of the stories is adapted from the play Climbing Vegetables by Erez Majerantz.
Filmography
- Scumbag (2017)
- The Little House That Could (2013)
- Mister Sister (2021)
- Stars (2023)
References
- ↑ Myindie, productions. "Mars Roberge Filmmaker". Archived from the original on 2024-04-07. Retrieved 2024-04-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Wild, Stephi. "Sex, Drugs, And Telemarketing– A Look At Mars Roberge's SCUMBAG". broadwayworld. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Jason, Dj. "Die J! Mars is bringing his latest film,Scumbag to Queens for the North American premiere". absolution. Archived from the original on 2023-11-29. Retrieved 9 February 2017. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Hickey Jr., Patrick. "Review Fix Exclusive: Inside Mars Roberge's 'Scumbag'". Reviewfix. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ↑ Winterfilmawards. "WFA 2021 Nominees & Winners". Winterfilmawards. Winterfilmawards. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ↑ Propes, Richard. "The Independent Critic - Movie Review: Stars". Theindependentcritic. Archived from the original on 2023-11-14. Retrieved 2024-04-16. Unknown parameter
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External links
- Mars Roberge on IMDb
- Guy Shankland, Movie Review: Scumbag, originalrock, May 22, 2018 by
- Richard Propes, Movie Review: Stars, The Independent Critic.
- Michael Talbot-Haynes, Stars, filmthreat, July 27, 2023
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