Biography
Michel Duran is a Franco-Canadian actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Saint-Etienne, France he lived his childhood between the southeast part of France and La Rochelle, on the west coast. From the age of four, through doors opened initially by his mother who was a physical education teacher, he was involved in sports--first as a pole-vault athlete at the national championship level, then as a coach of the national backcountry ski team and finally, as a technical marketing agent for high performance sports equipment. At one point, he crossed the Atlantic ocean on the Whitbread racing sailboat, Pen Duick VI.
During high school and university he acquired significant stage experience in regional theatre companies, performing in modern and classical French plays. In addition, he earned a Master of Science in sport physiology and an MBA. In 1997, he moved his young family to Vancouver, Canada and has successfully established his career there. In 2001, through his consulting activities in personal training and business development, he began to build a network of contacts related to the movie industry focusing his energy on cinema and theatre. By 2004, he began to develop formal business concepts in film making by tapping into unique opportunities that synergistically combined his French origins with his North American environment.
The Launch of CMHL Enterprises At the end of 2004, he launched CMHL Enterprises, a company with the mandate to develop and produce motion pictures. His repertoire includes the short films: "The Window" 2006 and "California Balloons" 2009; as well as DVDs from the French Classical repertoire Theatre titled, "Sganarelle, or the imaginary cuckold" In 2010, he co-directed and played the lead role as "Marc" in his first feature film, "Soufflé au Chocolat." In 2011, he co-produced the film, "Truth," playing Jasper, a painter from the '50s. Michel spent the next two years focusing on the commercial side of movies, promoting Soufflé au Chocolat to various markets and film festivals. In 2013, his effort were recompensed, the movie was screened at the Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois et Francophone, at the Sonoma International Film Festival and gathered 5 nominations at the 2013 Leo Awards for Best pictures, Direction, Screenwriting, Cinematography and Musical Score.
