Samuel Bégin

Born: 1999-07-23 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada

Known For: Directing

Biography

Samuel Bégin is a Quebec filmmaker born in Valleyfield in 1999 and raised in the small community of Rivière-Beaudette. His passion for cinema began in high school, where he enjoyed making short films with his friends. Initially drawn to comedy, he gradually became interested in filmmaking as a form of expression and began studying cinema at Cégep de Valleyfield in 2016. In 2019, he moved to Montreal to pursue his studies at the Université de Montréal. During the pandemic, he temporarily put his film studies on hold to complete a certificate in psychology before returning to cinema and completing a multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree. This background in psychology has since influenced his approach to writing, deepening his interest in human behavior, intimacy, and the inner worlds of his characters. Writing lies at the heart of Samuel’s creative practice. He works across screenwriting, comedy, storytelling, and stage performance. As a comedian and host, he regularly performs at open mics in Montreal while also developing humorous web content. These experiences have shaped a creative voice in which absurdity and humor coexist with a more contemplative sensibility. His 2026 short film *Passé, puis… Futur*, initially developed as part of his university studies, brings several of these interests together. Inspired in part by Kaneto Shindō’s *The Naked Island* and Kim Ki-duk’s *Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring*, the film embraces minimalist storytelling and very little dialogue. Following an aging painter nearing the end of his life, Samuel explores memory, regret, and the possibility of reconnecting with oneself. Painting becomes a language through which the character revisits the moments that have shaped his life. Samuel is currently developing new projects that seek to bring his two creative sensibilities—the humorous and the contemplative—into conversation. Among them is *L’armure qui cachait un homme*, a genre film in development that playfully subverts the conventions of fantasy and medieval storytelling. Through archetypal characters thrown into absurd situations, the film explores what lies beneath the roles people are expected to play. Through his films, Samuel seeks to create works that are playful, accessible, and deeply human—stories where laughter can coexist with emotion, and where imagination becomes a way of looking at reality.