Léa Pool C.M. (born 8 September 1950) is a Canadian and Swiss filmmaker. She has directed several documentaries and feature films, many of which have won significant awards including the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, and she was the first woman to win the prize for Best Film at the Quebec Cinema Awards. Pool's films often opposed stereotypes and refused to focus on heterosexual relations, preferring individuality. She also taught film at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
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Early life
Pool was born in Soglio, Switzerland in 1950, and raised in Lausanne. Her father was a Polish-Jew who was stateless when he fled to Switzerland during World War II. Pool's Swiss mother is Catholic and she uses her mother's surname professionally. She immigrated to Canada in 1975 to study at the Université du Québec à Montréal from which she received a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1978; she later taught at her alma mater. She then directed a number of documentaries, short films, and feature films, as well as TV programs. Pool became a well-known filmmaker, director, producer, and screenwriter, who incorporated personal issues and curiosity around identity into films about exile, wandering, uprooting, states of mind and the quest for identity.
Career
Pool is known as a feminist in film studies, producing films and videos that focus on female characters. Early in her career Pool drew inspiration from the works of author Marguerite Duras, focusing on themes of exclusion. Pool co-directed and edited Laurent Lamerre Portier in 1978. In 1980 she wrote, directed, and produced her first solo film, Strass Café, at the National Film Board of Canada. From 1980 to 1983, she directed 10 episodes of the show Planète for Radio-Québec (now called Télé-Québec) about cultural minorities. In the following year she directed Éva en transit, a show about the Franco-German singer Éva.
From 1978 to 1983, she taught classes about cinema and film at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In 1984 she wrote and directed her first fiction feature film, A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l’hôtel), which was received with enthusiasm by both critics and the general public. She then wrote and directed Anne Trister in 1986, the last installment in a triptych about the difficult quest for feminine identity, and the film was invited to fifteen international festivals.
In 1988, Pool’s film Straight for the Heart (À corps perdu), an adaptation of the novel Kurwenal by Yves Navarre, confirmed her importance to Quebec and Canadian cinematography. It received Premiere magazine’s first place prize at the Festival de la Francophonie de Namur and the Award of Excellence at the Atlantic Film Festival of Halifax.
Pool filmed her first feature-length documentary, Hotel Chronicles, in 1990 as part of the Office national du film’s series Parler d'Amérique. In 1991, she directed her fourth fiction feature film, The Savage Woman (La Demoiselle sauvage), co-written with Michel Langlois and Laurent Gagliardi, based on the story of Corinna Bille.
In 1992, she directed Rispondetemi, a segment of the film Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par...) by a collective of filmmakers including Patricia Rozema, Denys Arcand, Michel Brault, Atom Egoyan, and Jacques Leduc. From 1992 to 1993 she wrote and directed her fifth fiction feature film, Desire in Motion (Mouvements du désir), which was nominated in eight Genie Award categories including Best Direction and Best Screenwriting, and which was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Personal life
Pool is a lesbian. She has a personal connection with her work, with many themes in her own life appearing in her films, including the exploration of identity and exile, as well as her Jewish heritage and her sexuality.
Filmography
Strass Cafè — 1980
A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l'hôtel) — 1984
Anne Trister — 1986
Straight for the Heart (À corps perdu) — 1988
Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par...) — 1991, segment "Rispondetemi"
The Savage Woman (La Demoiselle sauvage) — 1991
Desire in Motion (Mouvements du désir) — 1994
Gabrielle Roy : L'auteure la plus célèbre du Québec — 1998
Set Me Free (Emporte-moi) — 1999
Lost and Delirious (Rebelles) — 2001
The Blue Butterfly (Le Papillon bleu) — 2004
Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (Maman est chez le coiffeur) — 2008
The Last Escape (La dernière fugue) — 2010
Pink Ribbons, Inc. — 2011
The Passion of Augustine (La Passion d'Augustine) — 2015
Worst Case, We Get Married (Et au pire, on se mariera) — 2017
Hotel Silence (Hôtel silence) — 2024
We'll Find Happiness (On sera heureux) - 2025
Awards and accolades
Léa Pool has won several awards, both from the press and the public. In 1984, La femme de l’hôtel was awarded the Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 1986 she received the Audience Award for Anne Trister at the International Women's Film Festival in Créteil, and Best Feature Film at the Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival, both in France. In addition, in 1988, Pool won three awards for À corps perdu, Emporte-moi, and the documentary on Gabrielle Roy. In 2001, Pool received the Jutra Award for Lost and Delirious. In 2006, Pool received the Prix Albert-Tessier. From 2002 to 2014, Pool won 14 awards and in 2017 accepted the Vancouver Women in Film and Television Artistic Merit Award at Vancouver International Film Festival.
In 2025 she was named by Québec Cinéma as the recipient of its annual Tribute Award at the 27th Quebec Cinema Awards.