Victoria Lean is an award-winning filmmaker working in documentary, comedy and the intersections between.
WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE (EVEN JAY BARUCHEL) 2022
Documentary Series (6 EP X 30m)
It’s the apocalypse, but slightly more fun. WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE (Even Jay Baruchel) is a smart and quirky docuseries about the end of the world. Jay joins top scientists, activists, and experts to explore the global crises that could cause humanity's demise, all while finding the solutions and technological innovations that might save us all.
Credits: Writer, Director, Series Producer, Developed By, Researcher
Festivals: Hot Docs 2022
Awards: 2023 CSA Wins for Best Directing, Best Factual Series and the Barbara Sears Award for Best Editorial Research
Broadcast: CRAVE, CTV, SBS Australia
(CRAVE)
“An entertaining ride with a lot of food for thought, We're All Gonna Die is timely and hits just right.”
– Exclaim
CLIMATE BABY DILEMMA, 2022
Documentary Broadcast Hour (44m)
The Climate Baby Dilemma explores what to expect when you’re expecting... the climate crisis. For an increasing number of people, a warming world is affecting their decisions about whether or not to have kids.
Credits: Writer, Director, Producer, Researcher
Broadcast: CBC, ARTE
Awards: Yorkton Golden Sheaf Award for Best Documentary POV
I LIKE MOVIES, 2022
Comedy Feature
Mongrel (1h 39m)
Opening with an easy contender for most hilariously (intentionally) inept parody of A Christmas Carol ever made, Chandler Levack’s ultra-indie I Like Movies is a smart, funny, and ornery exploration of adolescent trauma and early onset cinephilia. It’s hardly surprising that one condition only exacerbates the other.
Credit: Executive Producer
Festivals: World Premiere TIFF 2022
Awards: 2023 Winner Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema (Best Film), Miami Film Festival (2023 Winner Jordan Ressler First Feature Award), Calgary International Film Festival 2022 Winner RBC Emerging Canadian Artist Award (Emerging Canadian Artist).
Broadcast: Netflix
(Netflix CAN)
“A quietly truthful triumph of independent film...” - The Stranger
“Small but not slight, sweet but not cloying, and the kind of thing that can make even a cynical critic like movies again.” - IndieWire
AFTER THE LAST RIVER, 2018
CBC DOC CHANNEL (92 MIN)
In the shadow of a De Beers mine, the remote community of Attawapiskat lurches from crisis to crisis, while facing mounting environmental issues and an inability to directly benefit from resource revenues. Filmed over five years, After the Last River is a point of view documentary that follows Attawapiskat’s journey from obscurity and into the international spotlight during the protests of Idle No More.
AFTER THE LAST RIVER
Credits: Production Company, Writer, Director, Producer
Awards: Donald Brittain Award (Nominee), Canadian Screen Awards 2017, Best Canadian Feature (winner), Planet in Focus 2015, Nigel Moore Award, DOXA Documentary Film Festival 2015, Best Canadian Documentary (Nominee), Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2016; Roger’s Audience Choice Award Winner, Regent Park FF 2016; Audience Choice Award Winner, Bay Street Film Festival 2015
Broadcast: CBC Documentary Channel, Hollywood Suite, and NITV (Australia)
After The Last River might be the most important and moving doc this year.
— Thom Ernst, Film Critic, Toronto Star
A work of great focus and observation, After the Last River manages not to sacrifice complexity for directness.
— POV Magazine
Her film may be the most pressing portrait of
Canada you will see all year
— Tom Charity, Programmer of the Vancouver International Film Festival
NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW, 2016-18
Comedy Half Hour
VICE (2 Seasons, 16 eps x 30 min)
Musicians Matt and Jay attempt to achieve their dream of playing at a small Toronto venue, the Rivoli, through a series of schemes and publicity stunts. The duo goes to unnecessary extremes - including sneaking a film into the Sundance Film Festival and disrupting the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" premiere.
Credits: Producer
Official Selection: TIFF 2016, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017, Viennale 2016
Awards: Nominated for 4 Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Comedy Series; Audience Prize, Fantastic Fest 2016.
Broadcast: Viceland US, Canada, UK, India, Australia; City TV, CBC Gem
“One of the best shows ever made” - Justin Roiland, Rick & Morty
“A shotgun blast of a comedy… so stupid it’s smart and contagious in its propulsive mojo” - Indiewire
WELCOME TO POOLES LAND, 2022
Documentary Short
VICE (33m)
For nearly three decades, Michael Poole has been living on 17.5 acres of land on the western coast of British Columbia, where he’s started an anarchist commune for young people looking to break away from mainstream society. Aside from a few simple rules—recycle, respect all beings, and steer clear of hard drugs and violence—folks are free to do as they please...
Credits: Writer, Producer, Director
Distributed by VICE globally, over 10M+ views.
(VICE)
ABOUT
ABOUT
Victoria Lean is an award-winning filmmaker working in documentary, comedy, and the intersections between.
Victoria Lean is an award-winning filmmaker working in documentary, comedy and the intersections between. Her innovative work is characterized by a unique blend of storytelling techniques, a commitment to social and environmental issues, and a dedication to pushing the boundaries of the form.
Victoria was the showrunner, writer and director of We're All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel), a smart, playful comedy docuseries about existential threats facing humanity. It premiered at Hot Docs 2022 and is streaming on CRAVE in Canada and SBS in Australia. The critically acclaimed series deftly maneuvered between the light-hearted and the catastrophic, taking home four 2023 Canadian Screen Awards (CSA), including Best Direction and Best Series, Factual.
Victoria’s next documentary, The Climate Baby Dilemma, explores what to expect when you’re expecting... the climate crisis. For an increasing number of people, a warming world is affecting their decisions about whether or not to have kids. It premiered in Canada for CBC in Fall 2022 and recently won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Documentary POV at the Yorkton Film Festival.
A talented producer, Victoria received a Best Comedy Series CSA-nomination as the Producer of the mockumentary Nirvanna the Band the Show, directed by Matt Johnson (Blackberry 2023). The National Post called it "the best Canadian TV show in the last two decades" and it was included in Rolling Stone’s list of “Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2017.”
She is the Executive Producer of the dramedy feature film, I Like Movies which premiered to sold out crowds at TIFF in 2022, landed on TIFF’s list of Top Ten Films Canadian Films of 2022, and had an award-winning festival run and theatrical release across Canada.
Victoria directed multiple docs for VICE. Her short digital documentaries include Welcome to Poole’s Land, which garnered 10M+ views across platforms.
Victoria's first feature documentary, After the Last River, screened theatrically and won five festival awards, including Best Canadian Feature at Planet in Focus, where it opened the festival. The hard-hitting social issues film had its broadcast premiere on CBC documentary channel. Seven years since its release, it continues to air on cable and is taught in dozens of schools.
Victoria is developing a slate of docuseries and features, and is currently a participant in the Hot Docs – Netflix Incubator for mid-career filmmakers with her second theatrical film. Her keen artistic sensibility and forward-thinking approach earned her the Vanguard Award from the Documentary Organization of Canada.
When not trying to save the world from climate catastrophe, Victoria likes to cross country ski with her dog Burleigh.