Ezra Soiferman '89

Ezra SoifermanThe Bialik High School graduating class of 1989 may have at least one future Oscar winner, Ezra Soiferman. The creative talents of the former co-president of the student council (along with Steffan "Syd" Apel) have garnered him not only some impressive awards, but moreover and more importantly, he has also received well-earned commendations for his charitable work.
"Ever since I was a kid, I knew that I wanted to help people discover new things. Fun things. Strange things. The most colourful and exciting way I could do this, I learned, was through movies. I started making short films with friends at Bialik for class projects and as a hobby with friends. That's where the joy all began,” Ezra explained. “At Dawson, I learned that my passion was more than just a hobby, and then at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts I learned how to channel the passion and hobby into a craft.”
And craft he did.

After college, upon returning home to Montreal, Ezra discovered how to turn all that training and inspiration into a strong work ethic and what has become “a most rewarding stream of films, projects, jobs and incredible interactions with so many creative people.”
The documentary filmmaker and director of the Segal Centre's new indie film screening room CinemaSpace (the brand new state-of-the-art screening room at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts. Featuring surround-sound, a high definition projector and 77 plush cinema seats covered in hemp eco-fabric), was awarded the Ville de Montreal Prize at the 2008 Eurofest Film Festival for the documentary he directed called Posthumous Pickle Party.” The film, co-produced and co-written by Matt Zimbel, is about the legendary, now-defunct, Simcha's Grocery on St. Laurent. The hour-long film, featuring sculptor Stanley Lewis, musician Josh "Socalled" Dolgin, food critic Barry Lazar, and other Simcha's customers, has played at several film festivals and premiered on the Canal D television channel.
Ezra, selected as a Quebecer of the Year by L'Actualité magazine in 1998, also currently serves as the director and co-founder of the Montreal Film Group, a film/TV industry networking group with close to 2,000 members. His other productions have played at over 30 film festivals worldwide and have appeared on outlets that include CTV, CBC, CBC Newsworld, RDI, Société Radio-Canada, Global, TV5-France, TVOntario, CBC Country Canada, National Geographic, Life Network Canada, Air Canada, and even Oprah.

In 2007, Ezra spent time cultivating a pet project, Hemp for the Homeless, an effort that brought hemp clothing, personal-care products, and food to Montreal’s homeless on the streets and in shelters. The project was talked about on CBC and was recently written up in a feature story on Yahoo.ca.
“My own little philosophy is to 'do great things with great people,' and I am proud to say I learned this ethic not just from my family and colleagues but from my old classmates, friends and teachers at JPPS and Bialik as well. I have many fond memories of elementary school and high school; these memories and these places help to always remind me who I really am."

Ezra and his wife Alexandra Yanofsky were married in December of 2008.

To read more about Ezra's career and films, or to contact him, visit his EzSez.com blog http://www.EzSez.com/

The CinemaSpace screening schedule can found online at http://www.segalcentre.org/ The Montreal Film Group can be found online at http://www.montrealfilmgroup.com/

Read all about Ezra’s Hemp for the Homeless project here: http://tinyurl.com/HempForTheHomeless