Top 10 Directors to Watch in Quebec (2026)

Quebec's film conversation in 2026 is not just about who is shooting here. It is about who Quebec audiences are actually lining up for, whether the film was made in Montreal or a studio lot in Los Angeles. Here are 10 directors worth following right now.

1. Wil Aime

Seven years of building an audience on Instagram and TikTok turned into WHO, his debut feature now streaming on Disney+ in 75 territories. His new documentary L'Envers du Détail, premiering October 3, finally shows what the seven years actually cost him.

2. Denis Villeneuve

Quebec cinema's biggest export is closing out his Dune trilogy. Dune: Part Three began production in 2025 and is set for December 2026, in IMAX.

3. Xavier Dolan

After stepping back from directing, Dolan is un-retiring for a 19th-century period horror film, with shooting reportedly set for fall 2026. A comeback nobody was sure would happen.

4. Curry Barker

Not a Quebec native, but his Focus Features horror film Obsession has been packing theaters here this season, enough to earn the 26-year-old director a spot on any list of names Quebec is currently talking about.

5. Ricardo Trogi

1991, the third chapter of his autobiographical comedy series after 1981 and 1987, remains one of his most personal and most successful films, built on truth over spectacle.

6. Anne Émond

Peak Everything, her film about a Montreal kennel owner falling for a voice on a customer service line, premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight in May 2025 and closed the 50th Toronto International Film Festival.

7. Kim Nguyen

The Oscar-nominated director's new documentary, Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, opened in Montreal and Quebec City theaters on September 4, part historical record, part investigation.

8. Sophie Deraspe

Six years after Antigone won Best Canadian Feature in Toronto, Deraspe shot Bergers in France, a 2025 release about a brutal, poetic change of life.

9. Monia Chokri

Simple comme Sylvain, her Un Certain Regard entry at Cannes, remains one of the sharpest Quebec comedies of the decade, and one of the reasons her next project as director is worth watching for.

10. Stéphane Lafleur

The director behind Viking has built a career on deadpan, precisely composed Quebec comedy that rewards patience, a style with no real equivalent elsewhere in the province's film scene.

Same instinct, different set

What connects a Disney+ debut, a Dune sequel, and a $12 horror ticket at Le Clap is an audience actually showing up. It is the same instinct behind Wil Aime's own seven-year build before WHO, and it is worth watching alongside the other Quebec creators building an audience one platform at a time. Reference: Québec Cinéma.