Meet Howard J. Davis, the filmmaker behind C’est Moi

Howard J. Davis was born in Britain and currently resides in Toronto, Canada.  C’est Moi, based on the tragic death of Marie-Josèphe Angélique  an 18th century slave, is Howard’s first film to screen at a film festival.  Howard has made other films for school and just for the fun of creating.  Most of his projects have been movement-based with an emphasis on women themes.  

Howard is a gifted performing artist with demonstrated skill in acting, singing, dancing and music composition. Howard says that filmmaking encompasses all that he enjoys about the arts and will continue to wear as many creative hats as possible. The music and text in C’est Moi were composed and written by Davis.

Growing up, the film Somewhere in Time, directed by Jeannot Szwarc, had the most influence on Howard as a filmmaker through its use of imagery in correlation with musical scoring. Peter Jackson’s film, Heavenly Creatures, remains one of his favorite films and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s, The Passion of Jeanne D’arc, was the inspiration for Howard’s film, C’est Moi.

When asked what advice he would give young aspiring directors and filmmakers, his answer is simple: Trust your vision.  As for what we can look forward to from Davis in the future, he says, “My goal is to move into stories that bring historical context to modern society as well as looking at classical works and bringing them to a contemporary audience.”  At just 26 years young, Howard J. Davis is already making history through his films and raising awareness about societal injustices that should not be so easily forgotten.

C’est Moi will be screened at Cosmic Film Festival February 17 – 19, 2017.  The film’s website is www.cestmoifilm.com