BYRON A. MARTIN PRODUCTIONS
SOMETHING LIKE TRUTH
The Truth Matters
A Feature Film
LOGLINE
Jacob Clarke, a loyal family man and dedicated detective, has one shift to secure a confession from a child murderer – while all around him, the carefully woven pretense of his personal and professional life begins to unravel.
DIRECTOR
Born in Montreal, multi award-winning film director Jim Donovan’s dynamic body of work includes music videos, commercials, narrative films, documentary and scripted television. He has consistently distinguished himself on the national and international stage, garnering multiple nominations and coveted wins at Festivals, the CSA’s and DGC Awards.
Jim began his career in the early 90’s directing commercials and music videos. After helming work for national and international clients such as Budweiser, Tourism Quebec, Ford, Labatt’s and countless others, he shifted his focus to television, directing on classic youth shows such as THE MYSTERY FILES OF SHELBY WOO and the cult hit ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK.
These early experiences led to work on primetime dramas in both French and English, working with major producers across the country on shows such as FLASHPOINT, INSTANT STAR, HEARTLAND, REPUBLIC OF DOYLE, 21 THUNDER, CRACKED and LE CLAN. His work has aired on major networks and streamers, including CBC, CTV, MTV, Discovery, Fox Family, Nickelodeon, Gaumont TV, TV5, Lifetime, CBS, Netflix and Crave.
In 2003, he directed his first independent feature, PURE, which was honoured by the Directors Guild of Canada with a Best Direction, Feature Film nomination. His follow up independent feature in 2008 which he wrote and directed, 3 SAISONS, won multiple international awards including Best Director at the 2009 Mexico International Film Festival, the Borsos for Best Canadian Feature at the 2008 Whistler Film Festival, Best Film at the 2009 Beverly Hills Film Festival, and a triple nomination at the 2010 Genie Awards including for Best Picture.
In 2013 he was honoured with a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction for FLASHPOINT, A DAY IN THE LIFE. In 2014-2015 Jim served as series director for two seasons on the acclaimed French-language drama Le Clan for SRC, now streaming on Netflix. In 2016 he directed the pilot for soccer drama 21 THUNDER for CBC, also streaming on Netflix. In 2017, Jim helmed the 6-part mini-series LE SÈIGE for SRC, produced by Attraction Images for which he received his 4th DGC Nomination for Best Director at the 2018 gala. In 2020, Jim’s directing work on the true-crime television movie BELIEVE ME, THE ABDUCTION OF LISA MCVEY for Cineflix garnered 6 nominations at the Canadian Screen Awards, winning the coveted Best TV Movie award.
In 2019/2020 Jim directed five episodes of EDGAR, for Bell’s Super Écran and Crave. The series is first French language scripted series ever produced in Manitoba. Currently, Jim is writing a French language feature with Telefilm Canada support entitled L’APPRENTI with Montreal producer Attraction Images.
CAST
Rossif Sutherland is a Canadian actor, son of Donald Sutherland and Francine Racette, who got his acting debut in a short film he directed while studying at Princeton University. His first lead role was in Clement Virgo's POOR BOY'S GAME. The film starred Danny Glover and traveled the world's festivals including Toronto and Berlin. The film starred Danny Glover and traveled the world's festivals including Toronto and Berlin.
Rossif has developed his talent on many prime time and award winning television shows. He did a season of ER, KING, and most recently REIGN. He was nominated for an ACTRA Award for his performance in FLASHPOINT.
In 2018, Rossif collaborated with director Jim Donovan on the award winning TV movie BELIEVE ME: THE ABDUCTION OF LISA MCVEY which earned him a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 2020 gala.
Born and raised in Quebec, Vincent Leclerc studied theatre in Ottawa and then Paris. He has spent the last 20 years making his mark in Canada as a solid bilingual actor, sharing his time between the stage, film and television.
He's had recurring roles and guest starred on numerous French Canadian television series and features over the years including the Oscar winner THE REVENANT.
Vincent collaborated with Jim on the hit series LE CLAN in 2014 and again on EDGAR in 2019. Since 2016, Vincent has played the lead in one of Quebec’s flagship series, the award winning LES PAYS D’EN HAUT for Radio Canada Télé. His riveting performance as the iconic Séraphin has earned him three nominations and one win for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Gémeaux Awards 2016-2019.
SOMETHING LIKE TRUTH won first place for Canada at the 2022 JETS Initiative (Junior Entertainment Talent Slate). The annual juried pitching competition takes place during the Berlin International Film Festival for filmmakers looking to make a two-country co-production out of their first, second or third features.
