Mélissa Lefebvre
Drama Teacher
Original idea, text, stage direction and co-scriptwriting
Baggage is first and foremost the story of a teacher and her newcomer students at Paul-Guérin-Lajoie High School in Montreal. A teacher who decides to give them the floor in a play to favor exchanges between all classes. That great initiative will then give birth to the documentary and the book of poems.
Graduated from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in dramatic art teaching, Mélissa Lefebvre has written and produced many plays for various groups of students, always placing them at the heart of her creation. Her keen interest in new comer students led her to carry out multiple projects, including the theatrical work Baggage, as well as the documentary related to the play.
Interview for the TV show Second regard (March 2018)
When I started teaching in this school, there was no drama for the class of new comers because we said: Come on, they do not understand anything, how can you get them to do drama? and I said: I think I want to give it a try. - Mélissa Lefèbvre
Paul Tom
Filmaker and Editor
Direction, direction of photography, co-scriptwriting, editing
Born to Cambodian parents in a refugee camp in Thailand, Paul Tom is curious about human beings, whatever makes them fragile. His achievements relate particularly to identity building and family relationships.
He graduated in communications from the University of Quebec in Montreal and in animation from Concordia University.
He is also involved in cultural mediation using video.
Simon Boulerice
Writer, playwrighter, actor, director, poet
Simon Boulerice is one of the most prolific writers of his generation. In Quebec, it's impossible to miss him: he's on TV shows, on the radio, in newspapers. He dances, sings, shares his joie-de-vivre without limit, with a contagious energy.
Simon studied literature at the Cégep de Saint-Laurent and at the Université du Québec in Montréal, then theater performance at Cégep Lionel-Groulx.
In recent years, he has been giving writing workshops to newcomer classes at Paul-Guérin-Lajoie High School in Montreal. He guided the writing of the poetic book Bagages, mon histoire (published by Éditions de la Bagnole) and signed the preface.
Interview for 7th graders from Berkshire Middle School, MI (April 2019)
I have been giving workshops to newcomers for many years. I feel fulfilled by meeting them. I always find that moving. It gives me a lot of material to write about being connected to adolescence, a universal adolescence, which comes from all over the world. - Simon Boulérice
Roger Girard - Rogé
Illustrator, artist, writer
Rogé started his career as an artistic director in the Cossette and LG2 advertising agencies. Today he devotes himself to illustration, painting and writing. His images and many of his stories come to life in some twenty children's picture books that have earned him numerous accolades including the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award in 2006, the New York Times Award in 2014 and the Quebec Independent Booksellers Award in 2011 and 2013.
One foot in the Iles-de-la-Madeleine and one in Montreal, Rogé takes a sensitive look at life and happily shares his vision of the world with us.