Jacques Bensimon

Secretary General National Film Board of Canada

Jacques Bensimon has been Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Film Board of Canada since 2001.

Since 2000, Mr. Bensimon was the Executive Vice-President of the Banff Television Foundation (BTVF) and its Chief Operating Officer. The Foundation is a charitable organization that organizes a variety of broadcasting, television and new media events. The flagship event is the Banff TV Festival.

From 1986 to 2000, Mr. Bensimon worked at TFO, the French network of TVOntario that broadcasts over six thousand hours per year, with a staff of over 120 employees.  From 1967 to 1986, he worked at the National Film Board of Canada in various functions. He has credits on over thirty NFB films either as screenwriter, editor, director or producer. He was, inter alia, responsible for an NFB production unit in Africa for the United Nations and CIDA. Between 1981 and 1986, he was Director of the French Programme's programming committee and subsequently Director of International Distribution.

In 1998, he was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in Letters from York University, Toronto. In 2005, he was appointed Member of the Order of Canada by her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada.

Jacques Bensimon was born in Morocco, grew up in Montreal, and completed his film studies in New York.