Alexandra Raffé Wins the Douglas James Dales Industry Builder Award

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Thu, 03/05/2015 - 12:54 -- Nick Dager

Rob Sims, left, and Alexandra RafféRob Sim, president and CEO of the Sim Group of Companies, today announced that Alexandra Raffé, vice president of production for Thunderbird Films, is the recipient of the 2015 Douglas James Dales Industry Builder Award. The award was presented to Raffé at the annual PS Dinner on the Hill, held during the Canadian Media Production Association Prime Time Conference in Ottawa.

“PS takes great pride in honouring Alexandra as this year’s recipient of the Douglas James Dales Industry Builder Award,” said Sim. “She has worked tirelessly over many years to help filmmakers achieve their visions and to foster a vibrant production community. She truly embodies the spirit of Canadian filmmaking.”

As a long-time advocate for the advancement of Canadian film and television, Raffé has spent many years building organizations that ensure feature films get made in Canada and are seen around the world.  An active member in the industry, she is the former CEO of the Ontario Film Development Corporation and has served on the boards of Film Ontario, the National Screen Institute and the Canadian Film Centre Feature Film Project. She is also a past member of the National Board of the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), a member of the CMPA-BC Branch Council and currently serves on the Board of the Youth Media Alliance.

“It’s a great honor to accept an award named for Doug Dales, one of the pioneers of our industry, and to join the company of past recipients, who have made lasting contributions to the growth and success of filmmaking in Canada,” Raffé observed. She added that while the industry is in an enormous state of flux in Canada, as it is internationally, she is confident that Canadian talent and smarts will find new paths to storytelling and distributing our stories.  “I’m always an optimist,” she said.

Over the years, Raffé has helped bring many critically acclaimed Canadian feature films to the big screen, including I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, White Room, Zero Patience, The Lotus Eaters and I Love a Man in Uniform, which have collectively won 11 Genie Awards. She was Executive Producer on Keith Behrman’s debut feature film, Flower and Garnet, which won numerous awards including the Claude Jutra Award at the 2003 Genies, and Larry Di Stefano’s 2006 Love and Other Dilemmas.

After moving into television production a decade ago, she produced three seasons of the teen hit multi-cam sitcom Mr. Young, airing on YTV in Canada and Disney XD in the U.S. and internationally, as well as two seasons each of the multi-camera sitcoms Package Deal and Some Assembly Required.   She also acted as supervising producer for Zigby, an animated pre-school series for Treehouse. Raffé developed and produced three seasons of Zixx, an innovative live action/animation series for Treehouse, and has recently moved back into feature film, executive producing The Birdwatcher, Siobhan Devine’s debut feature film.  Raffé is also an avid fan of digital media, and has now notched up production on nearly a dozen games over the last five years.