Biography
Canadian filmmaker Robert Budreau moved successfully from short films for television to features in his native country before drawing international acclaim for his 2016 feature "Born to Be Blue," about the legendary jazz musician Chet Baker. Born January 25, 1974 in London, Ontario, Canada, Budreau attended the Vancouver Film School before commencing on a series of short dramatic films for Canadian television. Several of these were popular on the international festival and public television circuits, including "Dry Whiskey" (2005), about a son (Diego Klattenhoff) who attempts to connect with his alcoholic father. The following year, Budreau released his feature-length debut film, "That Beautiful Somewhere" (2006). The drama, about a detective and a researcher investigating the truth behind a preserved body with alleged powers of healing, earned a Genie Award nomination for Best Achievement in Music (Original Score), and best feature laurels from an array of international festivals. From there, he worked on a variety of Canadian film projects: Budreau wrote, produced and directed "The Deaths of Chet Baker" (2009), a short with Stephen McHattie as the jazz trumpeter, and produced the horror feature "Solo" (2013) and the comedy "Bank$tas" (aka "Cubicle Warriors") (2013) through his company, Lumanity. In 2015, he returned to the tragic life and death of Baker for "Born to Be Blue," his second feature directorial effort. The drama, with Ethan Hawke playing Baker during his recovery from drug addiction in the mid-1960s, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to critical acclaim in 2015 before being released in Canada and the United States the following year.
