Born in Montréal, Marc Paradis (1955-2019) studied drama and visual arts. Between 1978 and 1990, he also trained with the likes of Józef Robakowski, Bruno Bigoni, Jerzy Grotowski and Michael Kriegman. Paradis became interested in video in 1981, when he did a screen test for French filmmaker Jean-François Garsi, for whom he worked as an assistant. He went on to make Le voyage de l’ogre, the first of his 17 productions. His works question and consider romantic relationships between men, desire, fantasy, and the representation of sexuality, at times playing with the borders of pornography. In 1984, he made Schème video [Video Scheme] with Luc Bourdon, followed by Say Cheese for a Trans-Canadian Look the following year, two works that look at video art in Canada. He also made portraits and video recordings of artists such as Denis Lessard, John Mingolla and Yves Lalonde. His work has received national and international recognition.

"Marc Paradis, a talented video maker who leaves heated debate in his wake [...] takes a crucial and beneficial look at homosexual imagery and the role of seduction and desire in romantic relationships. [...] We sense in his work an incessant desire to dissect, with neither complacency nor solicitousness, the strategy behind the way we look at others and the sexual mechanisms at work in modern society." - CRON, Marie-Michèle. « Marc Paradis, enfer et damnation », Le Devoir, Montreal, April 6, 1992

See also:

Marc Paradis, an Ogre’s Desire (digital publication)

Marc Paradis (Wikipedia, in French)