Marie Hélène Panisset trained in classical dance. She then moved on to study art history and obtained a bachelor's degree in communication and journalism from Concordia University in 1995. Over the next ten years, she worked as art director in film and television commercials. During those years, she started writing scripts and produced/directed a first short in 2002: Happiness is at arm's length but sometimes you find it at the bottom of a sea of sadness, which went on to win Best Short at HDFest 2004. With Une femme de bien bonne humeur (One Pretty Happy Dame) she polished her efforts at joining dance and film to tell a story in a dynamic fashion. For many years now, Marie Hélène has been developping a script for a feature film in the musical comedy genre L'Écran de nos rêves, which she hopes to bring into production in 2008. 2007 will see her make her first directorial debut on a feature: Y sont où nos bateaux?, a co-direction with her longtime accomplices Fabrice Barrilliet, Nicolas Bolduc and Julien Knafo, whose short films she had the pleasure of producing.