Filmmaker and writer MICHAEL McGOWAN’s (writer/director/producer) most recent film, One Week, starring Joshua Jackson, Liane Balaban and Campbell Scott had it’s world premiere as a Gala Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival this September. He directed the film from a screenplay he wrote as well as produced the film under his production company, Mulmur Feed Company. The film is being distributed in Canada by Mongrel Media and will be released in March, 2008 and is being sold internationally by Maximum Films. It won the Audience Award at the Edmonton International Film Festival and the Jury Prize at the Calgary International Film Festival.

McGowan wrote and directed Saint Ralph, the critically-acclaimed feature which won an array of international prizes and was distributed in Canada, the U.S. and around the world including major releases in Japan, Germany, France and South Korea. Winner of the WGC Canadian Screen Writer’s Award for Best Screenplay, the Directors’ Guild Award for Best Director, and nominated for five Genie Awards, including Best Feature Film, Saint Ralph created a box office sensation in Japan. It also won the Grand Prix at the Paris Film Festival, the audience award at the London Film Festival and the People’s Choice Award for the Canadian Film Circuit.

He is also the creator and executive producer of the stop-motion animated children’s show, Henry’s World, which is broadcast in over 50 countries worldwide and won a variety of awards, including the Alliance for Children and Television Award of Excellence.

McGowan has worked internationally with Disney, Gold Circle Films, Academy Award winning producer Arthur Cohn and NIKE. He is also a best-selling author of the YA novel Newton and the Giant. The sequel, Newton and the Time Travel Machine was released by Harper Collins in the spring of 2008.