Kyle Thomas (born 23 June 1983) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. His first feature film, ''

The Valley Below ''The Valley Below'' is a Canadian dramatic film, released in 2014. The feature film debut of filmmaker Kyle Thomas,

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in 2014. It garnered two

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nominations in the categories of Best Supporting Actor for

Kris Demeanor Kris Demeanor is a Canadian poet, musician and actor, who received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards for his performance in the film ''The Valley Below''. Prior to his performance in th ...

and Best Original Song for

Dan Mangan Daniel Mangan (born April 28, 1983) is a Canadian musician. He has won two Juno awards and has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Australia, having released 5 studio LPs and numerous EPs and singles. He has scored for featur ...

's "Wants"."Canadian Screen Awards Unveil Nominations"
''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', 13 January 2015. The film received largely positive reviews from the Canadian media, including ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' and the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', who called the film a "superb first feature".

Early life and education

Thomas was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, and raised in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Alberta. He began making films with the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers in his teenage years before attending

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, a division of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University, is a film school located in Montreal, Quebec. Informally known as MHSoC, the school accepts around 250 students a year for programs in animation ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in the early 2000s. After completing his BFA, he returned to Calgary to establish the

North Country Cinema North Country Cinema is a Canadian media arts collective based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The company was founded in 2005 by filmmakers Alexander Carson, Nicholas Martin, and Kyle Thomas, who met at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Conco ...

media arts collective in 2005.

Career

Directing and producing

Thomas is a founding member of

, along with filmmakers Alexander Carson and Nicholas Martin, whom he met at the

, Quebec. Through

, Thomas has focused on producing director-driven film and video content, and has created award-winning works that have screened at major international festivals, including the

and

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

. Thomas' recent films have portrayed neo-realist narratives concerned with intimate, personal stories depicting life in rural

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. Following the announcement that his first feature film

The Valley Below ''The Valley Below'' is a Canadian dramatic film, released in 2014. The feature film debut of filmmaker Kyle Thomas,

would be funded by

Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Canadian Crown corporation that supports Canada's audiovisual industry. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm Canada provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in Vancouver, British Colu ...

, he was declared one of "10 Canadians to Watch at Cannes" in 2013.

The Valley Below ''The Valley Below'' is a Canadian dramatic film, released in 2014. The feature film debut of filmmaker Kyle Thomas,

premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 and went on to garner two

nominations. Thomas' second directorial feature, Range Roads, screened at

Cinequest The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It i ...

, The

Canadian Film Festival The Canadian Film Festival, formerly known as the Canadian Filmmakers Festival, is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario. Showcasing a program of Canadian independent films, it is held in March of each year and usually runs for five days. ...

and the

Austin Film Festival Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the c ...

in 2021 and was nominated for a

for Best Actress, Alana Hawley Purvis in 2022. The film is distributed by Game Theory in Canada and Freestyle Digital Media in the US. The film features original music by

Eamon McGrath Eamon McGrath is a Canadian musician and writer from Edmonton, Alberta and currently based in Windsor, Ontario. On his own, his live performances are most often folk-oriented, where McGrath plays songs from his discography on acoustic instrument ...

. The film won prizes for Best Feature and Best Director at the 2021

Rosie Awards The Rosie Awards is the name given to the Alberta Film and Television Awards, presented annually by Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA). AMPIA is non-profit professional association that supports its members by encouraging th ...

. Kyle Thomas was a lead producer on Hey Viktor! which screened at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

and the

s in 2023. Thomas produced

's fourth feature, Alberta Number One (directed by Alexander Carson) which screened at FNC in Montreal and the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

in fall 2024.

Acting work

Thomas plays the role of Danny in

's second feature film ''O, Brazen Age'' written and directed by Alexander Carson. The film premiered at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...

in 2015.

Filmography - As Director

* 2007: ''Last Chance Saloon'' * 2008: ''Ghost Town'' * 2009: ''Liminal State of Decay'' * 2011: ''Not Far from the Abattoir'' * 2012: ''The Post'' * 2014: ''

The Valley Below ''The Valley Below'' is a Canadian dramatic film, released in 2014. The feature film debut of filmmaker Kyle Thomas,

'' * 2021: '' Range Roads'' * 2025: So Dark The Sky

Filmography - As Producer

* 2007: ''Last Chance Saloon'' * 2008: ''Ghost Town'' * 2009: ''Liminal State of Decay'' * 2011: ''Not Far from the Abattoir'' * 2012: ''The Post'' * 2014: ''

The Valley Below ''The Valley Below'' is a Canadian dramatic film, released in 2014. The feature film debut of filmmaker Kyle Thomas,

'' * 2015: O, Brazen Age * 2021: '' Range Roads'' * 2023: Hey Viktor! * 2024: Alberta Number One * 2025: So Dark The Sky * 2026: Smudge The Blades

References

External links

*
North Country Cinema official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Kyle 1983 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male actors Concordia University alumni Male actors from Calgary Male actors from Vancouver Canadian male screenwriters Screenwriters from Alberta Film producers from Alberta Film producers from British Columbia Film directors from Calgary Film directors from Vancouver Writers from Calgary Writers from Vancouver Screenwriters from British Columbia