Howard Jefferson Lewis (born 1951) is a Canadian screenwriter and film producer from Montreal, Quebec.John Griffin, "French director, anglo script-writer generate marital bliss with Paper Wedding". Montreal Gazette, April 29, 1990. He is most noted as the writer of the film Ordinary Magic, for which he was a Genie Award nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 15th Genie Awards in 1994.
Background Born and raised in Montreal, he is the grandson of Wilder Penfield.Charles Godfrey, "With Bible reading, hard work and obeying the Golden Rule, Penfield could do anything". The Globe and Mail, October 31, 1981. After graduating from Queen's University with a degree in film studies, he worked as a journalist for the Ottawa Citizen, CBC Radio and Southam News before publishing Something Hidden, a biography of his grandfather, in 1981.
Film career His book was also adapted into a National Film Board of Canada documentary by filmmaker Bob Lower,Rick Groen, "Engrossing NFB documentary on a brilliant man Penfield's life-long quest". The Globe and Mail, November 21, 1981. which drew Lewis more directly into filmmaking. He wrote a number of documentary shorts for the NFB in the 1980s, and was a writer for the short-lived television soap opera Mount Royal, before making his feature film debut with the screenplay for The Paper Wedding (Les noces de papier) in 1989.
His second screenplay, Ordinary Magic, was directed by Giles Walker and released in 1993.Bill Brownstein, "Filming magic on a shoestring; Despite little fanfare, Canadian movies can hold their own". Montreal Gazette, January 15, 1994. The following year, Michel Brault released My Friend Max (Mon amie Max), from a script cowritten by Lewis and Guy Fournier.Charles-Henri Ramond, "Mon amie Max – Film de Michel Brault". Films du Québec, February 3, 2009. For that film, he won the award for Best Screenplay at the 1994 Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois.John Griffin, "Max caused award-winning writer some pain". Montreal Gazette, February 20, 1994.
In 2002 he wrote Paule Baillargeon's NFB documentary Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story (Claude Jutra, portrait sur film), for which he won both the Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Documentary Program or Series at the 18th Gemini Awards,"Best of documentary, news, sports honoured". North Bay Nugget, October 20, 2003. and the Writers Guild of Canada award for best writing in a documentary."Screenwriters honoured". Toronto Star, April 15, 2003.
His later screenplays included the feature films Emotional ArithmeticMatthew Hays, "Lewis does the Arithmetic". Playback, October 2, 2006. and French Immersion,Brendan Kelly, "Immersed in confusion; Kevin Tierney hopes to offend people on both sides of the language divide in film about Anglos coming to Quebec to learn French". Postmedia Network, September 26, 2011. and the documentary film Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague.
Personal life He was married in the 1970s to Catherine Keachie, a marketer in the publishing industry.Doug Saunders, "Tireless magazine lobbyist faced trade challenge". The Globe and Mail, December 17, 1997. After that marriage ended in the mid-1980s, he remarried to actress Andrée Pelletier.
Filmography The Paper Wedding (Les noces de papier) - 1989 Ordinary Magic - 1993 My Friend Max (Mon amie Max) - 1994 Creatures of the Sun - 1997 Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story (Claude Jutra, portrait sur film) - 2002 Emotional Arithmetic - 2007 Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague - 2010 French Immersion - 2011
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