If you don't know...HAUI

…Let me introduce you!

Howard J. Davis, aka HAUI, is a diverse multidisciplinary entrepreneur of many artistic trades, including performing, directing, design & visual arts. A graduate of Ryerson Theatre School (2014), he has worked with companies such as the Shaw Festival of Canada, Native Earth Performing Arts, Cahoots Theatre as well as in film and television.

As a director, he is an assistant director for the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction, and was an assistant director to Estelle Shook and Peter Hinton at the National Arts Centre for Louis Riel.

His film making emphasizes how the past can inform our current socio-political climate to build a practice in telling stories of his heritage, marginalized cultures, and original modern works that bridge classical, theatrical, and historical context to contemporary cinema and stage.

A career highlight has been directing his short film C'EST MOI about the history Marie-Josèphe Angélique. The film screened at over 40 festivals worldwide, including Vues D'Afrique, Montreal and Hollywood's Black Film Festivals, Caribbean Tales, and The Black International Film Festival in the United Kingdom, where it was nominated for Best Short Film and won Best Short Documentary at the Best Shorts Competition in Los Angeles.

His most recent feature-length film debut entitled MIXED↑ - explores the isolation of being BIPOC and LGBTQ+. The film was co-produced with trans producer/filmmaker Jack Fox and premiered November 2020 on OUTtv and OUTtvGO network television and at Image+Nation LGBTQueer Film Festival.

Howard is part of Wildseed Black Arts Residency in association with Black Lives Matter Toronto. In 2019, He won the By Black's People's Choice Award for Best Director, and was nominated for a Montreal English Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre in 2020. He is also a member of ACTRA, CAEA and ADC.

Follow HAUI on Twitter and Instagram.

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