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Dylan Rhys Howard

Directing

Biography

Born in Wellington, New Zealand and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Dylan Rhys Howard is an independent filmmaker whose work has been described by the National Screen Institute as “fresh, nuanced storytelling and imagery that is evocative in its simplicity and intimacy.” In 2018, his short film Peak Oil was selected to be a part of Telefilm Canada’s Not Short On Talent program and screened at the Marché Du Film Court at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. Peak Oil also received an Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association award for Best Narrative Short and the A&E Short Filmmakers Award for Best Film at the National Screen Institute. His debut broadcast documentary, Digging In The Dirt, a one-hour documentary about depression and suicide in Alberta’s oil and gas sector, co-directed with Omar Mouallem, premiered on CBC Television in September 2019 and was featured in Hot Docs’ Spotlight Alberta series in early 2021. His latest documentary as writer/producer/director, Boys Will Be...Themselves, premiered on CBC Gem in October 2022. The Lebanese Burger Mafia, a feature-length documentary produced by Rhys Howard and directed by Mouallem, had its world premiere at Hot Docs in 2023 where it was immediately picked up for distribution by levelFilm, subsequently played in theatres across Canada, and is now streaming on Paramount+. Concurrently, the slow-burn independent drama Hands That Bind, directed by Kyle Armstrong, associate produced by Rhys Howard, and starring Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, and Bruce Dern, also landed in Canadian theatres via Mongrel Media. Rhys Howard's debut feature film as writer/director, Eudaimonia, has been picked up for distribution by IndieCan Entertainment’s brand new subsidiary Pride Pictures, and is set to start its festival run in the spring of 2024.

Known For

The Lebanese Burger Mafia
6.3

The heir to a Burger Baron franchise, the filmmaker chases clues through rural Alberta, capturing the trials and tribulations of Arab immigrants while uncovering the saga of a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia

2023
The Last Baron
10.0

The meaty saga of Burger Baron, a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following, run by a loose network of fiercely independent Arab Canadian immigrants.

The Last Baron

2021
Hands That Bind
9.0

A hired hand's plans to take over his boss farm are shattered when the landowner's son returns to claim his birthright.

Hands That Bind

2023
Eudaimonia
N/A

Prudence, a dishwasher and housecleaner with the telepathic power to eavesdrop on people’s consciousness, creates eccentric characters out of clothing she steals from her clients and stages confrontational performances in the street. She’s estranged from her mother, an artist, and the only person who shares this telepathic gift. As Prudence comes to terms with her mother's terminal illness and the knowledge that her telepathy comes at a cost, she gains a clearer understanding of how to find meaningful connections with others.

Eudaimonia

2024
Digging in the Dirt
7.8

A documentary about the psychological costs of working in Alberta's oil sands and the mental health crisis that's been ignored for a decade.

Digging in the Dirt

2019
No image
N/A

Two kids in Saskatchewan, a bound boy and a free spirit, spend their summertime with each other, getting into different sorts of situations.

Cricket

My Knitting Circle
N/A

Winters in the sparsely populated Yukon are long, cold and dark—a natural recipe for isolation. For newcomers like Alexandra Knowles, it can be hard to find friends. But anywhere there is a yarn store, there are knitters. And where there are knitters, there is a knitting circle, weaving together a circle of care, one stitch at a time—and reminding us of the simple ways that community is built on presence, storytelling and shared purpose.

My Knitting Circle

2026
Without
N/A

When a polyamorous trio is devastated by the sudden death of their male partner the two women left mourning his loss must decide if their family can stay together.

Without

Drier Down Here
N/A

An adolescent boy struggles to balance his own childish desires with the presence of a dark and mysterious figure living in his family's farmyard on the Canadian prairies.

Drier Down Here

2024
Making Kayfabe
N/A

Facing a mid-life crisis, a journalist discovers the regular folk moonlighting as indie wrestlers, who help him transform his childhood dream into reality as "Fake Nooz Neville."

Making Kayfabe

2024
Magic Hours
N/A

At struggling independent movie theatres across Alberta, passionate business owners are reviving, re-inventing and sometimes letting go of these once-vital community spaces.

Magic Hours

2024
Until First Light
9.0

Follows an unnamed protagonist as he returns to his childhood home following the tragic death of his brother. He struggles with loss as fall gives way to winter and he reluctantly assumes responsibility for the dying family farm where his mother and sister still live. This quiet and intimate work draws the viewer into a meditative rural space as the man attempts to reconcile his past and present.

Until First Light

2018
Older Than What?
1.0

Aging has a tendency to fade people out of the picture. Older Than What? brings LGBTQ elders sharply back into focus with humor, frankness, wit and charm. 12 seniors answer 10 questions about aging and share stories about how they made history.

Older Than What?

2017