Quebec director Alexandre Franchi’s imagination is a little hyperactive. As a kid he always wanted to bring his toys to life, now as a director he’s been able to make it happen.

Franchi, who left a career in finance in the Persian Gulf and Central America to pursue film, directed Fata Morgana, a short film made through Bravo!FACT which looks into the imagination of a young boy playing out a battle scene with toys in his bedroom.

He is currently looking for commercial representation in Toronto, where he would like to stay after he completes his studies at the Canadian Film Centre in December. Franchi says he is using his time at the film centre primarily to focus on actor direction, dialogue and drama skills.

Although his short films demonstrate a highly filmic approach and knack for action – storytelling suited to feature work – Franchi has clear goals for commercial directing, where he feels his talents have the greatest potential for growth.

‘Commercial work is driven by visual perfection. It is a way to work with the best in the industry and really experiment with technique,’ he says. ‘I always wanted to be working in commercials. It may be because I come from a business background.’

Franchi, an only child born in 1971 in Quebec and raised between Montreal and Corsica, France, says his father filled his head with opera and tales of witches and monsters, which have stayed with him, fuelling his love for storytelling. Even when training bankers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Franchi was busy writing stories. Fortunately, after a last stint in banking in Nicaragua, the pull of Franchi’s creative side got the better of him.

At the end of a year at Vancouver Film School, Franchi was offered a position at MIT to pursue his MBA, but declined and returned to Montreal three years ago, where he started working as a producer at Soma Productions.

Fata Morgana screened at more than 10 film festivals, and has already caught the eye of talent-seekers south of the border, including Fox Search Lab, a Fox Searchlight program that looks at new directors.