Director Dominic James will take the reins of Montreal’s Productions La Fete from Rock Demers, it was announced Monday.

Demers founded the prodco more than 35 years ago, and personally selected James as his successor. The production company is known for its Tales for All collection, an anthology of 24 family films, and has produced 31 feature films, about 50 hours of documentaries, six TV series and an animated series. Projects the company has produced include La guerre des tuques (The Dog Who Stopped the War), Daniel and the Superdogs, Reach for the Sky and the Emmy-winning Vincent and Me.

“I was very impressed by Dominic’s vision for the future of La Fête, both from a creative perspective and a from business standpoint. As a Quebecker that has spent a great deal of time living abroad, he has an international vision and he’s a family man whose values I happen to share. His determination during the acquisition process, combined with his passion and understanding of family films, has made a very strong impression on me,” Demers said in a statement, adding that he plans to remain at the company for a few more years.

James said his own statement he plans to continue Productions La Fete’s strategy of producing films for an international audience, but, unlike Demers, he will not direct or produce the company’s upcoming projects.

“Replacing Rock Demers is not the objective. Rather, we wish to assemble a young team that is passionate about storytelling and place it in an environment that fosters collective creativity. From the early stages of development, we want to ensure that our team provides screenwriters, directors and producers with all the support necessary to harvest the very best of every idea, every concept and every screenplay that will be produced by La Fête,” James said.

James is currently wrapping up his latest feature, the Sophie Nelisse-starrer Wait Till Helen Comes. The film is slated for a 2016 release. Demers was inducted into Playback’s Film and Television Hall of Fame in 2013.