A reel full of spots no one could understand won First Cut finalist Alexandra Dellevoet a place in the Canadian commercial directing community.

And that was on the basis of a reel mainly in Swedish.

Walking on the beach at Cannes, Canadian-born Dellevoet met a Canadian, a representative of Industry Films. ‘I noticed the Canadian accent, and she said, ‘If you’re ever in Toronto come by with your reel because I’d love to see your work.’

‘Six months later, I was in town visiting and had taken some show reels with me, and sure enough Industry Films really liked the work they saw. [They] wanted me to be located in Toronto to do local work, and I thought, why not give the North American market a try?’

Dellevoet, who has spent more than half her life living in various parts of Europe, says, ‘I’m drawn to visual storytelling and would like to do more of it.’

An early experience – her high school put on a talent show that included a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which she directed – whet Dellevoet’s appetite, but acting initially seemed to be her passion.

Two years of acting – studying, commercial work, stage jobs and a part as a prostitute in Mike Figgis’ Men and Women – changed her mind.

‘After that I decided didn’t want to be an actor.

‘I realized what I really wanted to do was the director’s work, rather than being in front of the camera. So I looked into film schools and found one in Stockholm, which has a pretty good reputation, and I went and lived in Sweden.

‘During my last year of film school I started my own small production company and directed and produced local music videos and corporate films – anything I could get my hands on.

‘I was applying everything I learned in school; sometimes you don’t get to apply that [knowledge]. I was working in the craft at the same time; I was working in the real world while at film school.’

Because of that year, a commercial production company picked up Dellevoet, based on her body of work to that point.

‘Originally I hadn’t thought of getting into commercial work. Then this company made me an offer and I thought, ‘Why not?”

This connection went on for three years before the chance meeting in Cannes that led Dellevoet back to her country of birth.

‘The major difference [between the two markets] is that in the Swedish market, the production company and the dop own the negative – it gives the director a lot of creative control. Here the client and the creative agency own it. It’s very different, and I found it a challenge adjusting to that.

‘The rest are cultural differences; for example, an English spot may not achieve its aims in North America, and the humor that is used in Sweden to convey a message or sell a product may not work in North America and therefore you have a cultural difference. Those have been interesting to me, to have to adjust to a more Canadian culture and way of communicating. I haven’t quite figured that out yet.

Spot credits to date include Shoppers Drug Mart and N.B. Tel. *