Perhaps it’s because he is a direct descendant of Louis Riel that The Partners’ Film Company director Mitch Gabourie has a penchant for getting great performances from actors.

His ‘nba’ spot for Pontiac, which hilariously chronicles the fantasy big-league post-game interview of a media-savvy nba hopeful, and his Sony Playstation ad ‘No Brainer’ took top marks from First Cut judge Nichole Frechette. Judges Pete Henderson, David Baxter and Anna Tricinci were unanimous in their reaction to Gabourie’s spots: ‘Great Performance’ was their verdict.

Gabourie may be new to commercial directing but judging by his list of credits he is already a veteran of the industry. After graduating from York University’s film school in ’85 he made a few documentaries including Shurtleff on famed acting teacher Michael Shurtleff. The piece was purchased by pbs, cbc and Bravo!

Gabourie went on to direct episodes of Street Legal, The Hitchhiker, Top Cops and A Question Of Justice (pbs), which won a Silver Screen Award at the 1994 USA Film and Television Festival.

In 1989 he made his feature film directorial debut with Buying Time starring Dean Stockwell. The film was bought by mgm/ua and earned Gabourie a Claude Jutra Award (most promising new director) nomination at the 1990 Genies and a best supporting actor nomination for Michael Rudder.

His first commercial spot was for Venue magazine. Gabourie managed to give the low-budget shoot a high-end look and feel that garnered him the number seven position in the 1995 Playback Top Spots awards.

Joining Partners’ through Revolver in 1994, Gabourie has become one of their most promising young directors, handling music videos and tv commercials.

Gabourie cites studying under his eventual doc subject Shurtleff in New York after film school as an influence in his ability to work with actors. ‘I wanted a foundation in dramaturgy,’ he says over lunch at an eatery close to Partners’ headquarters, ‘so that I could ideally eliminate the mystery, obstacles and barriers that people tend to put up in a creative environment.’

The easy-going atmosphere that allows Gabourie’s actors to feel comfortable enough to take risks on set gets transferred to his relationships with agencies’ creative teams for each spot.

‘It involves the creatives as well,’ he says, eating his club sandwich (hold the bacon, mayo, fries). ‘I try and collaborate with the creative team because it’s all part and parcel of the execution process of an idea. Communication lines are totally open and there is a creative chain reaction where if you have an idea and you want to incorporate it, you feel free enough to bring it up and suggest it. That’s how magic happens. It’s a collaborative process.’

This type of atmosphere was evident on the set of the Pontiac ‘nba’ spot where the MacLaren McCann creative team of Andrew Bradley and Carlos Moreno was penciling in lines for 14-year-old actor Mark Taylor as the shoot took place. Gabourie also used improv exercises with the young actor, asking him to pretend he was a Las Vegas lounge lizard in order to achieve the desired performance.

As to how working in commercials fits into his other filmmaking pursuits, Gabourie contends that commercial directing allows him to perfect his craft on a regular basis and to develop and hone techniques to use in his other directing gigs. He says it has been his experience that feature producers are often more interested in commercial directorial credits than episodic television work.

Speaking of feature producers, Gabourie has a production deal with Peter Hoffman’s (Johnny Mnemonic, Jacob’s Ladder) l.a.-based CineVisions to shoot his script Komanchee Street in Montreal over the winter. Financing is in place and Gabourie is in the process of casting the suspense thriller set in a Montreal gypsy neighborhood that he penned way back in film school.

Gabourie is also fielding offers on his latest feature, a caper picture entitled The Knife and Gun Club.