ABOUT EZ

Montreal-based filmmaker, photographer, foodie and friend Ezra Soiferman (aka “Ez”) shoots and directs documentaries and photo series about people, places and things that warm hearts, uplift spirits, and frequently provoke thought and laughter.

Ezra's movies (including “Grass Fed”, "Dockside to Bedside: 100 Years of Herzl", "Posthumous Pickle Party", "Cod Help Us", "Man of Grease", "Tree Weeks" and "Pressure Drop") have screened or won awards at over 35 film festivals worldwide since 1994, when he graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Networks on which his films or TV episodes have aired include: CBC, CTV, TVO, Nat-Geo, CBC Documentary Channel, SBS Australia, Knowledge Network, CityTV, Canal D, RDI, SRC, and Oprah, amongst others. 

Ezra's latest feature film is the Muse Entertainment documentary "Grass Fed" which premiered in late 2015 on the CBC’s Documentary Channel and can now be seen on iTunes and Google Play in Canada and the USA.

In March 2016, Soiferman released the acclaimed “Last Game at The Forum” a photo project which featured a coffee table book, gallery exhibit and music photeo about the final Canadiens hockey match played at the Montreal Forum prior to its closing in 1996.

In summer 2016, Ezra became the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at Tweed, Canada's leading cannabis brand. This also marked the first time in history a cannabis company has taken on an artist-in-residence. Click here to read about it and listen to a radio interview with Ez on CBC’s Day 6, or click here to see the official Press Kit covering the landmark residency.

As part of the year-long dream gig at Tweed, Ezra created new photo series and short films and served as a brand ambassador for the company. The first project he released as part of the residency was the music photeo  "The Walls of Montreal" / "Les Murs de Montréal", a love letter to the vast array of artistic murals throughout his hometown, of which he has photographed more than 1500.

Ezra's second video for his Tweed residency was "Ez in Res'", a music photeo released the day cannabis legalization was tabled by the Canadian Government which was coincidentally his 45th birthday. The video features some of his favourite images shot during his extensive travels for the residency.  

In spring 2018, Ezra was hired to shoot and direct the 15-part web series Beyond the Plate for the Montreal Gazette. Hosted and produced by Heidi Small, the documentary series plucked famous Montreal chefs from their kitchens and took them out on adventures such as mushroom foraging, rooftop farming, and revisiting their childhood haunts.

In spring 2019, Ezra shot and directed A Place to Belong, the promotional video for Montreal’s Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA.

Early 2020 saw the release of Ezra’s short documentary about his Hemp for the Homeless project which distributes functional and nutritious hemp goods to people in need. The project, founded in 2007, has received sponsorship by more than 35 hemp companies to date. A followup video (released in February 2021) followed the project as it donated Hemp Help Kits to a Native homeless shelter in downtown Montreal.

In early 2020, vegan restaurant chain Hello 123 launched The Ezra Burger at their Monkland location in Montreal. The meatless hemp burger is named after Ezra and provides $1 from the sale of each burger to Hemp for the Homeless. The burger was called “to die for” by the Montreal Gazette and in 2021 went on the help fund the latest Hemp for the Homeless outreach supporting Resilience Montreal. Watch the video and learn more here.

In 2021, Ezra continues to shoot and direct episodes of Beyond the Plate with Montreal food maven Heidi Small. The series, launched in 2018 and with more than 35 episodes to date, is shot in and around Montreal and is now exhibited on platforms including CTV-Montreal, YouTube, Canada’s 100 Best and the Night Picker app.

Between 2018 and 2021, Ezra worked at Tweed’s parent company Canopy Growth as a business development consultant.

In April 2021, Ezra released "The Wildlife - The Walled Life", a short, meditative ‘music photeo’ journey artistically blending breathtaking wildlife images by Montreal naturopathic doctor and wildlife photographer Ilana Block with his own photos of the many stunning animal murals dotting the landscape of Montreal. The nature-infused video features a soundtrack sung by the pair.

In October 2021, Ezra released the short film “The Junk On My Roof,” featuring the whimsical and magical rooftop sculpture garden of Montreal renaissance man, Dr. Michael Dworkind, aka Dworko. A physician, environmental activist, medical cannabis guru and recycled art sculptor, Dworkind takes Soiferman on an intimate tour of his otherworldly rooftop in a meditative short that you can watch here. The film was profiled on Global TV Montreal News here. You can watch the 2022 sequel to “The Junk On My Roof”, called “The Junk At My Cottage” here. It features Dworko’s forest sculpture garden at his country home.

In November, 2022, Ezra directed the music photeo for “Stages of Psychosexual Development” by Montreal singer-songwriter Ryan Stotland. The short video delves into Sigmund Freud’s theory of childhood development against a backdrop of Stotland’s catchy tune and insightful lyrics. Watch it here.

In February 2023, Ezra released “Montréal, Snowbec”, a 5-minute film serving as a love letter to his beloved hometown. The short, musical documentary, which features lively and colourful footage and photos Soiferman created over seven winters, paints a timeless, intimate portrait of winter in Montreal, specifically how the city deals with all its snow. The film bears witness to the ballet-like snow-clearing operations of the city’s mammoth plows as they prowl Montreal's 10,000 kilometres of streets and sidewalks. The film, which premiered on the CBC’s Creator Network and featured an interview with Ezra on CBC’s “Our Montreal”, where the film also had its TV premiere, was the subject of numerous media stories (CBC, CJAD, CJN, SRC, The Suburban, etc.) including Bill Brownstein’s feature column on the film that landed a photo of Ezra, his camera and a snow shovel on the front cover of the Montreal Gazette. WATCH “Montréal, Snowbec” and read the press articles here.

In November 2023, Ezra created a music photeo for the song “This Is Home” by Peter Gabriel. The photo-based video featured some of Ezra’s favourite wildlife and nature photos he shot in nature preserves, bird sanctuaries, mountains, lakes, beaches and gardens as well as photos of Gabriel and band on stage at the Bell Centre in Montreal in September, 2023. Ezra sent the 5-minute fan video to Gabriel who emailed Ezra back to tell him he thought the images were beautiful and gave the filmmaker his blessing to release the photeo to the public. Soiferman put it out on his YouTube channel and his Facebook and Instagram pages. The project was also featured in the February 2024 issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine. You can watch the music photeo here.

Soiferman's photos have appeared in the pages of outlets including The Globe and Mail, The Financial Post, The Montreal Gazette, CBC Arts, Civilized, Canadian Geographic, Marijuana.com, The Cannabist, Canadian Jewish News, TheJ.ca, Times of Israel, Canada’s 100 Best, The Edmonton Journal and, by golly, the Journal Express Drummondville.

In addition to making films and shooting photographs, Soiferman has also produced film festivals for Pop Montreal and Just For Laughs, served on festival juries and is director of the Montreal Film Group, a networking group for more than 2500 Montreal film and TV industry members which he co-founded in 2004.

Ezra continues his filmmaking, photography and shares cool things at his blog EzSez.com.

To purchase a signed print or a professionally framed photo of any image you see on this site (or any image from Ezra’s archive of 100,000+ images), or to order a copy of a specific film, please visit the Contact page. 

For Ezra's complete film and photo bio, please click here.

Visit Ezra's Ezra’s YouTube channel to watch some of his films, trailers and many eclectic and eccentric shorts.

Watch all of Ezra’s ‘music photeos’ here.

Connect with Ezra on his Facebook page.

Follow Ezra’s photo adventures here on his Instagram page.

To contact Ezra, click here.