Léo-Ernest Ouimet

Léo-Ernest Ouimet, 1915

Léo-Ernest Ouimet (born March 16, 1877 in Laval , † March 2, 1972 in Montreal ) was a Canadian cinema director, film distributor and producer.

The son of a farmer and trained electrical engineer worked as a projectionist in Sohmer Park in Montreal from 1902 . In 1906 he bought two film projectors and opened the Ouimetoscope, the first permanent cinema in Canada , in a rented room . In that year he already ran one of the largest cinema theaters in North America with 1200 seats and became one of the first film distributors in Canada. In order to be able to offer films with a regional reference, he also turned to film production.

With more than 80 short films (including Mes espérances en 1908 , 1908; L'Affaire de la gare Windsor , 1909; L'Incendie du Herald , 1910), Ouimet was the most important film producer in Canada before the First World War. A ban on showing films on Sunday forced him to give up his cinema. In 1918 he made a feature film with Le Feu qui brûle . In 1922 he went to Hollywood, where he produced Why Get Married (1924). After ten years he returned to Canada, where he could no longer gain a foothold in the film business. He ended his professional career running a liquor store.

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Ouimet, Léo-Ernest
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Canadian cinema director, distributor and producer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 16, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH	Laval
DATE OF DEATH	March 2nd 1972
Place of death	Montreal