Biography
Originally, from Montreal, Danièle Bellemare Lee has experimented with many art forms. She obtained her master degree in movie script writing at the University Paris-Sorbonne in 2000 and has since, continued developing and studying in the field of documentary film making. She also completed several studies in the field of documentary techniques.
Reflexions, fire and water are recurring themes in her experimental work. Art films and documentaries are her fields of predilection. Together with the painter Maria Niermann-Schubert, she developed the concept of motion painting; a video interpretation of painted art.
In 2014, her first feature documentary « Von Narren und Hexen » (Of Jesters and Witches), plays eleven weeks in theaters in Southern Germany.
In her latest documentary, « Elena Lee, Pioneer Gallerist », she sheds light onto the work of a gallerist who devoted her life to the development of Canadian studio art glass and its artists. Elena's passion propels her artists into the spotlight.
The film won the Culture Prize in March 2022 at the Mannheim Art and Film Festival and was selected at the Harbourfront Center in Toronto in November 2024 (Symposium Craft and Design) and in White Horse, Yukon, Canada (at the GAAC Conference in June 2025).
For many years, she has also worked with painting —acrylic, watercolor, and pastel— her sensitivity becomes particularly evident in her pastel works. However, she has largely kept this aspect of her artistic work to herself; now it is being brought into the spotlight.
The development of her painting actually began before her film training; starting with graphic design in Montreal, and further intensifying with painting studies in Chateau-Thierry with Roger Moréton (Les Ateliers des Arts), and Paris (Atelier Académie des arts de la Mairie de Paris), as well as in Charlotte (USA) and Ravensburg.
Her style is strongly influenced by the Impressionists; her favorite museum in Paris has always been the Musée d'Orsay. Her works with pastels are very meditative; they suggest movement within a still image. Whether in her films or in her paintings, she seeks a connection to nature, to the elements of fire, water, and wood. The contrast between a stormy sky and calm waters, or a powerful wave against a delicate cloudscape, is not a contradiction; they complement one another like yin and yang to create a harmonious composition that you get drawn into. Danièle is not interested in the figurative representation of her motifs, but in the feeling you get when you take the time to enjoy the here and now.