Daniel Cross

Documentary filmmaker and producer Daniel Cross, BFA 91, MFA 98, is a former chair of Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.

Over six years, the director developed an intimate knowledge of Montreal’s homeless community to produce his first film, The Street: a film with the homeless (1997), born at Concordia. It earned him awards at film festivals in Vancouver, Vermont and Chicago.

His second documentary, SPIT: Squeegee Punks in Traffic (2001), let street kids tell their own story of survival and resistance.

In 2003, Cross founded Homeless Nation, a non-profit organization conceived as an online forum where outcasts, vagabonds and other groups excluded from the mainstream of society can share their stories “as an on-going dialogue for social awareness and positive change.” The United Nations recognized the activist project in 2009, granting Cross a World Summit Award.

Cross co-founded EyeSteelFilm, an award-winning production company with a filmography that includes works by fellow Concordians Yung Chang, BFA 99; Brett Gaylor, BFA 01; Xun Yu, MFA 11; Tony Asimakopoulos, Attd 93; and Mia Donovan, BFA 03.

Cross remembered in a 2013 interview the important role his former professors played in setting him on a successful career path. He is now acting as a mentor himself, positively influencing students and young filmmakers alike. In 2006, he received a Mentor Award from the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association. Through his work at EyeSteelFilm and the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, he has become a pillar of the Canadian film scene. 

Read more about Daniel Cross

• Positive infuence, Concordia University Magazine, Fall 2013