Claire Sanford

Claire Sanford is a Canadian film director and cinematographer based in Montreal, Quebec.^[1] She is most noted for her 2022 short documentary film Violet Gave Willingly, which was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2022,^[2] and received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Short Documentary at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards in 2024.^[3]

Originally from Texada Island in British Columbia,^[1] she studied film at Simon Fraser University. She has directed a number of short films, including Lily (2009), Rheo (2014), What Should Be Heard Not Seen (2018) and Texada (2023).^[1]

Her cinematography credits have included the feature documentary film Fanny: The Right to Rock (2021),^[4] for which she was a Prix Iris nominee for Best Cinematography in a Documentary at the 24th Quebec Cinema Awards in 2022,^[5] as well as Curl Power (2024) and Larry (They/Them) (2024).