Philippe Falardeau was born in Hull, Quebec, and studied Canadian politics at the University of Ottawa and international relations at Université Laval in Quebec City. His films include the documentary Pâté chinois (1997), the short film Jean Laliberté: A Man, His Vision and a Whole Lot of Concrete (2001), and the features The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (2000), Congorama (2006), It's Not Me, I Swear! (2008) and Monsieur Lazhar (2011).