MONTREAL, QC. March 5, 2026 – A feature documentary, The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes, will have its Québec premiere at the International Festival of Films on Art / Le Festival International du Film sur l’Art (aka “le FIFA”) on Wednesday, March 18 at the Cinéma du Musée in Montreal.
Over the course of his 70-year career, E.J. Hughes created hundreds of paintings of British Columbia, capturing coastal villages and the Rocky Mountains in vivid, dreamlike detail. Too shy to attend his own art openings, Hughes struggled in poverty until legendary Montreal art dealer Max Stern of the Dominion Gallery discovered his work in 1951. Captivated by what he saw, Stern tracked Hughes down in his remote Vancouver Island studio and signed him on the spot. It was the beginning of a unique artist/dealer relationship that would last over 50 years and help Hughes become one of the most beloved—and highly valued—artists in Canadian history.
On November 19, 2025, an E.J. Hughes painting entitled Entrance to Howe Sound sold for $4.8 million, becoming the fourth most expensive Canadian artwork ever sold at auction, and setting a new record for the highest price paid for a painting by a B.C. artist. As the Dominion Gallery represented Hughes for 5 decades, his work was widely collected across the province of Québec.
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes features interviews with prominent Canadian art historians and former curators, including Charlie Hill (National Gallery of Canada), Laura Brandon (Canadian War Museum), and Ian Thom (Vancouver Art Gallery), as well as biographer Robert Amos and a slate of local characters who knew Hughes personally.
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes was written, directed, produced and edited by Jenn Strom, a documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. It is her feature directorial debut, with her previous credits including the hand-painted NFB animation, Assembly; a short about Bill Reid titled A Golden Voice; and the Nick Bantock artist profile featured in the series 12 Takes (Gemini Award nominee). Her editing credits include the feature-length documentaries Back Home and Stuffed, and the musical NFB documentary The Road Forward.
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes was inspired by the award-winning E.J. Hughes books by Victoria author and artist, Robert Amos and is produced by Kevin Eastwood, who previously produced Haida Modern – winner of the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin Prize for Best Canadian Work at le FIFA in 2020. The film was commissioned by Knowledge Network, and will be available to stream across Canada starting April 16th on knowledge.ca
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