Directing

Dylan Rhys Howard

Wellington, New Zealand

Born in Wellington, New Zealand and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Dylan Rhys Howard is an independent filmmaker whose work has been described by the National Screen Institute as “fresh, nuanced storytelling and imagery that is evocative in its simplicity and intimacy.” In 2018, his short film Peak Oil was selected to be a part of Telefilm Canada’s Not Short On Talent program and screened at the Marché Du Film Court at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. Peak Oil also received an Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association award for Best Narrative Short and the A&E Short Filmmakers Award for Best Film at the National Screen Institute. His debut broadcast documentary, Digging In The Dirt, a one-hour documentary about depression and suicide in Alberta’s oil and gas sector, co-directed with Omar Mouallem, premiered on CBC Television in September 2019 and was featured in Hot Docs’ Spotlight Alberta series in early 2021. His latest documentary as writer/producer/director, Boys Will Be...Themselves, premiered on CBC Gem in October 2022. The Lebanese Burger Mafia, a feature-length documentary produced by Rhys Howard and directed by Mouallem, had its world premiere at Hot Docs in 2023 where it was immediately picked up for distribution by levelFilm, subsequently played in theatres across Canada, and is now streaming on Paramount+. Concurrently, the slow-burn independent drama Hands That Bind, directed by Kyle Armstrong, associate produced by Rhys Howard, and starring Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, and Bruce Dern, also landed in Canadian theatres via Mongrel Media. Rhys Howard's debut feature film as writer/director, Eudaimonia, has been picked up for distribution by IndieCan Entertainment’s brand new subsidiary Pride Pictures, and is set to start its festival run in the spring of 2024.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Clubfoot poster
NR

After fleeing his unstable home, an adopted teenager and his only friend abduct and violently assault a younger boy. As night falls, their lives begin to unravel.

Clubfoot

2026

Eudaimonia poster
NR

Prudence, a dishwasher and housecleaner with the telepathic power to eavesdrop on people’s consciousness, creates eccentric characters out of clothing she steals from her clients and stages confrontational performances in the street. She’s estranged from her mother, an artist, and the only person who shares this telepathic gift. As Prudence comes to terms with her mother's terminal illness and the knowledge that her telepathy comes at a cost, she gains a clearer understanding of how to find meaningful connections with others.

Eudaimonia

2024

Eudaimonia poster
NR

Prudence, a dishwasher and housecleaner with the telepathic power to eavesdrop on people’s consciousness, creates eccentric characters out of clothing she steals from her clients and stages confrontational performances in the street. She’s estranged from her mother, an artist, and the only person who shares this telepathic gift. As Prudence comes to terms with her mother's terminal illness and the knowledge that her telepathy comes at a cost, she gains a clearer understanding of how to find meaningful connections with others.

Eudaimonia

2024

Magic Hours poster
NR

At struggling independent movie theatres across Alberta, passionate business owners are reviving, re-inventing and sometimes letting go of these once-vital community spaces.

Magic Hours

2024

The Lebanese Burger Mafia poster
6.3

The heir to a Burger Baron franchise, the filmmaker chases clues through rural Alberta, capturing the trials and tribulations of Arab immigrants while uncovering the saga of a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia

2023

The Last Baron poster
10.0

The meaty saga of Burger Baron, a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following, run by a loose network of fiercely independent Arab Canadian immigrants.

The Last Baron

2021

Digging in the Dirt poster
7.8

A documentary about the psychological costs of working in Alberta's oil sands and the mental health crisis that's been ignored for a decade.

Digging in the Dirt

2019

Drier Down Here poster
NR

An adolescent boy struggles to balance his own childish desires with the presence of a dark and mysterious figure living in his family's farmyard on the Canadian prairies.

Drier Down Here

2024