Sergeant Michael Dunne of the 10th Canadian Infantry Battalion has survived some of the worst fighting of the Great War. Wounded on the Western Front, he returns home to Calgary, a broken man suffering from neurasthenia and facing trial as a deserter should he ever attempt a return to the battlefield.

In Calgary, he finds a complicated love with Sarah Mann, a nurse dismissed from her position because of her German ancestry. Sarah is struggling to care for her chronically ill younger brother, David, and is devastated when he finds someone to lie on his medical certificate so that he can enlist in the war. Though Michael is haunted by his memories of the battlefield, out of duty and love he follows David to the Front. Neither of the two men knows what lies ahead. It is November 1917, and Michael, David and the rest of the Fighting 10th are about to plunge into the hell known as Passchendaele.

Based on the epic Canadian motion picture written by, starring and directed by Paul Gross, Passchendaele immortalizes the story of a battle that has become synonymous with the horrors of the First World War. Yet Passchendaele was also the scene of Allied victory, a triumph carried by Canadians, and one that helped form who we are as a nation. In a story of war, love, futility and sacrifice, Passchendaele reminds us of our country’s greatest strengths and our lasting achievements.

Paul Gross is internationally known for his role as Constable Benton Fraser on the multi award-winning drama series Due South. He was honoured with two Gemini Awards for Best Actor, and one Gemini Award for his writing on the series. Gross also received two Gemini Awards for best performance by an actor in the critically acclaimed series Slings & Arrows.

In 2000, Gross wrote, directed and starred in the feature film Men with Brooms, which was the highest-grossing English-language Canadian film of the previous 20 years. He also starred in, co-wrote and produced the miniseries H2O as well as its sequel The Trojan Horse.

In 2008 Gross released his feature film Passchendaele, a movie based on the famous First World War battle heroically fought by 50,000 Canadians in the bloodied fields of Ypres, Belgium. Passchendaele, which Gross wrote, directed and starred in, was the highest grossing Canadian film of 2008 with the box office reaching over $4.5 million, and recently won five Genie Awards, including Best Picture.

Gross has received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and the Pierre Burton Award. He was recently appointed to the Order of Canada and also received the Earle Grey Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award, from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Paul Gross' profile page