Meet The Team
Co-Founder
Yves Durand
Yves Durand is considered a world authority on the life and work of Charlie Chaplin. He is regularly approached by theatre, film and documentary producers to act as an expert. His lifelong passion for Chaplin, and his thorough understanding of all issues involving the artist, is an invaluable asset. Yves has over thirty-five years of experience in business management, public relations / communications and museology. As President of Expérience International Inc, a firm specializing in the development of creative concepts for museums and tourist sites, he has designed and developed numerous interactive museums. Between the years 2000-2016, Yves Durand joined forces with partners, to acquire a unique site, the Manoir de Ban, which was Chaplin's family residence in Switzerland, and develop a unique interactive museum dedicated to Chaplin. Opened in 2016, it was soon named Best Museum in Europe in 2018. Yves was directly involved in building important relationships with the Chaplin family and stakeholders, including negotiating key contracts and preparing the museographic design of the entire museum experience.
Co-Founder
Robert Young
Robert Young has over thirty years of experience in managing high-tech companies. For the past eight years Robert has served as President of Miralupa Inc. an R&D technology company which offers state of the art expertise in the latest Augmented Reality, Block Chain, AI and mobile app development technologies. As a research and development enterprise, Miralupa technology is used in a wide assortment of applications and verticals either directly by corporate customers, or through its subsidiaries. Miralupa has developed fundamental AR tools (MARGE) and blockchain concepts (ArGrid).
COO
Pascal Nataf
Pascal Nataf's interest in the use of video games in health and education led him to found Affordance Studio. This company specializes in gamification and social impact games. Pascal also teaches video game development at the Université de Montréal, the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), the Sorbonne-Nouvelle and several other institutions.
Executive Producer
Christopher Chancey
Armed with a postgraduate degree in video game design, Christopher Chancey founded ManaVoid Entertainment, a 50 person game development studio, in 2014, making video games that mix and match known genres and mechanics in new and innovative ways. He then proceeded to co-found the Indie Asylum in 2017, a video game startup accelerator, investing in six companies and growing the hub to over 200 developers in only five years.
In 2020 Christopher was named Young Technocreative Leader of the Year according to the Montreal Youth Chamber of Commerce. Today he acts as chairman of the board of La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec, representing over 300 studios and 15000 jobs in the province, as well as teaches programming and game design at the University of Montreal and l'Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Advisory Board Member
Kate Guyonvarch
Kate Guyonvarch acts as a scholarly consultant to the B Df'rent Games Advisory Board. Her expertise in the life and work of Charlie Chaplin stems from more than thirty years of promoting, defending and preserving the legacy of the artist and filmmaker. As the head of the companies entrusted by Charlie Chaplin himself with the preservation and perpetuation of the moral and legal rights associated with his cinematographic and artistic work, Kate Guyonvarch has a detailed knowledge of the sum of the archives and of the thousands of studies, research papers and documentaries that scientific circles - semiologists, writers, essayists, biographers and film-makers - have devoted to his life and his work as a whole. Throughout her 30 year career, Ms. Guyonvarch has acted as co-curator of several exhibitions on Chaplin, as scientific advisor to renowned cultural institutions (in Europe, America and Asia), and as editor in the production of books, film and television documentaries on Chaplin's cinema.
Advisory Board Member
Martin Lapointe, CPA, CA, MBA, EEE
With over 20 years of experience in finance and accounting, Martin has had the opportunity to build up expertise in the field of mergers and acquisitions. He has held positions such as Director of Finance at Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, and Director of Financial Consolidation and Management Information at Cossette, one of the world's largest marketing communications companies. He was Senior Director of Corporate Finance and Transaction Advisory (M&A) at MALLETTE. Since the beginning of 2022, he has held the position of Chief Financial Officer at Groupes Desgagnés.
Advisory Board Member
Sylvain Croteau
In 2007 Sylvain co-founded and served as Studio President between 2007 to 2012 of Ludia Studios Inc. Ludia is one of Canada's leading mobile video game companies. The studio has developed a high-quality games’ portfolio based on iconic brands such as Jurassic World Alive, DreamWorks Dragons: Titan Uprising, Warriors of Waterdeep, Lovelink, Jurassic World: The Game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legends, DreamWorks Dragons: Rise of Berk, and much more. The studio, is today a Jam City company, with 400 crew members. Awarded “Canada’s Best Game Maker” by Apple, Ludia was also recognized “Montreal’s Top Employers 2021”
Advisory Board Member
Sophia Bischoff, MA
With degrees in International Relations (BA) and International and European Law (MA) from the University of Geneva focused on intellectual property law, human rights and humanitarian law, her passion for music led her to take part in the career development of Swiss artists', focusing on PR, events, social media, and Intellectual Property issues while also serving as Communication Project Manager at Chaplin’s World, the only museum in the world dedicated to Charlie Chaplin.