“Pier-Philippe Chevigny masters the sequence shots that follow the characters, including during a climax that will take your breath away,” wrote the New York Times in June about Richelieu, the Quebec filmmaker’s first feature. , presented at the Fantasia festival, in Tribeca and Karlovy Vary. Ariane (Ariane Castellanos) is a young performer at a food processing plant that hires Guatemalan workers. In reaction to the intransigence of her boss (Marc-André Grondin), she befriends these temporary workers and defends them against the exploitation of which they are victims.
The third feature film by the talented Sophie Dupuis (Chien de garde, Souterrain) will be entitled to a prestigious gala presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Quebec filmmaker finds her favorite actor, Théodore Pellerin, in the role of Simon, rising star of the Montreal drag queen scene, who falls in love with the new recruit of their bar-show, Olivier (Félix Mariteau, revealed by 120 beats per minute of Robin Campillo).
Our late colleague Marc-André Lussier described Simple comme Sylvain, presented last May in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, as the best film by Monia Chokri (My Brother’s Wife, Babysitter). I agree. This story of love at first sight between a philosophy teacher (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau) and a construction contractor (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), a city nerd and a country handbook, is an opportunity for the filmmaker Quebecer to cast her eyes full of acuity and humor on social divisions and class contempt, love, the couple and feminine desire.
Rémy Girard, long-time collaborator of Denys Arcand, is the headliner of Testament, a satirical comedy that the venerable Quebec filmmaker announces as his last film. Girard, so apt in Les invasions barbares, embodies a cynical retiree who regains faith in humanity thanks to the birth of an unexpected love. Her character, it is said, is seeking new bearings “in an era of political correctness, identity shifts, protests, cultural scandals, activism, media storms and other contestations.” It promises to make people react…
The first feature film by Quebecer Ariane Louis-Seize was selected at the 80th Venice Film Festival, in the Venice Days section, where Incendies by Denis Villeneuve and C.R.A.Z.Y were screened. by Jean-Marc Vallée. Humanistic Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal tells the bizarre story of Sasha (Sara Montpetit), a young vampire too humanistic to bite, who has her food cut off by her exasperated parents. While her survival is threatened, she meets Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a lonely teenager with suicidal thoughts, who agrees to offer her his life. Will their budding friendship thwart their plan?
Quebec filmmaker Chloé Robichaud finds Sophie Desmarais, the actress of the film who revealed her (notably at the Cannes Film Festival), Sarah prefers running. Seven years after her most recent feature film, Pays, Les jours bonheurs is the story of Emma, a young chef under the yoke of her father and agent (Sylvain Marcel), who is offered the direction of a large orchestra. The film, for which Yannick Nézet-Séguin acted as artistic advisor, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Adapted by screenwriter Jacques Davidts from Kim Thúy’s best-selling novel Ru, Charles-Olivier Michaud’s first feature film since 2015’s Anna stars newcomer Chloé Djandji as Tinh. After a dangerous sea crossing and a stay in a camp in Malaysia, Tinh and his Vietnamese family are accepted as refugees in Canada. They arrive in Granby, where they start their new life. But for Tinh, shy and reserved, adapting has its share of difficulties. Haunted by the hardships of the journey, she will have to draw deep within herself the resilience necessary for her survival and her happiness.
