Montreal: Quebec singing legend Ginette Reno is the star of C’t’a ton tour Laura Cadieux, a Cinemaginaire feature film from director/writer Denise Filiatrault based on the 1972 Michel Tremblay novel.

The film is a contemporary comedy exploring the friendships of a group of women who meet once a week in a doctor’s office where they receive a weight-reducing injection, says Denise Robert, who is producing with partner Daniel Louis. The meetings aren’t so much about losing weight as they are an excuse for a get-together where the women can talk about their lives.

Tremblay’s memorable characters are played by Pierrette Robitaille, Adele Reinhardt, Mireille Thibault, Sonia Vachon, Daniele Lorain, Donald Pilon, Sophie Lorain and Martin Drainville.

Filming is in two stages from mid-September to Oct. 8 and during the first two weeks of November.

Stephane Roy is the art director, Daniel Jobin is the dop, Helen Rainbird is costumiere and Francois Dompierre is creating the original music. Richard Comeau is editing, Viateur Paiement is sound editor and Serge Beauchemin is the film’s sound recordist. The shoot is crewed by the stcvq, Quebec’s freelance film technicians union.

Filitreault’s distinguished career in television and legit theater won her the ACCT Grand Prix Gemeaux in ’95, an award she shared with actress Dominique Michel.

Upcoming Cinemaginaire projects include a film from Paule Baillargeon (Sonia, Simone en 1997) and French director Alain Corneau (Tous les matins du monde). Corneau’s project is being coproduced with France and is slated for a March ’98 shoot.

Investors in the $1.9-million Laura Cadieux include Telefilm Canada and sodec. Alliance Vivafilm president Victor Loewy says he expects the film to do good business in its home market and is distributing.

*Kaufman wraps Nightmare Man

Filming on Nightmare Man wrapped mid-September after a 29-day shoot in exotic far-off Fiji and New Zealand. Jimmy Kaufman directed this action-adventure tv movie/series pilot set in the South Pacific, an official Canada/New Zealand coproduction between Telescene Film Group and Isambard.

Canadian talent on Nightmare Man includes Margot Kidder, Jan Rubes, Charlie Powell and Ricky Maybes. The u.s. lead is Lee Horsley (Matt Houston). Frances Boudreaux is the shoot’s associate producer and continuity person.

Kaufman is now off to Vancouver (Sept. 27) to direct an episode of the mgm sci-fi series Stargate SG-1. Recent credits for the popular director include episodes of The Hunger (‘Footsteps’), shot for Telescene, and the Atlantis/Trilogy series The Outer Limits.

Kaufman also directed the La Fete Productions feature Whiskers shot here last summer. The film is picking up all kinds of praise, including a Daytime Emmy nomination for best performance, and has won prizes at festivals in Houston and Cairo.

Telescene has North American rights on Nightmare Man. Park Entertainment of London, Eng. has European rights. Alain Baril of Bureau de Poste is editing.

Another Telescene feature, Going to Kansas City, coproduced with Finland, is being edited by Dave Mcleod on a Lightworks at Telescene’s studio facility on Royalmount.

*Brault directs historical drama

Productions Le Prisonnier, director Michel Brault (Les Ordres) and producers Anouk Brault and Claudio Luca start principal photography this week on Quand je serai parti, vous vivrez encore, an historic feature film dramatization of the final days of ‘Les Patriotes,’ the leaders of the 1837/38 rebellion in Lower Canada.

Locations on this $2.3-million feature, with a reported $1.5 million invested by Telefilm Canada (which turned down a film on the same subject from director Pierre Falardeau), include Old Montreal and various rural villages including Sainte-Basile, Oka Park and Carignan.

Apparently, the film has been in the writing stage for close to two decades and covers the final year in the lives of the men and women who led the rebellion, some of whom were deported to far-off Australia while the others were hung by the British for high treason in the winter of 1839.

Leads include Francois Reddy and David Boutin as Chevalier De Lorimer, whose heart-wrenching letter to his wife on the eve of his execution is part of the well-documented historical record. Philippe Lambert, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Micheline Lanctot and Claude Gauthier are also featured.

Sylvain Brault is the shoot’s dop and Louise Beauchamp is the art director. The movie is being shot in both French and English.

*Virage deepens its mission

Social activist filmmaker Marcel Simard has changed the name of his house from Productions Virage to Les Tournees Communautaires Virage, a development which reflects the company’s goal of producing socially engaged cinema for a wider public.

Virage has deepened its board of directors and named Marielle Seguin, a vp with advertising agency Marketel, as its president. Other new members are university professor Monique Theriault, Fonds des Travailleurs du Quebec vp, Jean-Yves Duthel and former Periodica director-general Robert Bureau. Virage’s impressive team is rounded out by individuals from government, legal and business including Margolaine Loiselle, Nicole Messier, Marie-Claude Lanoue, Jean-Sebastien Vincent and Normand Berube. Pierre Page is Virage coordinator and Albanie Morin is the house producer.

Virage’s latest documentary is the 49-minute La Mort des Masques, directed by Lina Moreco and shot by cinematographer Pierre Mignot. The film was developed in association with the Solicitor-General of Canada and broadcaster Tele-Quebec and chronicles the transformation of three men condemned to life in prison for murder.

Virage’s filmography includes the award-winning La Vie a du charme, La Grand monde and Love-moi. Virage and the National Film Board’s French program coproduced l’Histoire de la csn, an extended doc series broadcast on Tele-Quebec.

*Voizard to direct Escape

Just back from Paris and posting on the tv movie The Sands of Eden, director Marc Voizard has been signed to helm the latest Telescene Film Group feature Escape from Wildcat Canyon.

The film will shoot over 25 days in and around Montreal starting later this month and is slated to air on Showtime. Hallmark Entertainment has world rights.

‘It’s a beautiful two-character survival story about a child and his grandfather who go out on a fishing trip and their plane crashes,’ says Voizard. As the man and boy cross the treacherous canyon the experience changes their relationship.

On Sands of Eden, a double shoot coproduced by Montreal’s Cinevideo Plus and Euro partners Carrere Television, clt-ufa and Deluxe Productions, Voizard says one of the qualifications for the actors was the ability to successfully post-synch for close-ups requirements in the second language. While the ‘checkerboarding’ takes about 40% longer than an ordinary shoot, Voizard says the upside is the producers come away with two original versions.

Voizard is vice-chair of the Quebec Council of the Directors Guild of Canada. Selected film credits includes Hawk’s Vengeance (Cinepix) and the Alliance for Children and Television winner La Courte Echelle (Allegro Films).

*More fall action

Quebec film projects in front of the cameras or in preproduction include the third Robert Lepage feature film No, produced by Lepage (Le Confessionnal, Le Polygraphe) and Bruno Jobin of InExtremis Images. The film will be shot in Montreal and Quebec City tentatively from Oct. 19 to Nov. 10.

Allegro Films has a new thriller on the go, Captive, from director Matt Dorff and producers Jacques Methe and Tom Berry. It shoots from Oct. 6-21, according to the stcvq. Also up for an early October start is the three-hour Tele-Action miniseries The Edge, with Cynthia Scott, Micheline Lanctot and Johanne Pregent slated to direct. Colin Neale and Claudio Luca (Les Orphelins de Duplessis, The Boys of St. Vincent) are producing for cbc.

Cinar Films and French coproduction partner Images & Compagnie have begun filming on the tv movie Un Hiver de tourmente. The Montreal region shoot goes from Sept. 29 to mid-October, with Patricia Lavoie producing and Bernard Favre directing. Radio-Canada and France 2 are the broadcasters.

Shooting starts Oct. 7 on the $17-million Claude Lelouch feature film Apres tout. Producers are Andre Picard of SDA Productions and Tania Zazulinsky of France’s Films 13. Max Films Television and France’s Le Bureau Cinema & Television (Bob Million) started filming the four-hour miniseries Une voix en or Sept. 27.

The production stars singing great Ginette Reno (the mother in Leolo) and French actress Cathy Verney and goes through to the end of October, with Radio-Canada slated to broadcast in March ’98. France 2 is also on board.

Frappier is currently producing two features from Cosmos alumni: Denis Villeneuve’s Simone en 1997 starring Pascale Bussieres and Alexis Martin, and Manon Briand’s Le Paradoxe.

The CineQuest feature film Hyper-Allergenic is being prepped for a mid-October start, with Shimon Dotan directing and Netaya Anbar and Dotan producing.

Telescene creative head Anita Simand says the house is prepping on 13 new half-hours of the live-action/animation teen sitcom series Student Bodies. Telescene is sorting out directors for the second leg, which will shoot later this fall and into the early winter. Student Bodies is seen on the Fox Network in the u.s. and has been picked up in Canada by ytv and Global Television Network.