Quebec continues to prove it’s a distinct society, especially in filmmaking, as the province’s entries in TIFF 2004, including the works of one notable veteran and three TIFF rookies, defy easy categorization.

Quebec film’s senior enfant terrible, 57-year-old Andre Forcier, caps the unconventional mix in the Visions program (for films that enter new cinematic territory) with Acapulco Gold, his first feature since 1997’s La Comtesse de Baton Rouge, which netted 10 Genie nominations.

Acapulco Gold tells the story of a man living in Mexico known as ‘The Eternal Colonel,’ who bears a striking resemblance to Elvis Presley. That he might actually be ‘The King’ becomes a tale of speculation for a vacationing Hollywood producer, played by Mark Krasnoff (Comtesse). The cast also includes Michel Maillot (Medisanes) as a Quebec man with a secretive and bizarre link to the rock ‘n’ roll legend, and Genevieve Brouillette (Comtesse) as his sexy young wife.

Acapulco Gold is produced by Forcier’s own Les Films du Paria, and while he’s currently in negotiations for North American and European distribution, he says his main objective in coming to TIFF is commercial.

‘We’re coming to Toronto to sell this film,’ he says, adding the comedy-drama was a labor of love ‘completely produced without Telefilm Canada or tax credits.’

It’s also Forcier’s first film that’s mostly in English, as one of the main characters is American and most of the action takes place in Acapulco. ‘I have to go where my imagination takes me,’ says Forcier.

La belle province has also landed several films in TIFF 2004’s Canada First! program, for filmmakers making their TIFF debut. The selection includes a dark gothic love story, a tale of self-discovery involving a corpse, and a young girl finding herself through dance with the help of an ex-con.

Peau Blanche, Daniel Roby’s first outing as director, is based on the 1997 novel La Peau Blanche (White Skin) by author and co-screenwriter Joel Champetier. It was the mixture of genres in the original story that drew Roby to the material.

‘You never knew where Champetier was taking you, with great characters, delicious dialogue, science fiction theories on skin color, and race issues in a very realistic, multi-ethnic Montreal,’ he says.

In the film, actor/playwright Marc Paquet (Histoire de Pen) plays Thierry Richard, a young student with an aversion to pale-skinned women who nevertheless falls in love with mysterious and alluring albino redhead Claire Lefrancois, played by Marianne Farley (Satan’s School for Girls).

Complications in the relationship arise when Thierry discovers Claire’s sister is the prostitute who slashed the throat of his Haitian-Qubecois friend Henri, played by Frederic Pierre (Music Hall), after a night of sexual antics.

Roby, a Concordia and USC film grad, has worked behind the camera since setting up his own prodco, Zone Film (formerly La Mafia), in 1995. His previous film credits include producer on Robin Aubert’s Lila, and he has directed TV commercials and several short films, including Nos bras meurtris vous tendent le flambeau, reportedly the first Canadian drama shot entirely in high definition and projected on 35mm.

Peau Blanche is distributed by Montreal’s Les Films Seville. Roby, who plans to attend the Toronto premiere, says just being invited to Canada First! is honor enough.

Quebec actor/playwright/director Wajdi Mouawad’s film debut Littoral is based on his play of the same name that won the 2000 Governor General’s Award.

Mouawad believes his film, like life, can’t be easily classified. Admitting the story has autobiographical aspects from his youth in war-torn Lebanon, Mouawad notes, ‘When I was a child, as the bombs fell, I played Monopoly with my cousins and we had lot fun.’ Thus, he adds, Littoral is, like life, poetry that’s both ‘a comedy and a drama.’

In Littoral, making its world premiere, actor/playwright Steve Laplante reprises his stage role as Wahab, a freewheeling young Montrealer whose easy-going life crashes to a halt with the death of his father, played by Gilles Renaud (Gaz Bar Blues). Things go from bad to worse for Wahab when his relatives refuse to allow his father to be buried next to his mother, and the son is forced to take the body home to Lebanon.

Other cast members include Miro Lacasse (Histoire de Pen), Isabelle Leblanc (Sunk), David Boutin (La Grande seduction) and Manon Brunelle (Les Immortels).

Littoral is a copro between Montreal’s Productions EGM and Les Films de Cinema (France), and is distributed by TVA Films.

Finally, CQ2 (Seek You Too) sees renowned Quebec screen actress Carole Laure (Maria Chapdelaine) in her second helming turn. In it she directs daughter Clara Furey as Rachel, a disenchanted 17-year-old who discovers a venue for self-expression with the help of Jeanne, played by Danielle Hubbard, a convict just released from a woman’s prison in east-end Montreal. Rachel finds herself through the medium of dance while confronting the pain and suffering in her life.

As with Laure’s first film, Les Fils de Marie, CQ2 received warm reviews at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in Critics Week. CQ2 is produced by Cite-Amerique and Les Productions Laure in collaboration with Toloda and France 2 Cinema, and is distributed by Film Tonic.

Peau Blanche, Littoral and CQ2 will all be shown at TIFF in French with English subtitles.

-www.whiteskinfilm.com