Those thinking that Quebec’s cinematic winning streak will have to abate at some point will have to wait for at least another year. The region has provided TIFF with solid commercial and critical hits in recent years, from La Grande seduction (Seducing Doctor Lewis) to Oscar winner Les Invasions barbares (The Barbarian Invasions), and this year’s contingent arrives bolstered by awards from international film festivals and box-office success back home.

C.R.A.Z.Y. and L’Horloge biologique (Biological Clock) have already opened in Quebec, inspiring near-universal critical praise and drawing healthy crowds. For the first two weeks in August, Horloge topped the Quebec box office, supplanting even the Hollywood blockbusters also screening. Though the term ‘biological clock’ is usually associated with women and procreation, the serio-comic film is about three men grappling with recent or imminent parenthood.

Directed by Ricardo Trogi (Québec-Montréal), it stars Patrice Robitaille, Pierre-François Legendre and Jean-Philippe Pearson as the three struggling dads. Horloge was cowritten by Trogi, Robitaille and Pearson, produced by Nicole Robert (Québec-Montréal) and is being distributed by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm.

Another TIFF entry popular in la belle province is C.R.A.Z.Y., a coming-of-age film that opened in early June and is now poised to break the $5-million mark at the Quebec box office.

Writer/director Jean-Marc Vallée struggled to make the film, and even considered translating the entire script into English and shooting it in Boston, a location that would have allowed its Catholic themes to remain intact. The result is a moving melodrama about a young lad (played by 2005 Playback 10 to Watch finalist Marc-André Grondin), who is the fourth in a family of five boys and struggles to deal with his own differences. The family patriarch (Le dernier tunnel’s Michel Côté) is none-too-thrilled about his son’s distinct character, but learns to accept it.

Director Vallée says that even though his central character is learning to accept being gay, the film has universal themes that anyone who ever had to survive teen angst will relate to.

His theory for the film’s runaway success in Quebec?

‘Since we’re alone in Quebec, surrounded by English Canada and English-speaking America, we feel different in our environment,’ Vallée says. ‘Perhaps that makes it easier for us to accept the different ones.’

Cowritten by Francois Boulay, C.R.A.Z.Y. is produced by Vallée and Cirrus Communications’ Pierre Even, Jacques Blain and Richard Speer, and is distributed by TVA Films.

Bernard Émond’s La Neuvaine (The Novena) comes to TIFF after netting three awards at the 58th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The drama tells the story of a young man (Patrick Drolet from Émond’s 20h17 rue Darling) who is on a prayer pilgrimage for his ailing grandmother and meets up with a doctor (Elise Guilbault from Grande ourse) devastated by the recent loss of her child, which she blames on herself. Through their shared sense of grief, the two form a bond that proves redemptive.

Juries at the prestigious Swiss festival handed Drolet the Leopard Award for best actor, and gave the film the Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Special Prize of the Junior Jury. Bernadette Payeur of ACPAV produces, with local distribution handled by K-Films Amérique and international sales and distribution through Seville Pictures.

Another success story out of Locarno now on the TIFF track is Les états nordiques (Drifting States), a cowinner of the Golden Leopard (Video). The feature debut of director Denis Côté, it stars Christian LeBlanc as a man who has committed a crime of compassion that leaves him on the lam from both the law and his own conscience. He hides out 1,500 kilometers north of Montreal, where he begins to rebuild his life. Côté shares the screenplay credit with LeBlanc and also produces. Nihilproductions distributes.

Another feature debut is writer/director Robin Aubert’s Saint-Martyrs-des-Damnés (Saint Martyrs of the Damned), produced by Max Films’ Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal. François Chénier (Le Survenant) stars as a reporter sent to a small Ontario town to investigate some mysterious disappearances. Patrice Robitaille plays his photographer colleague who eventually goes missing himself. Aubert’s credits as an actor include Maelström and the TV series Temps dur.

Meanwhile, opening the second annual Canada First! Program is Familia, the feature debut for writer/director Louise Archambault (see story, p. 29). The film stars renowned Quebec actresses Sylvie Moreau (Camping sauvage), Macha Grenon (Les Invasions barbares) and Micheline Lanctôt (Les Invasions barbares). Moreau plays an addicted gambler whose husband threatens to cut her loose due to her bad habit; she leaves him and moves in with childhood friend Grenon. Familia depicts the strains that ensue as the two women and their daughters attempt to live under the same roof.

Concordia University film grad Archambault previously received strong notices for her short Atomic Sake (1999). Produced by Luc Dery (Un crabe dans la tête) and Kim McGraw (Mensonges), Familia is distributed by Christal Films.