MONTREAL — Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. That’s the mantra of the producers behind Romaine par moins 30 — the story of a Parisian’s first contact with a Canadian winter.

The $6-million France/Canada coproduction (80/20) was conceived by France’s Agnés Obadia, director of the similarly titled 1997 film Romaine, during the infamous ice storm of 1998.

‘I was concerned at first. I told the French coproducers that we just haven’t been getting snow like we used to,’ says producer Luc Vandal of Max Films, on the Montreal set of Romaine par moins 30. But global warming spared the shoot, which began mid-January. ‘We’re very happy we’ve had so much snow. Winter is like one of the main characters in the film,’ says Vandal, who is coproducing with Roger Frappier and France’s Agat Films.

The film, which Obadia also directs, recounts the tale of 30-year-old Romaine, who comes to Quebec with her boyfriend as a surprise Christmas present. But Romaine’s life soon takes a turn for the worse. Not only does she hate the cold, but her boyfriend abandons her without a return ticket to France.

‘It’s a film about a Parisian woman who is not only confronting winter, but herself,’ Vandal tells Playback Daily.

Shot in Montreal and rural Quebec, Romaine par moins 30 stars Sandrine Kibrelain (Cyrano de Bergerac) as Romaine and Pascal Elbé as her boyfriend Justin. The film also features Elina Lowensohn, Maxim Roy (Les Boys), Pierre-Luc Brillant (C.R.A.Z.Y. ) and Louis Morissette (3 x rien).

The shoot wraps its Quebec segment Feb. 29. Both SODEC and Telefilm Canada helped finance Romaine par moins 30, which is distributed by TVA Films.