MONTREAL — As is often the case before he edits a film, producer Rock Demers couldn’t decide what to call his road-trip drama about the friendship between an international aid worker, an abandoned boy and a monkey.

The veteran producer started out with Sont ou tes elephants? (Where are the Elephants?), and for the meantime has settled on Tocade and Fugue. ‘But that could change,’ Demers tells Playback Daily. ‘The title for a film is so important. The Peanut Butter Solution started out as Michael’s Fright. It’s only when the editing is finished that we can figure out what fits.’

The $1-million family drama — Demers resists the label ‘children’s film’ — follows the story of Canadian humanitarian worker Norbert (Pierre Lebeau), who, after decades working with African street children, is emergency airlifted home by the Canadian government when a crisis hits the Ivory Coast. Unbeknownst to him, a small friend is along for the ride.

‘A monkey hid himself in the pocket of his raincoat, and he only discovers it when he gets home,’ says Demers, who is coproducing with Chantal Lafleur.

Norbert, who is quite ill, attempts to get rid of the monkey by leaving him in a park, but is stopped by a little boy, Christophe, played by Julien Adam. ‘The boy tells him that he’s terrible for abandoning the monkey in the park. And this is how their friendship begins,’ says Demers.

Christophe identifies with the monkey because his mother is dead and his father isn’t often around. ‘The two embark on a 48-hour road trip,’ Demers explains. Christophe helps Norbet discover new meaning in life and the older man acts as a guide for the boy.’

The movie, which is written and directed by Roger Cantin, is part of Demers’ popular Contes pour Tous (Tales For All) series.

‘I wanted to explore the idea of intergenerational learning — what a child can bring to an adult and vice versa,’ says Demers, who has three grandchildren.

Demers founded Productions La Fête in the early 1980s to make films about young people overcoming life’s challenges. The producer wanted to create realistic films that offered a sense of hope. His series now comprises dozens of titles, including The Dog Who Stopped the War (1984), The Hidden Fortress (2001), Summer with the Ghosts (2003), and Daniel and the Superdogs (2004).

SODEC helped fund Tocade and Fugue, which will be released in September 2009 by K-Films Amérique.