LOST SONG
Writer/Director: Rodrigue Jean
Producers: François Landry, Rodrigue Jean
Cast: Suzie Leblanc, Partick Goyette, Ginette Morin, Louise Turcot, Marilou Longpré Pilon

Rodrigue Jean’s first feature Full Blast won the Special Jury Citation for best Canadian first feature at TIFF in 1999. Producer François Landry (The Three Madeleines) was a fan, and met Jean (who had since helmed Yellowknife) in 2004, when Jean was already well into completing the script for his new feature Lost Song.

‘I read it, I liked it, and I liked his work as well,’ explains Landry. ‘And that was it – we decided to work together.’

Landry is currently busy developing two more projects with Jean – La trace (The Trace) and Le creux de l’hiver (The Winter Hollow) – as well as a copro with France.

Lost Song, shot in Quebec’s beautiful Laurentians, tells the story of a couple – Elizabeth (opera singer Suzie LeBlanc) and Pierre (Partick Goyette) – who head off to a summer cottage with their newborn child, but their relationship is complicated by Elizabeth’s depression and Pierre’s mother, who has a cottage nearby. The cast also includes Ginette Morin, Louise Turcot and Marilou Longpré Pilon.

The $1.3-million Lost Song was produced by Rodrigue’s company Transmar Films and Landry’s Filmo Productions shingle, with financing from Telefilm Canada and SODEC.

At this stage, domestic and international distribution of the film has yet to be finalized. CK

MAMAN EST CHEZ LE COIFFEUR
Director: Léa Pool
Writer: Isabelle Hébert
Producers: Lyse Lafontaine, Michael Mosca
Cast: Laurent Lucas, Céline Bonnier, Gabriel Arcand, Marianne Fortier, Élie Dupuis, Hugo St-Onge-Paquin
Distributor: Films Équinoxe
International Sales: Seville Pictures

Some critics have deemed Léa Pool’s latest feature, Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy Is at the Hairdressers), as the Montreal director’s comeback film.

Pool is a highly respected director in la belle province, but she hasn’t made much of a stir since her stunning coming-of-age feature Emporte-moi was released nearly 10 years ago.

But this $4-million drama – about a young girl abandoned by her mother in the summer of 1966 – has been well-received since its May release on 40 Quebec screens, earning $630,000 at the box office.

The Swiss-born Canadian director took on the project in part because fleeing mothers are a taboo subject.

‘It’s almost impossible for a child to understand why a mother would leave,’ says Pool. ‘I myself spent three years of my life in an orphanage. It’s something I have tried to understand.’

Maman is one of three Quebec films at TIFF told from the perspective of a child in the 1960s.

Francis Leclerc’s Un été sans point ni coup s°r (A No-Hit, No-Run Summer) is about a baseball-obsessed boy in 1969.

The central character in Philippe Falardeau’s C’est pas moi, je le jure! (It’s Not Me, I Swear!) – which, like Maman, is a story of maternal abandonment – is an adolescent boy. The two films’ similarities are due to the fact that Maman’s screenwriter Isabelle Hébert is the sister of Bruno Hébert – who penned the autobiographical novel upon which C’est pas moi is based.

But Maman producer Lyse Lafontaine isn’t concerned that two Quebec films with similar themes would be a turnoff for international buyers on the hunt for original content at TIFF.

‘They are very different films. Léa Pool and Philippe Falardeau have very different styles,’ she says. PB

UN ÉTÉ SANS POINT NI COUP SÛR
Director: Francis Leclerc
Writer: Marc Robitaille
Producer: Barbara Shrier
Cast: Pier-Luc Funk, Patrice Robitaille, Jacinthe Laguë, Roy Dupuis
Distributor: Alliance Vivafilm
International Sales: Max Films

Francis Leclerc’s family tale Un été sans point ni coup s°r (A No-Hit No-Run Summer), starring veteran thesp Roy Dupuis and newcomer Pier-Luc Funk – transports viewers to the blissful summer of 1969, when the Expos became the first Canadian Major League Baseball team, and tickets were so cheap the whole family could see a game. It was a summer when star players such as Mack Jones and Rusty Staub awed the fans.

For Montreal-born producer Barbara Shrier, making the $4-million Un été was a nostalgic journey.

‘My father snuck me out of school to watch the Expos’ first historic game,’ recalls Shrier. ‘I can still remember the smell of hotdogs.’

Until 1976, the Expos played at Jarry Park, a small municipal stadium in Montreal’s north end, where fans recall being so close to the action they felt they could reach out and touch the players.

Un été’s drama unfolds against the backdrop of this memorable period, and stars Funk as Martin, a 12-year-old obsessed with baseball.

Based on a novel of the same name by Marc Robitaille – who is also the screenwriter – Un été is directed by Francis Leclerc (Mémoires affectives) and also stars Patrice Robitaille and Jacinthe Laguë.

Released on 61 screens across Quebec on Aug. 1, the family tale drew $400,000 after its first week at the box office. Shrier says being at TIFF is key to breaking into the international market. PB

MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS
Director/Creator: Carl Bessai
Producers: Rodney Ruel, Carl Bessai, Erin Offer (coproducer)
Cast: Babz Chula, Tantoo Cardinal, Gabrielle Rose, Camille Sullivan, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Tinsel Korey

Carl Bessai’s Mothers & Daughters marks a departure for the B.C. director into the wilds of guerilla-style filmmaking.

‘I was sick a little bit of what filmmaking has become – tired of the big corporate shuffle you have to do to make a movie,’ says Bessai, whose Normal screened at last year’s TIFF.

‘You need a star attached, trailers, marketing, distribution, etcetera. Drama shouldn’t be burdened by the business of it all. Shouldn’t it be in the hands of the artists?’

So Bessai put his money where his mouth is. Winner of the Citytv Western Canada Feature Film Award at last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival for Normal, Bessai got an idea. ‘[The prize] was $12,000, so I thought, okay, I’m going to try and do something different with it.’

Bessai approached three of his friends, Canadian actors Babz Chula, Tantoo Cardinal and Gabrielle Rose.

‘We met for lunch and conceived the idea of doing a film about the relationship between mothers and daughters.’

After four months of workshopping, they came up with three outlines to portray three mother-and-daughter relationships. ‘It’s scriptless,’ explains Bessai. ‘We had a blueprint from the workshops to break it down in production, but it was improvised while shooting.’

Bessai describes Mothers & Daughters as ‘a lo-fi shoot. We used two cheap-ass handheld cameras and shot in live locations in Vancouver, using passer-bys. No lighting, no makeup – no wardrobe. It was guerilla filming. Each storyline was compressed into five days of improv shooting.’ Bessai hand-held one of the cameras himself.

‘It doesn’t look polished; it’s no Scorsese. It should have been a disaster, but I’m enamored with this little movie,’ laughs Bessai. IB