The Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC) has backed 11 feature films through its film production assistance program, including a new project from the writer/director behind this year’s Canadian foreign-language Oscar pick, Sophie Dupuis.

Written and directed by Dupuis, whose debut feature Chien de garde (“Watchdog”) was chosen to represent Canada in the Oscar race this September, Souterrain follows a miner who is forced to go underground after an explosion to save his friends and colleagues. Produced by Montreal’s Bravo Charlie, the new drama will be distributed by Montreal-based Axia Films. It was revealed this week that Chien de garde did not make the shortlist in the foreign-language film category.

SODEC also backed Pascale Plante’s upcoming sports drama, Nadia, butterfly. Written and directed by the previous Slamdance competitor, Nadia, butterfly tells the story of a female Olympic swimmer and her memories from the Games. Montreal’s Maison 4:3 will distribute.

Meanwhile, writer Catherine Leger and director Anais Barbeau-Lavelette’s La deesse des mouches a feu is an adaptation of Genevieve Pettersen’s play and novel of the same name. Produced by Coop Video de Montreal, the feature tells the story of a girl who comes of age when her parents start to divorce, amidst the backdrop of the 1990s grunge scene. Entract Movies will distribute the drama. Slut in a Good Way, a Canadian feature penned by Leger, recently made its international premiere in Tribecca’s Viewpoints section. 

In addition, two recent TIFF participants received support from the Quebec Funder. 2018 Ontario Creates International Financing Forum participant Kaveh Nabatian’s Sin La Habanna, a feature about a young Cuban couple who scheme to attract a tourist to obtain residency outside of their country, received funding. Produced by Montreal’s Voyelles Films Productions, the project will be distributed by Maison 4:3. In 2016, the feature was selected by the Harold Greenberg Fund  for some funding toward the film’s polishing and packaging. Nabatian also recently took part in TIFF’s Writers’ Studio, a program for mid-career screenwriters to challenge their abilities.

Patricia Chica, a 2018 TIFF Filmmaker Lab participant, also nabbed some funding for Montreal Girls. Co-written by Chica with Kamal John Iskander, the feature from Objective 9 follows a young Egyptian who is forced to leave his country to study medicine in Montreal. While there, his cousin tries to help him discover the city’s vibrant nightlife. Chica is set to direct.

SODEC will also support co-writers Caroline Monnet and Daniel Watchorn’s Bootlegger. Produced by Microclimate Films, the feature follows an ambitious lawyer who returns to an isolate Indigenous community in northern Quebec to help overturn outdated laws. Monnet will direct the feature, while Metropole Films Distribution will distribute the project. Earlier this September, Monnet’s short film Emptying the Tank made its debut at TIFF. The film was later pre-bought by CBC.

Others projects set to receive production funding include writer/director Maryanne Zehil’s comedy La face cachee du baklava (produced by Mia Productions, distributed by Montreal’s Axia Films); co-writers Miryam Bouchard and Martin Forget’s Mon cirque a moi (Montreal-based Attraction Images, with Les Films Seville set to distribute); Jesse Noah Klein’s Like a House on Fire (produced by Colonelle Films); writers Raymond St. Jean and Martin Girard’s Crepuscule pour un tueur (produced by Les productions Megafun, distributed by Filmoption International); and writer/director Joel Vaudreuil’s animated project Adam change lentement (produced by Parce Que Films and distributed by FunFilm).

Earlier in the year SODEC supported 12 projects through its production support program, including writer/director Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year and Mytho from writers Emile Gaudreault, Eric K. Boulianne and Sebastien Ravary. 

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