Montreal: DC Gothika Productions Canada producer Joel Silver and veteran Canadian producer Don Carmody are in preproduction at Mel’s Cite du Cinema on the psychological thriller Gothika. The film stars Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr. and will be distributed by Warner Bros.

French actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz is helming his first English-language movie, says Carmody, the film’s exec producer.

Gothika is a ghost story about a troubled female psychiatrist, played by Berry, who finds herself confined as a patient in the very asylum where she had worked.

Kassovitz’s directing credits include Les Rivieres pourpres (Crimson River), Assassins and the breakout Parisian ghetto drama La Haine. He starred in the international hit Amelie and in Birthday Girl (2001) with Nicole Kidman.

One of Canada’s most prolific producers, Carmody’s 2001-03 exec producer credits include Wrong Turn, City by the Sea, Heist, Angel Eyes, Driven, 3000 Miles to Graceland, The Caveman’s Valentine and The Pledge. Last year he coproduced the multiple Oscar nominee and hit musical Chicago.

Other films shot (in part) in Montreal and exec produced or produced by Carmody include The Art of War (2000) Battlefield Earth (2000), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Heist, Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale (1994).

The PM on Gothika is Micheline Garant. Graham ‘Grace’ Walker is production designer and Isabelle Guay is the shoot’s art director.

Gothika shoots in Montreal with an STCVQ crew over nine weeks from April 7 to June 10.

Au fil de l’eau opens

Au fil de l’eau, the first feature from director Jeannine Gagne, has its Canadian premiere March 2 as the closing-night film of this year’s Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois.

Gagne, who also wrote and produced, says her film goes against the current movie trends and is ‘philosophical and slowed-paced.’ It’s a bittersweet story of a group of men and women who spend a day ‘in the forest recalling past loves and childhood memories.’

The exceptional cast features Gabriel Gascon, Margot Campbell, Paul Ahmarani, Claude Laroche, Frederique Collin, Guy Thauvette and Michelle Rossignol.

Gagne adapted the film from the Evelyne de la Cheneliere play Au bout du fil well before it opened this past January at Theatre de Quatre-Sous.

Craft credits go to DOP Michel Lamothe, sound designer Claude Beaugrand (Seraphin), Louise Dugal, who did the picture edit at Main Film, art director Gabriel Tsampalieros and music composer Jean Derome.

Au fils de l’eau was produced by Amazone Film and was shot on Super 16mm film over 19 days using only natural lighting. Lab and post were handled by Technicolor Creative Services – Montreal.

The budget is $600,000 plus deferrals, with support from SODEC ($225,000) and Telefilm Canada ($200,000 from the low-budget indie program) and a grant to Gagne from Counseil des Arts du Canada.

Distrib Cinema Libre opens the film on three Montreal screens (Cinema Beaubien, Parisien and Ex-Centris) on March 7.

Gagne’s short films include Bebe bonheur (1995), Aube urbaine (best short at the ’95 Rendez-vous) and L’Insoumise (2001).

More film action

There is more evidence that international production is picking up in Montreal following a very slow quarter.

Two coproductions, which had been postponed and rescheduled more than once, are back on track, according to the STCVQ freelance film union.

The Forum Films coproduction A Different Loyalty, starring Sharon Stone, shoots late March to mid-May under the direction of Marek Kanievska. Richard Lalonde, the late Nicolas Clermont’s right-hand man, and Jan Vocke are the producers. The shooter is Jean Lepine and Anne Pritchard is the designer.

HITC’s Canada/U.K. period drama Head in the Clouds has recast and refinanced and is now slated to film on location in Quebec from March 19 to May 14. It’s a pre-WWII romance starring Penelope Cruz and German actor Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist). Quebec talent includes Karine Vanasse (Seraphin), James Hyndman and David La Haye.

Shooting on HITC was delayed when the producers were obliged to replace actor Natalie Portman. John Duigan of the U.K. is directing. Paul Sarossy is the DOP, Jonathan Lee is the production designer and Gilles Aird is the art director.

Remstar Productions is the film’s major financier. Maxime Remillard, Andre Rouleau, Berti Ohisson and Jonathan Olsberg are producing.

The CineGroupe TV movie Inappropriate Behaviour shoots from Feb. 24 to March 21 under the direction of Peter Svatek. Robin Spry is the producer. The exec producer is Leon Arcand.

Rose Films and producer Marie-Josee Raymond are shooting a new Claude Fournier feature Je n’aime que toi from Feb. 24 to March 28. Nicole Hilareguy is the PM and veteran DOP Rene Verzier is the shooter.

Also in town, E.D.N.Y., an NBC Studios shoot from G.E.P. Productions and producer Mark Burley, shooting March 17 to April 4. Anthony Drazen is directing. Michel Chauvin is the PM.

Two from JB

JB Media has two TV movies on the go. Decoy from director Richard Roy (The Last Chapter) films Feb. 10 to March 7 followed by Hive, slated to shoot March 24 to April 18.

Decoy stars Dina Meyer (Johnny Mnemonic, Birds of Prey) and Canadians Steve Bacic, Anna Silk and Cary Lawrence in a suspenseful cat-and-mouse story about a struggling young actress who works as a ‘decoy’ for a sleazy P.I. who specializes in framing rich husbands who cheat.

Hearst Entertainment has international rights while Incendo Media will distribute in Canada, the U.S. and all French-speaking European and African territories.

JB Media president Jean Bureau and Josee Mauffette are producing. Incendo president Stephen Greenberg, Anne Weston, Marcy Gross and Bureau are the exec producers.

Hive will be directed by Francois Gingras, who has made a name for himself with the hit Reseau TVA crime drama Fortier. DOP Georges Archambault, supervising producer Serge Denis and art director Raymond Dupuis are signed to both Decoy and Hive. Bureau and Greenberg are exec producers.

‘JB Media has optioned six scripts to be developed and produced this year in Montreal, with Decoy serving as the first of five more Canadian-content films to be filmed in 2003,’ says Bureau.

Labrecque’s Mexican tribute

FILMMAKER Jean-Claude Labreque is the subject of a Mexican retrospective organized by Filmoteca de l’Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in association with Cinematheque Quebecoise, Feb. 27 to March 5.

The program, with Spanish subtitles, includes the features Les Vautours, Les Annees de reves and L’Affaire Coffin and the docs Les Canots de glace, Images de la Gaspesie, L’Hiver en froid mineur, Essai a la mille, Marie Uguay, La Visite du general de Gaulle au Quebec, 67 bis, boulevard Lannes, 60 Cycles and Andre Mathieu, musicien.

Labrecque is working on a documentary on the life of Quebec intellectual Andre Laurendeau and a portrait of Premier Bernard Landry.