MONTREAL — The director of Nothing Really Matters — which was made without government help and had its world debut at the Montreal World Film Festival this week — is an impatient man.

Quebec born Jean-Marc Piché, 46, didn’t want to wait months or even years for Telefilm Canada to come through with financing, so he used his own money to make the $300,000 drama, which stars veteran actors Yannick Bisson ( Murdoch Mysteries), Pascale Bussières (René Lévesque) and Kenneth Welsh (Silk, Adoration).

‘I had the money and I wanted the freedom to make the film I wanted to make,’ says Piché, who has lived in Toronto for over a decade and co-wrote the script with his wife, Catlin Stothers.

Shot in 35mm, both the director of photography Simon Mestel and editor Jean-François Bergeron (Les 3 p’tits cochons, Bon Cop, Bad Cop) worked for free, explains Piché, whose day job is in the advertising industry.

Filmed mainly in a downtown apartment, Nothing Really Matters tells the story of Leo, a 37-year-old man, who, at the beginning of the film, is sitting in his bathtub preparing to commit suicide after his live-in girlfriend Carly (Bussières) leaves him.

What initially appears to be a conventional love story soon evolves into a compelling portrait of a charming boy-man so crippled by a traumatic event that he can’t leave his apartment — we don’t learn what that event is until the end of the film.

While Leo isn’t a typical male silver screen hero, the depth of his emotional weakness is typical of the modern man, says Piché. ‘Leo represents lots of men. They do not really grow up. In some ways he’s still a little kid. These kind of guys do things innocently not realizing how much pain they cause,’ says the helmer.

The film is produced by Piché’s production company OneFilm and distributed by Montreal-based Image Distribution. Piché hopes to take the film to other international festivals, including Sundance, and is planning a cross-Canada release in November, but has yet to make an international sale at WWF’s market. ‘We’ve had lots of interest, but we’re still in negotiations,’ he says.

The Montreal World Film Festival runs to Sept. 1.