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Telefilm Canada Supports Eight New French-language Feature Film Projects

Telefilm Canada [1]Telefilm Canada [1] has announced that eight new French-language feature films have been given the go-ahead thanks to the Canada Feature Film Fund [2] selective component. A total of $9.2 million, including performance envelope investments, was committed to French-language production projects for the first round of 2012-2013.

“These are eight inspiring, diverse and original stories from solid and enthusiastic teams, which will enrich the selection of Canadian content available for screens,” said Telefilm’s Director of Project Financing Michel Pradier. “This first round invests in the continued work of veteran directors as well as supports emerging filmmakers and their first films.”

4 soldats
Production: Coop Vidéo [3]
Director and scriptwriter: Robert Morin
Distribution: Métropole Films Distribution [4]
An adaptation of Quatre soldats, a novel by Hubert Mingarelli

4 soldats recounts a brief friendship that falls victim to war, a miracle written by the hand of a fifth soldier. Antoine is not yet 20. He has little education. For him, writing is a way to recreate life’s most beautiful gifts and to avoid sinking into a world of discontent. It’s a laborious task but one that brings healing. The film promises the viewer a similar experience.

Amsterdam
Production: Cirrus [5]
Director: Stefan Miljevic
Scriptwriters: Stefan Miljevic, Gabriel Sabourin and Louis Champagne
Distribution: Alliance Vivalfilm [6]

In a typical little forest town, three childhood friends decide to treat themselves to the weekend of a lifetime. Under the pretence of taking their annual fishing trip, they secretly escape to Amsterdam for a weekend of complete freedom… But when the time comes to head home, one of the three is nowhere to be found… So begins the terrible spiral of lies that upends their friendship and apparently peaceful life. Amsterdam – a thriller with heart.

Les Boys, le premier chapitre
Production: Melenny Productions
Director: Richard Goudreau, co-director: Louis Saia
Scriptwriter: Richard Goudreau
Distribution: Les Films Séville [7]

Les Boys, le premier chapitre is the prequel to the earlier Les Boys films, when Jean-Charles, Méo, Bob, Fern and Marcel were between 12 and 15 years old. The year is 1965 during Christmas vacation, in the days when hockey was still played on outdoor rinks. The Boys form a second neighbourhood team and take part in the Christmas tournament only because they’re hosting. Otherwise, they would have stayed home. This doesn’t stop them from dreaming of victory. Off the rink, they experience all sorts of moments of the type common to kids that age. Together, they face them and try to overcome them. Together, they try to weather the ups and downs because that’s how they’ve decided to live: together.

Une jeune fille
Production: Films 53/12 [8]
Director and scriptwriter: Catherine Martin
Distribution: K-Films Amérique [9]

Chantal is a secretive teen who hates the world. She is in survival mode, struggling between a sick mother and an unemployed father she can’t stand. On her mother’s death, she leaves the family home and goes to the Gaspé to find a pebble beach she saw in a photo. After wandering for several days, almost completely out of money, she takes refuge with Serge, a taciturn farmer from the backcountry. Slowly, these two sullen introverts befriend one another.

Lac Mystère
Production: Novem [10]
Director: Érik Canuel
Scriptwriter: Diane Cailhier
Distribution: Films Christal

After changing his name in the hopes of isolating himself from society, a 45-year-old businessman finds himself grappling with an irritating neighbour, a drowning in the lake, a misfit who takes shelter in his home, a bandit on the lam and the police officer who is trying to track him down. After an accident plunges him into a coma, the rudderless man takes on yet another identity to survive, but makes contact with humanity along the way.

Louis Cyr
Production: Christal Films Productions
Director: Daniel Roby
Scriptwriter: Sylvain Guy
Distribution: Les Films Christal

The son of a working-class family deported to the U.S., Louis Cyr decides one day to become the strongest man in the world. Although none of the many obstacles he meets can stop the athlete, the same is not true for the man. Illiterate and uneducated, Cyr feels deeply inferior to his wife, who is dedicated to literature and the arts. His resounding success accentuates his discomfort. The story relates the tale of the mythical hero and vulnerable man whose most difficult battles were fought outside the arena.

Premier amour
Production: Cinémaginaire [11]
Director and scriptwriter: Guillaume Sylvestre
Distribution: Alliance Vivalfilm [6]

After several years working in Europe, a bourgeois couple returns to Quebec and rents a cottage on a riverbank for the summer. Their 14-year-old son Antoine makes friends with Anna, 17. Over the summer, Antoine falls madly in love with her. For him, these first sparks of love turn into an alarming combination of distress, joy and obsession. When Anna sinks into a troubling silence caused by a secret love, Antoine discovers the man who is haunting her thoughts.

Rouge sang
Production: Ciné Télé Action [12]
Director: Martin Doepner
Scriptwriters: Joseph Antaki, Martin Doepner and Jean Tourangeau
Distribution: Atopia Distribution [13]

In a remote corner of the Saint Lawrence valley, New Year’s Eve 1799 turns into a nightmare for a young mother forced to shelter five British soldiers. Over the course of the long, stormy night, tension rises and culminates in horrendous actions. But who is the victim and who is the aggressor? Dawn sheds a whole new light on the night’s events.