Telefilm Canada finances five new French-language films

Telefilm Canada has effectively greenlit five French-language feature films with budgets ranging from approximately C$1.5 million - $4 million and genres ranging from a love story to a true story about a man wrongly convicted.

“Over the year we try to have a very diversified portfolio,” said Michel Pradier, TFC Director of Project Financing.

Pradier told Screen that the five films were chosen out of 41 applications and that decision making criteria is based on many factors including: “the creative content, the distribution pattern, its festival potential, the track record of the director, the track record of the scriptwriter, the cast, the budget, other financial partners and the marketing plan. There’s a meeting with the [production] team and an evaluation to see if they can deliver what they’re supposed to be delivering.”

TFC executive director Carolle Brabant also said that the Crown Corporation is “looking at a very wide-ranging line-up of titles for movie theatres, which will draw audiences,” from “cinéma d’auteur with Rafael Ouellet’s Camion to films having wide audience appeal such as Podz’s L’Affaire Dumont.”

L’Affaire Dumont is based on a true story set in 1990 about a corner-store delivery man who is accused, tried and sentenced for a sexual assault he claims he didn’t commit. During his trial, he falls in love with a young single mother who believes he is innocent. It will be directed by Daniel Grou (aka Podz) [pictured], produced by Go Films’  Nicole Robert and distributed by Alliance Vivafilms.

Alice is about an intellectually disabled person who works part-time in a bank and sings with a choir in a recreational centre. She falls for another choir member but his mother is vigorously opposed to her son’s relationship. It will be directed by Louise Archambault (Familia) and producerd by micro_scope’s Luc Déry and Kim McCraw (also the producers of the Oscar-nominated Incendies) and distributed by Christal Films.

Avant que mon cœur bascule, which translates loosely to ‘before my heart flips’, is about a 16-year-old girl, who pretends to be in trouble alongside a highway. It will be directed by Sébastien Rose, produced by Paul Barbeau of Reprise Films and distributed by Metropole Films.

Camion, which means truck, is about a seasoned trucker who gets in an accident that results in a young woman’s death, an event which turns his world upside down and is followed by news that the lumber mill where he works is closing. His sons return to the house where they grew up to make sure he doesn’t do anything that can’t be undone. It will be directed by Rafael Ouellet, produced by Stephanie Morisette (of Coop Vidéo de Montréal) and distributed by K-Films Amérique.

Hors les murs, which translates loosely to “off the wall”, is a France-Belgium-Canada co-production (minority Canadian) about a young pianist whose life is almost settled when he meets a bass player originally from Albania. It’s love at first sight for the two, but their love story is soon overtaken by life’s unexpected twists and turns. It will be directed by David Lambert and co-produced by Daniel Morin of Les Productions Cinématographiques Boréal Films in Canada with Red Star Cinéma (France) and Frakas Productions (Belgium). Its Canadian distributor is K-Films Amérique.