Several Quebec films, including the feature film Day of Hunting by Annick Blanc, have been selected for the next edition of the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival which will take place from March 8 to 16 in Austin, capital of Texas.
Starring Nahéma Ricci (Antigone), Bruno Marcil, Frédéric Millaire-Zouvi and several others, Jour de chasse tells the story of Nina (Ricci), a young woman who, taken in by a group of hunters in a remote chalet, has the sudden and sweet feeling of being part of a pack. But the balance of the group will quickly be shaken by the arrival of a new stranger.
In a telephone interview, Annick Blanc, who has been working on this first feature film project for a decade, explains that with this script, she wanted to explore the notion of inertia in our society. “I wanted to deal with this idea of savoring everyday life as a priority even if everything is collapsing around us,” she says.
“And I also wanted to feature a very strong female character who comes to shake up a group of men,” she continues. In the current context, I wanted to present a woman not as a victim, but as a person capable of changing things, shaking up the world, even if she is surrounded by men with toxic masculinities. »
According to the director, who also wrote the screenplay, the fact that her film was selected for SXSW could not have come at a better time.
“It’s the best place for a first,” she says. SXSW chooses a lot of genre films. It focuses on funny, sexy, provocative and scary works. Four words that perfectly describe our film. »
She says “our” because Ms. Blanc also co-produces the work with Maria Gracia Turgeon within their production company Midi la nuit. In the world of cinema, this small Quebec company has a reputation for quality since it boasts two short films that were finalists for the Oscars, namely Brotherhood by Meryam Joobeur and Fauve by Jérémy Comte.
“Noon at night, it was a professional blind date that worked,” says Maria Gracia Turgeon with a laugh. We do many things in similar ways and our differences are complementary. On a creative level, we look for projects that have particular signatures, that are punchy, different in this environment where there are a lot of offers. We try to make an impression. And for that, we ourselves must be marked by a project from the start. »
Distributed by Maison 4: 3, Jour de chasse will be released in the fall in Quebec. At SXSW, it will screen in the Midnighter section.
Quebec shorts
Short documentary film produced by Colonelle Films and distributed by h264, Hello Stranger by Amélie Hardy is also the story of Cooper who is experiencing a gender transition.
“Between loads of laundry at the local laundry room, Cooper recounts the story of his gender transition,” says the synopsis. By piecing together his memories, from his childhood in a small fishing village to the behind-the-scenes of his tumultuous medical process, Cooper attempts to make peace with the last masculine mark on his body: that annoying deep voice that sticks to his skin. »
Among the other Quebec works selected, Cœur de tomate by Benoït Le Rouzès Ménard tells the story of Madeleine who is forced to leave her job in a neighborhood grocery store. However, this grocery store, its colleagues and its customers constitute its only family.
Animated short film, A Hole in the Chest by Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel focuses on the journey of Zoé, at the dawn of adolescence, and her little brother Théo, left to their own devices in a deprived suburbs.
Finally, À toi les ears by Alexandre Isabelle is defined as follows: “While the townspeople celebrate the village’s anniversary parade, Étienne tries the impossible: to show them how beautiful the cacophony of his family is. »
The SXSW site lists a total of 14 Canadian works or works co-produced in Canada. Thus, the feature film Turtles by Belgian David Lambert includes Brigitte Poupart in its cast. Joseph Rouleau: Final Encore by Emilie Rosas and Colas Wohlfahrt is an immersive animated biopic exploring the archives of the famous opera singer. And Opal is a three-minute interactive installation by Thibault Duverneix and Guillaume Cardell.
