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As a fan of French Canadian synth composers Le Matos, I came across their soundtrack for a web series called Exode recently. The soundtrack is as good as anything they dreamed up for Turbo Kid or Summer '84 and so I went looking for the series itself. Sure enough it's on YouTube now and it more than lives up to the Le Matos score.

Created with the support of TV5, this web series tells the story of David (Emmanuel Bilodeau), a passenger of a deep sp...

Reviewed by Samantha Perez

(from the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Denis Côté

Starring: Emmanuel Bilodeau, Philomène Bilodeau, Roc Lafortune and Sophie Desmarais

Curling has been an official Winter Olympics sport since 1998. It’s that game in which players slide stones across the ice toward a target area (similar to shuffleboard). Though this film is called “Curling,” it has little to do with the sport. Writer-director Denis Côté fools audiences with his title but presents a piercing portrayal of two people’s isolation and their journey toward life.

Jean-François (Emmanuel Bilodeau) is a maintenance man at a bowling alley and a roadside motel in a rural Quebec village. His 12-year-old daughter Julyvonne (Philomène Bilodeau, Emmanuel’s real-life daughter) stays home all day, every day. He takes care of her, homeschools her as best he can and supplies her with random out-of-date books. He makes sure she is well-fed...

Reviewed by Samantha Perez

(from the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Denis Côté

Starring: Emmanuel Bilodeau, Philomène Bilodeau, Roc Lafortune and Sophie Desmarais

Curling has been an official Winter Olympics sport since 1998. It’s that game in which players slide stones across the ice toward a target area (similar to shuffleboard). Though this film is called “Curling,” it has little to do with the sport. Writer-director Denis Côté fools audiences with his title but presents a piercing portrayal of two people’s isolation and their journey toward life.

Jean-François (Emmanuel Bilodeau) is a maintenance man at a bowling alley and a roadside motel in a rural Quebec village. His 12-year-old daughter Julyvonne (Philomène Bilodeau, Emmanuel’s real-life daughter) stays home all day, every day. He takes care of her, homeschools her as best he can and supplies her with random out-of-date books. He makes sure she is well-fed...

The Los Angeles Film Festival has announced the world premiere of Richard Linklater's Bernie as the opening night film for the 2011 festival.

The film will kick off the festival on June 16 at Regal Cinemas Stadium 14 at L.A. Live. It is written by Skip Hollandsworth and director Linklater and stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey.

The film follows a beloved mortician (Black) from a small Texas town, even winning over the town's richest, meanest widow (MacLaine). Even after Bernie commits a horrible crime, people still will not utter a bad word against him.

"We're thrilled to be opening the Festival with the world premiere of this delicious black comedy - a treat from one of the most original and exciting voices in independent film, Richard Linklater," said Festival director Rebecca Yeldham. "With its fabulous all-star cast, Bernie is a perfect stage setter for the incredible line-up of...

Denis Côté's excellent Curling is the film Giorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth should have been. An easy, armchair critic's copout, maybe? But it feels no less true for all that. A father creates a secluded hideaway where he can protect his young daughter from the world at large, yet real life keeps getting in the way.Where Dogtooth told its story with far too much enigmatic symbolism and refused to explain any of it, Curling grounds its premise in reality and adds just enough detail to keep things relatively plausible. Where Dogtooth didn't seem to understand its lead was a monster, Curling humanises its protagonist, allows him self-awareness and even partly redeems him.Father Jean-François (Emmanuel Bilodeau) and daughter Julyvonne (Philomène Bilodeau, his daughter in real life) clearly have...

Have you picked up your tickets yet?

It’s that time of the year, when the early film festivals debut/premiere some of the films that we’ll be talking about later on in the year.

Sundance, Berlin, Pan African, Fespaco, and South By Southwest Film Festivals are done! And this week, the 40th installment of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival here in New York City, begins!

Press screenings for the festival end today, and I saw around 10 films. I’ve already reviewed 4 or so of them, with another 5 or 6 reviews coming, today and tomorrow. I’ll also include a brief write-up of what to expect at the festival, films you should see, those that you could skip, etc… so stay tuned for that.

The lineup of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival follows below, and those of you who live in New York, or who are...

Jean-François (Emmanuel Bilodeau), a shy middle aged divorcé and his twelve year-old bespectacled daughter, Julyvonne (Philoméne Bilodeau) arrive in the snow swept small town near Quebec. For some reason, Jf is deathly afraid for his daughter's safety: he won't let her go to school or interact with anyone. Even when he is out working at a local motel and a bowling alley, he rather wants his daughter inside the house alone all day, studying by herself. Something must have happened prior. Julyvonne's mother is in jail. "The girl is retarded. There is nothing in her eyes!" yells the mother at Jk in the visiting cell. Treading somewhere between Fargo and The Sweet Hereafter, Curling is all about keeping in mind what's left out of its...

Unlike last year's two filmmaker/film horse race between Denis Villeneuve's Polytechnique and Xavier Dolan's J'ai tué ma mere, this year it was all "Villeneuve" and "Incendies". Repeating his wins in all the same categories it won at the Canadian Oscars (Genies) this week (this includes Editing, Screenplay, Best Cinematography by the excellent André Turpin, Best Actress in Lubna Azabal (who forced here co-star Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin to give her own thank you speech). These wins more than makes up for his loss last year when Villeneuve won the Best Director honor for Polytechnique, but lost in the Best Film category to J'ai tué ma mere. The predictable 13th edition also saw a Genie-Jutra winner from Barney's Version and in the Animated Film category, the Nfb (naturally) supported Theodore Ushev added a Jutra to his Genie for Lipsett Diaries. Best Film/meilleur film 10 1/2 - Pierre Gendron (Zoofilms) Les amours imaginaires - Xavier Dolan,...

Year: 2010

Director: Denis Côté

Writer: Denis Côté

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Marina Antunes

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Julyvonne is captive. At 12 she has never been to school, hasn’t participated in team sports and rarely ventures into town. She lives on the outskirts with her father Jean-Francois and spends most of her days wondering around the nearby woods. Jp, or Moustache as he is amicably nicknamed by his boss at the bowling alley at which he works, is a nice enough man but a controlling one. He has no TV, music is closely monitored and he keeps his daughter out of the public eye under the guise of protection. This is the world in which Denis Côté’s Curling unravels.

Curling is a deceptively demure film about a man struggling with his inner demons and a little girl in search of escape but Côté’s film touches so lightly...

The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Announce Feature Film Lineup for the 40th Annual New Directors/New Films March 23 . April 3

J.C. Chandor.s .Margin Call. is the Opening Night presentation with Maryam Keshavarz.s Award-winning .Circumstance. the Closing Night selection

The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the full lineup today for the 40th edition of New Directors/New Films (March 23 . April 3). Dedicated to the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent, the film festival will screen 28 feature films (24 narrative, 4 documentary) representing 22 countries.

The opening night feature is J.C. Chandor.s Margin Call. Screening on Wednesday, March 23, at 7:00Pm at MoMA, Chandor’s feature film directing debut is a timely and terrifying dramatic expose that tackles twenty-four hours on an investment bank trading floor; a day that brings layer upon layer of human and...

Ahhh yes, it’s that time of the year, when the early film festivals debut/premiere some of the films that we’ll be talking about later on in the year.

Sundance is done; the Berlin and Pan African Film Festivals are currently underway; the South By Southwest Film Festival takes over Austin, TX in less than a month! And a few days after it ends, the 40th installment of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival here in New York City, begins!

Can’t you just feel the excitement in the air? I can!

And I feel even better knowing that I was granted press credentials by the festival organizers, meaning I’ll be seeing as many of these films for Free, with reviews to follow on this site, afterward, as usual.

The lineup of the New Directors/New Films Film Festival was just unveiled, and those of you who live in New York,...

Yesterday, the nominees for the 13th Jutra Awards ceremony were revealed. The winners of this Quebecker Oscar will be revealed next month. The following is the full list of nominees.

Best motion picture:

* 10 1/2

* Les amours imaginaires

* Curling

* Incendies

* Les signes vitaux

Best director:

* Denis Côté- Curling

* Xavier Dolan- Les amours imaginaires

* Kim Nguyen - La cité

* Podz (Daniel Grou) - 10 1/2

* Denis Villeneuve- Incendies

Best leading actress:

* Lubna Azabal - Incendies

* Suzanne Clément - Tromper le silence

* Mélissa Desormeaux-Poulin - Incendies

* Évelyne Rompré- 2 fois une femme

* Guylaine Tremblay- Trois temps après la mort d'Anna

Best leading actor:

* Jay Baruchel - The Trotsky

* Emmanuel Bilodeau - Curling

* Jacques Godin - La dernière fugue

* Claude Legault - 10 1/2

* François Papineau - Route 132

Best supporting actress:

* Dorothée Berryman - Cabotins

* Marie Brassard - Les signes vitaux

* Geneviève Chartrand - Le journal d'Aurélie Laflamme

* Isabelle Miquelon - La dernière fugue

* Danielle Proulx...

The latest film from Canadian director Denis Côté, Curling, might bore many and look incomprehensible. However, it's only after you had seen the film that you realize how eloquent the film is with its moments of silence.During the winter in a remote area of Quebec, we follow Jean-François Sauvageau (Emmanuel Bilodeau) and his 12-year-old daughter Julyvonne (Philomène Bilodeau) who both live in a country house on the edge of a highway. Jean-François is a maintenance clerk at a bowling club and a motel. He's overprotective to the point that he doesn't want his daughter to get out. Moreover, Julyvonne doesn't go to school.

Since he takes Julyvonne out once in a while, she begs him more and more to let go out. According to Julyvonne, this will allow her to play with kids of her age. When Jean-François isn't at home, Julyvonne decides to go out in the forest near her house.

Canadian director Denis Côté talks about his latest film Curling. The film will close the Festival du nouveau cinéma (Fnc) on October 23 and will be in theatres on November 12.

During the winter in a remote area of Quebec, we follow Jean-François Sauvageau (Emmanuel Bilodeau) and his 12-year-old daughter Julyvonne (Philomène Bilodeau) who both live in a country house on the edge of a highway. Jean-François is a maintenance clerk at a bowling club and a motel. He's overprotective to the point that he doesn't want his daughter to get out. Moreover, Julyvonne doesn't go to school.

Since he takes Julyvonne out once in a while, she begs him more and more to let go out. According to Julyvonne, this will allow her to play with kids of her age. When Jean-François isn't at home, Julyvonne decides to go out in the forest near her house. Moreover, Isabelle (Sophie Desmarais), Jean-François's...

Yesterday, Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinéma (Fnc), which will take place from October 13 to 24, revealed its full line-up of films. Nineteen Canadian feature films and documentaries will be presented. However, don't expect to see all films that were screened at the latest Toronto or Vancouver International Film Festivals.

Opening film:

10 1/2

Director: Daniel Grou (Podz)

Starring: Claude Legault, Robert Naylor and Albert Kwan

International selection

Jo pour Jonathan

Director: Maxime Giroux

Starring: Jean-Sébastien Courchesne, Raphaël Lacaille, Jean-Alexandre Létourneau and Vanessa Pilon

Focus Québec/Canada

A Night for Dying Tigers

Director: Terry Miles

Starring: Jennifer Beals, Gil Bellows, Lauren Lee Smith, Tygh Runyan, Kathleen Robertson, John Pyper-Ferguson, Leah Gibson, Sarah Lind and Jessica Heafey

Affinity Point

Director: Deeh

Starring: Danielle Hubbard, Jason D. Pitre, Sophie Ricard and Yann Faussurier

2 fois une femme

Director: François Delisle

Starring: Evelyne Rompré, Marc Béland and Catherine de Léan

Falardeau (Documentary)

Director: German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia...

Tva, a French Canadian TV network, announced yesterday that its new original series Tranches de vie will premiere Wednesday, September 22 at 7:30 Pm. The TV network promised that the show will cast a look at what it means to be in a relation and will have a prestigious cast.

The show will star Pauline Martin, Raymond Bouchard, Josée Deschênes, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Édith Cochrane, Jean-Michel Anctil, Émilie Bibeau and Olivier Morin.

The story follows many couples. Amélie (Émilie Bibeau) and Jean-François (Olivier Morin) are two young lovers who are learning little by little what it means to be in a relation; Claire (Édith Cochrane) and Jean-Guy (Jean-Michel Anctil) are two divorcees who try to build a blanded family that has its own problems; Suzanne (Josée Deschênes) and Luc (Emmanuel Bilodeau) constantly live a love-hate relationship; Muriel (Pauline Martin) and Daniel (Raymond Bouchard) have been together since 30 years and they consider themselves as "experimented" lovers.

The Vancouver International Film Festival is my baby. In its 29th year, this is the event I look forward to every year. The lists I've kept through the year come out and I eagerly look through the list of titles in search of those little gems and every year Viff responds with a huge assortment of titles. This year's festival is no different.

Some of the titles we're most eagerly anticipating include Tsumetai Nettaigyo’s Cold Fish (trailer), Gareth Edwards’ Monsters (trailer, review), Jo Sung-Hee’s apocalyptic road movie End of Animal, Carl Bessai’s Repeaters (trailer) and Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats (trailer, review).

There's loads more so be sure to check the titles (so far) after the break. Many more to be announced in the coming days.

Canadian Images

Altitude (Kaare Andrews), B.C.

View trailer

A weekend getaway aboard a small plane turns deadly for a rookie pilot and four teenage friends.

Li Hongqi, photographed by Massimo Pedrazzini for the Locarno Film Festival.

The Locarno Film Festival's Golden Leopard goes to Li Hongqi's Winter Vacation this year. Marian Crişan's Tomorrow has won the Special Jury Prize and Denis Côté has been named Best Director for Curling, which also takes home a Best Actor award for Emmanuel Bilodeau. Curling, by the way, is headed to Toronto in September. Jasna Djurišić wins Best Actress for her performance in Oleg Novković's White White World.

Brian Brooks has the full list of winners at indieWIRE. Coverage of Locarno in the German-language press has been substantial and, for the most part, quite positive. In English, though, the pickings have been thin. Even so, I've been gathering what I've been able to find and posting updates to this entry right here since the festival began.

Update, 8/15: "Juries move in mysterious ways and the best festivals should, and often do,...

Chinese director Li Hongqi took home the Pardo d'oro, or Golden Leopard, for his film, "Han Jia" (Winter Vacation), closing out the 63rd Locarno Film Festival. French/Romanian/Hungarian production "Morgen" by Marian Crisan received a Special Jury Prize, while Denis Côté was named Best Director for his feature, "Curling." The prize included 30,000 Chf and the Golden Leopard included a 90,000 Chf cash prize. In other prizes, Emmanuel Bilodeau received the best ...

Rome -- Li Hongqi 's "Han Jia" (Winter Vacation), a coming-of-age story set it small town China, won the Locarno Film Festival's Golden Leopard prize Saturday during a full but drizzly ceremony at the Piazza Grande. It is the second consecutive year that a film from a Chinese director took home the festival's top prize.

 

Among the festival's other top prizes: "Morgen," a border drama set on the boundary between Romania and Hungary from Marian Crisan, won a Special Jury Prize, while Denis Cote was given the Prize of the City and Region of Locarno for Best Director for the Canadian thriller "Curling." Emmanuel Bilodeau, the male lead in "Curling" was given the prize for best actor, while Jasna Duricic won the Best Actress honor for her work in "Beli Belisvet" (White White World) from Serbian director Oleg Novkovic.

 

The top prize carries an award of 90,000 Swiss francs ($85,000), while the...

Yesterday, the Quebecker section of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television revealed its full list of nominees at the 2010 Gémeaux Awards, the Quebecker equivalent of the Emmy Awards. Moreover, the award ceremony will be held in September. The following is a list of nominees mostly related to the entertainment sector of Quebecker television.

Best dramatic series:

* Aveux.

* C.A.

* Le Gentleman.

* Mirador.

* Musée Eden.

Best game show:

* Bluff.

* L'union fait la force.

* Le cercle

* Le moment de vérité.

* Tous pour un.

Best reality show:

* En route vers mon premier gala.

* Loft Story 6 - La revanche.

* Ma maison Rona.

* Rock n’Road II.

* VJ recherché.

Best comedy series:

* La galère.

* Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin.

* Les Parent.

* Rock et Rolland.

* Taxi 0-22.

Best soap opera:

* Destinées

* L'auberge du chien noir

* Providence

* Yamaska

Best humour show:

* 3600 secondes d'extase

* Comicographie

* Et Dieu créa... Laflaque

* Infoman

* Les appendices

Best direction in a dramatic series:

* Aveux.

Télé-Québec, a TV network, had announced that Laurence Carbonneau and Alexandre Bacon - who respectively play the characters of Rose Boucher and Mikaël Vesko in the TV series Tactik - will meet young movie enthusiasts at the International Children Film Festival of Montreal (Icffm). In fact, they will be at the Cinéma Beaubien on February 27, 2010 at 11:40 Am.

During this event, two new episodes of Tactik, a show which was created by Vincent Bolduc and Alex Veilleux, will be exclusively presented on the big screen. The first one will be titled Dalie et ses hommes and the other one Rencontre d'une troisième type. Unfortunately, Télé-Québec hasn't revealed the synopsis of these two episodes. Therefore, if you're a fan of the show, attend to this event.

Tactik is a teen show that also stars Emmanuel Bilodeau, Pier-Luc Funk, Kathleen Garcia-Manharres, Vincent Gratton, Guy Jodoin, Frédéric Pierre, Frédérique Dufort, Pierre-Luc Brillant...