CANADIAN VANGUARD WORLD PREMIERE
ENGLISH CANADIAN PREMIERE
IN HER CITY
YOU WILL REMEMBER ME
Canada | 2020 | 81 minutes Director: Carl Bessai Producers: Carl Bessai, Laura Lightbown Written By: Carl Bessai Cast: Jada Rifkin, Alexa Banton, Nat Bushnik, Maeve Mayfield, Alexandria Lior, Alexa Rambarran, Yalda Homayoun, Stephanie Gong, Maddy Murden, Ellie Sanchez, Molly Robbins, Joelle Peters, Zoe Oliver, Fernanda Moya, Lory Mpiana, Nicole Rieko, Dakota Ray Hebert Cinematographer: Carl Bessai, Jay Fox
Regular WFF contributor BC filmmaker Carl Bessai has been experimenting with storytelling form and structure ever since his first film JOHNNY (1999), about squeegee kids in Toronto. In film after film like MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS, FATHERS & SONS, and SISTERS & BROTHERS, Bessai has been approaching a short story perspective where improvisation and pointed character unveiling have made working on his films an actor’s dream. But here,he has outdone himself. Bessai introduces the stories of seventeen young women in their twenties living in three cities: Toronto, Los Angeles and New York City. He is a master on how to get right into a story with no fuss or mess. The stories reflect the diversity and challenges that women of various ethnic backgrounds have to deal with. For example, an immigrant woman in New York whose mother insists passionately that she must become a doctor because that is why Mom has sacrificed her life. The film cleverly flits from one recognizable young female character to another, such as Izzy, who lives her life online, or Soreya who meets with a director (cameo by Bessai himself) looking for a job. In fact, it is a measure of the power of these short stories, that at least five or six storylines cry out for a feature film of their own. Bessai has created seventeen mini-movies for the price of one, and a rare film that cares to dive into the concerns of the young women of today with empathy and humour. With all stories developed directly with the actors portraying them, he gives voice to a new generation. IN HER CITY is Bessai at his experimental best.
AVAILABLE ONLINE Dec. 16 - Dec. 31
TU TE SOUVIENDRAS DE MOI Canada | 2020 | 108 minutes In Frech with English Subtitles Director: Éric Tessier Producer: Christian Larouche Written By: Eric Tessier, François Archambault Cast: Rémy Girard, Karelle Tremblay, France Castel, Julie Le Breton, David Boutin Distributor: Les Films Opale Production Company: Christal Films Productions Cinematographer: Pierre Gill Editor: Jean-François Bergeron Composer: Martin Léon Production Designer: Danielle Labrie
Originally scheduled to be released last March, but delayed due to theatre closings in Quebec, this is character actor Rémy Girard’s crowning achievement. One of Quebec’s most beloved screen icons, Girard has been a ubiquitous presence in most of the homegrown French- language films that have gotten the attention of English Canada: THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, DE PÈRE EN FLIC, INCENDIES, LES BOYS, LA FLORIDA, JESUS OF MONTREAL, THE RED VIOLIN, and the list goes on. Here Girard plays an arrogant university professor by the name of Edouard Beauchemin. An opinionated and judgemental academic, his character could well have been transported into the future from the ensemble cast of Denys Arcand’s seminal DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE. Only now the professor has become even more insufferable to those around him as he is battling some form of dementia. His wife leaves him, and he is put in the care of his daughter’s boyfriend’s daughter, who is not terribly impressed or deferential to an old guy that seems to live in another world.
AVAILABLE ONLINE Dec. 11 - Dec. 31
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