RIDM 2016 Award Winners

Award winners of the 19^th Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)

The 19^th edition of the RIDM ends on Sunday, November 20, 2016.

The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) award winners in different competitions were revealed on November 19, 2016, during the closing ceremony that took place at Concordia University - SGWU Alumni Auditorium (H-110).

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“To a film that displays an astonishing range in its personal social depiction of working class China, all while adhering to rigorous formal constraints”, the Best International Feature Award, presented by Bell Media, went to Another Year directed by Shengze Zhu.

The jury extended a special mention to Tempestad directed by Tatiana Huezo.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN AN INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“For its brazen go-for-broke visual style”, the jury gave the Best Cinematography Award to Brothers of the Night directed by Patric Chiha.

BEST EDITING IN AN INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“For making a multi-layered essay on the global politics of the refugee crisis out of what amounts to a single image”, the Best Editing Award was given to Havarie directed by Philip Scheffner.

The jurors for the International Feature competition were Inti Cordera, Penny Lane, Khoa Lê, Rachael Rakes and Ingrid Veninger.

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE

“The jury was moved by this luminous film, which gives us an intimate and privileged look at all that is universal in the search for love and in our eternal need to build meaning”. They awarded Carlo Guillermo Proto for Resurrecting Hassan.

A special mention was given to Tales of Two Who Dreamt directed by Andrea Bussmann and Nicolás Pereda.

BEST NEW TALENT FROM QUEBEC/CANADA

“The jury was mesmerized by the passion with which the filmmaker works toward an aesthetic of resistance by capturing the sensuality of the fighters’ movements”. The award for the Best New Talent, presented by Post-Moderne, was awarded to Zaynê Akyol’s Gulîstan, Land of Roses.

The jurors for the Canadian Feature competition were Miriam Fahmy, Jean-François Lesage and Jean-François Ruel.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM

The award for the Best International Short or Medium-Length Film went to Isabella Morra directed by Isabel Pagliai. “This tender yet brutal film shows us a world where children are free and powerful, the masters of their kingdom. A direct film in which the most prosaic aspects of everyday life become fantastical; a post-apocalyptic work of shocking beauty”.

The jury was also unanimous in awarding two special mentions to celebrate the rich diversity of today’s documentary cinema. They went to Long Story Short directed by Natalie Bookchin and He Who Eats Children directed by Ben Russell.

BEST CANADIAN SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM

“Because it transports the viewer to a distant, little-known world. It is a beautiful, sensitive depiction of one man’s memories, hopes, regrets and struggles”. The award for the Best Canadian Short or Medium-Length Film went to The Botanist by Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis

The jurors in the Short and Medium-Length competitions were Xavier de la Vega, Gustavo Beck and Nadine Gomez.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

Presented by TV5, the People’s Choice Award was given to the audience’s favourite documentary from the Official Competition and Panorama sections. The audience has chosen Le goût d’un pays, directed by Francis Legault.

MAGNUS ISACSSON AWARD

The Magnus Isacsson Award was created to honour the beloved Montreal documentary filmmaker Magnus Isacsson and is presented to a socially conscious work by an emerging Canadian director. Presented by the ARRQ, Cinema Politica, DOC Québec and Main Film, the award went to Alethea Arnaquq-Baril for Angry Inuk.

A special mention went to the The Stairs directed by Hugh Gibson.

The members of the Magnus Isacsson Award jury were Jocelyne Clarke, Nicolas Paquet (DOC Québec), Helen Doyle (ARRQ), Frank Le Coroller (assistant director) and Svetla Turnin (Cinema Politica).

STUDENT AWARD

The student award is given to a film from the Canadian Feature section. This initiative is part of the RIDM’s youth program. “For having immersed us in a reality that is very close to us and yet obscure, and for its disturbing, intimate perspective”, the Student Award, supported by the CSN and Telefilm Canada, went to Carlo Guillermo Proto for Resurrecting Hassan.

A special mention was also given to The Stairs directed by Hugh Gibson.

WOMEN INMATES’ AWARD

The Inmates’ Jury is made up of five inmates of the Joliette Institution who award one the eight movies from the Official Competition and Panorama section, screened for them. Audrey, Sylvianne, Sonia, Roxanne and Lynn have chosen Angry Inuk directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril. “Its wonderful, meticulous direction highlighted the beauty of northern landscapes. Its powerful portrayal of a united people moved us. It took us outside our comfort zone, showed us every facet of a reality, and even changed our minds. Lastly, we want to salute the director’s commitment to her cause”.

They also gave a special mention to Mr Gaga directed by Tomer Heymann. The Women Inmates’ Award is possible thanks to Telefilm Canada, the Quebec chapter of the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal. The project is supported by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications and the Ville de Montréal.

Quebec’s only film festival dedicated to documentaries, the Montreal International Documentary Festival presents the best reality‐based films, including the works of established directors and new talents.

For more information visit the RIDIM website.

Cinemania 2016 Awards

CINEMANIA

November  3 - 13, 2016

CINEMANIA’s 22nd edition of French films with English subtitles  ended on Sunday evening, November 13, 2016.

And the winners are:

GRAND PRIX MEL HOPPENHEIM

(The main CINEMANIA prize that has been awarded since 1998)
A KID | LE FILS DE JEAN

Filmed in Quebec, LE FILS DE JEAN by Philippe Lioret received the GRAND PRIX MEL HOPPENHEIM, the top CINEMANIA prize awarded since 1998. The winning film, a North American premiere, is a France-Quebec co-production starring Quebec actors Gabriel Arcand, Marie-Therese Fortin, Catherine De Lean, Pierre-Yves Cardinal and Patrick Hivon. The film follows the story of Mathieu (Pierre Deladonchamps), a 33-year-old Parisian who never knew his father. One morning in Paris he receives a surprising phone call that his birth father, a Quebecois, has just passed away. He also discovers that he has two half-brothers and he quickly decides to depart for Montreal to meet them, and attend his father’s funeral. Upon arrival, Mathieu begins to realize that they never knew he existed and what’s more, don’t care to get to know him! And, to complicate matters, his father’s oldest friend, a taciturn old guy, throws a further monkey-wrench into the works.
 
LE FILS DE JEAN formed part of the program that CINEMANIA co-sponsored and co-hosted in welcoming the RCF conference (Rencontres de Coproductions Francophone), held for the first time in Montreal simultaneously with CINEMANIA. Over 200 film industry professionals attended the 13th annual RCF conference at workshops and meetings at the Hotel Sofitel Golden Mile and at La Cinematheque Quebecoise from Novenber 8-11. Attendees had the opportunity to screen the premiere of the Quebec-France coproduction LE FILS DE JEAN (by Philippe Lioret and Marielle Duigou of Fin Aout Productions from France, and Marie-Claude Poulin and Pierre Even of Even de Item 7 from Quebec).

You can read more about this film here.
TFO Prix du Public for the Best First Feature Film

THE DANCER | LA DANSEUSE

There were 8 debut feature films eligible for the TFO Prize, with THE DANCER audience favourite by popular vote.

THE DANCER, an historical biopic, was presented in its North American premiere at CINEMANIA – based on a true story that recounts the life of the American creative visionary, dancer/choreographer/lighting pioneer Loie Fuller at the turn of the 19th century at the Folies Bergere where she mixed with such luminaries as Toulouse-Lautrec, Rodin, and Isadora Duncan. Talented actress SOKO plays Loie Fuller, a dancer who truly influenced the artistic and then emerging world of modern dance. Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis) portrays the legendary Isadora Duncan, lover of Loie Fuller.

For more information about the festival, viisit the CINEMANIA website.

RIDM 2016 - Brothers

Brothers  /  Brødre

By Aslaug Holm

QUEBEC PREMIERE
Portraits
Norway / 2015 / 110 min. / Norwegian, English s.-t.

For eight years, Oslo filmmaker Aslaug Holm filmed her two sons, Markus and Lukas, from childhood to adolescence, creating a poignant ode to the passage of time and to evolving dreams.

The film is a documentary chronicle of two brothers growing. Aslung Holm filmed her two sons, recording their fears, problems, what they liked and disliked, their general growing up difficulties, desires and uncertainties. It is a very sensitive film that everybody can relate to, not only the parents or the growing up children. The film also conveys a lot of motherly concern and love through the vehicle of her documentary film diary of her two boys. It is as if she were trying to capture a moment and hold it still for an eternal memory, knowing too well that her children will grow up very quickly, will become adults, and those moment of the motherly feelings she projected for them through her filming when they were small will also undergo some changes.

In addition, the film chronicles the family history and roots, and presents some stunning though austere Norwegian scenery

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

“What are childhood and adolescence made of? Which memories do we keep? What’s going on there? For more than eight years, in their Oslo apartment and at their cottage, on playgrounds and at school, filmmaker Aslaug Holm filmed her two children: Markus, who dreams of playing soccer professionally, and Lukas, who asks the big questions about the universe. With uncanny sensitivity, she captured the little moments that contain the seeds of the future. The winner of the international competition at Hot Docs, Brothers is a deeply beautiful ode to life, the passage of time and childhood dreams. Every frame is imbued with stunning sensitivity. The film is reminiscent of Boyhood by Richard Linklater – for real this time.”

PRODUCTION TEAM:

COUNTRY : NORWAY
YEAR : 2015
V.O : NORWEGIAN
SUBTITLES : ENGLISH
DURATION : 110 MIN
CINEMATOGRAPHY : ASLAUG HOLM
EDITING : HILDE BJØRNSTAD, ASLAUG HOLM, ANDERS TEIGEN
PRODUCTION : FENRIS FILM, TORE BUVARP
SOUND DESIGN : BENT HOLM, STIG HOLTE, ESPEN RØNNING

Visit The RIDM Festival website for programming and scheduleS.

FILM TRAILER

Cinemania 2016 - Mal de Pierres

 Mal de Pierres  /  From the Land of the Moon
CanadiAn Premiere
CINEMANIA  2016 OPENING FILM
ALSO: FESTIVAL DE CANNES 2016 | COMPÉTITION OFFICIELLE - OFFICIAL COMPETITION 
France | 120 minutes | 2016

The film is an adaptation of a novella Mal di Pietre by a Sardinian author Milena Agus’. It is an intriguing story, a psychological drama, where the mind of the young woman is consumed by a desire of love. It also presents an emotional study of a person undergoing illusions where at times the reality and fantasy merge into twisted perceptions, while building the imaginary story of that which is perceived as being real. 

The actors are superb, and the story is presented with sensitivity and great cinematographic skills. The characters come alive, each, the young woman and her husband of convenience representing a thorough study of the psychological struggle in their marriage. The husband's sensitivity of enduring and persevering with this difficult relationship, leads to unexpected results... 

OFFICIAL SYNOPSES:

“Distinguished director, actress and screenwriter Nicole Garcia brings a grand romantic drama to the big screen. Marion Cotillard gives a blazingly outstanding performance in the starring role of Gabrielle, a passionate but unhappily married woman. Gabrielle is consumed with desire for the dashing André (Louis Garrel), a young French Indochina war veteran, while both undergo a cure in the Alps in the 1950s.

Garcia enhances her adaptation of Sardinian author Milena Agus’ novella Mal di Pietre through Christophe Beaucarne’s gorgeous camera work. Cotillard credits her sensual portrayal of the heroine and her scandalous behaviour to director Garcia’s inspirational wildness and fiery temperament. The unexpected twists and turns of the plotline bring this deliciously enthralling saga to a remarkable conclusion.”

 PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director: NICOLE GARCIA

Cast: MARION COTILLARD, LOUIS GARREL, ALEX BRENDEMÜHL

Producer: Alain Attal

Scriptwriter: Jacques Fieschi, Nicole Garcia

Distributor: STUDIO CANAL, PACIFIC NORTHWEST PICTURES, THE FESTIVAL AGENCY, TVA FILMS

Filmography: Un week-end sur deux (1990), Place Vendôme (1998), L'adversaire (2002), Un beau dimanche (2013)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CINEMANIA FILM FESTIVAL, VISIT THE CINEMANIA WEBSITE.

Watch the Film's Trailer on VIMEO

Cinemania 2016 - DANS LES FORÊTS DE SIBÉRIE

Siberia / DANS LES FORÊTS DE SIBÉRIE

France | 105 min | 2016 

North American Premiere

The film is based on Sylvain Tesson’s the Médicis Prize-winning autobiographical novel. It is a poetic adventure story like no other, with elements of joy, sadness, fear and character strength.

  

This is a story of the search of the self, of connecting to the very core of one's being by getting away from the hustle and bustle of the modern life in general, and particularly from the big city's stresses and turmoil; getting away when one starts feeling like a pawn in somebody else's game and begins loosing a perspective who one really is, and what the meaning of one's life really is. This is not unlike what ancient monks used to do to go and live in far away caves all by themselves to be able to discover who they are, and to reconnect to the spiritual being within they never new existed.

The hero of the film chooses a wooden house on the desolate shore of the lake Baikal in Siberia. He just wants to be totally alone, to feel freedom, and the greatness of the surrounding nature.

And then he discovers that he is not alone in his ideally secluded world when he is saved mysteriously, frozen and unconscious, from his sure death. What follows is an amazing story of two lonely people, two outcasts, finding the true bond unlike any other... 

I highly recommend this film. It has amazing poetic qualities, great cinematographic angles and shots of stunning natural vistas. It also has elements of danger and suspense, and a deep sense of the core human values, friendship, and male bonding and camaraderie.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSES

“Teddy (brilliantly played by Raphaël Personnaz), feels liberated in his lonely hut on the shores of frozen Lake Baikal in Russia, a five-day trek from the nearest village. The lake is the deepest in the world. There are no roads, no food or drink other than vodka and the fish he catches in the lake. One night, lost in a blizzard, Teddy is saved by Aleksei, a man on the run who has been hiding out in the surrounding Siberian forests. A bonding, a friendship of sorts, develops between the two disparate men."

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director: SAFY NEBBOU

Cast: RAPHAËL PERSONNAZ, EVGENIY SIDIKHIN

Producer: Philip Boëffard

Scriptwriter: Safy Nebbou, David Oelhoffen

DistributorL AXIA FILMS

Filmography: Le cou de la girafe (2003), L’empreinte de l’ange (2008), L’autre Dumas (2009) 

RAPHAËL PERSONNAZ

is a prolific and talented actor who has already appeared in over 50 films since 1988 – most notable among his recent starring or co-starring roles in films screened at CINEMANIA have been THE GATE, THE NEW GIRLFRIEND, L’AFFAIRE SK1, FANNY, MARIUS, TROIS MONDES, and of course the memorable QUAI D’ORSAY by Bertrand Tavernier. Raphaël Personnaz was born in Paris, his father an interior designer and his mother a translator. He studied at the Conservatoire du 20e arrondissement de Paris and quickly became much in demand in the television world. Active in film since the early 2000s, he won the Patrick Dewaere Award in 2013 and the Lumières Award for Most Promising Actor in 2014. Raphaël is personnaly presenting the film SIBERIA at CINEMANIA 2016.

Watch the Film's Trailer on VIMEO

https://vimeo.com/182907096

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CINEMANIA FILM FESTIVAL, VISIT THE CINEMANIA WEBSITE.

Cinemania 2016 - Le Fils de Jean

Le Fils de Jean / A Kid
Quebec - France / 98 minutes / 2016 / Language: French

North American Premier

The director Philippe Lioret (WELCOME) was inspired by Jean-Paul Dubois’s novel SI CE LIVRE POUVAIT ME RAPPROCHER DE TOI to create this film. Veteran Québec actor Gabriel Arcand adds prestige to the film, and other French and Québécois actors are excellent.

It is an intriguing story that keeps the audience's interest. Its main themes of love and infidelity, fatherhood, and searching for one' s family identity, trying to discover the father and siblings one never knew, weave an intriguing tale that gets fully unravelled, in the same way as in a good detective story, only at the very end of the film.

This was the 2016 ANGOULÊME FRANCOPHONE FILM FESTIVAL closing film.

 OFFICIAL SYNOPSES:

“At 33, Mathieu, (Pierre Deladonchamps), still has no idea who his real father is. One morning, a surprising phone call reveals that his dad was a Canadian and that, sadly, he has just passed away. Mathieu also discovers that he has two stepbrothers. He decides to attend the funeral and meet his siblings, but once in Montreal, he realises that no one was ever made aware of his existence. What’s more, no one wants to get to know him.” 

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director: PHILIPPE LIORET

Cast: PIERRE DELADONCHAMPS, GABRIEL ARCAND, MARIE-THÉRÈSE FORTIN, PATRICK HIVON

Producer: Pierre Even, Marielle Duigou, Philippe Lioret, Marie-Claude Poulin

Scriptwriter: Nathalie Carter, Philippe Lioret

Distributor: LE PACTE, LES FILMS SÉVILLE

Filmography: Mademoiselle (2000), Je vais bien ne t'en fais pas (2006), Welcome (2010)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CINEMANIA FILM FESTIVAL, VISIT THE CINEMANIA WEBSITE.

Watch Film's Trailer on VIMEO