Québécois films need help reaching English audiences, say directors
TORONTO — Montreal filmmaker Genevieve Dulude-De Celles’ coming-of-age drama “A Colony” won best picture at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards, has played at international festivals, and will screen in about 20 theatres in Sweden.
But in Canada, its presence outside of its home province has been largely kept to the festival circuit and screenings through special events and tours, including this past weekend’s Quebec On Screen in Toronto.
It’s a pervasive problem for most Québécois films trying to reach English-Canadian audiences, says Dulude-De Celles, who wants to see more focus on distribution and marketing.
“It’s so hard to get our films onscreen because all the theatres already have those screens for American films,” she says. “When you have the chance to meet the audience, they’re kind of surprised ... like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know a Quebecer film could be like that.’ Yes, it can be entertaining. Yes, it’s accessible. But I think we have to do education.”s
Toronto-based distribution company Game Theory Films created Quebec On Screen as part of its efforts to shine a light on films from the province. The event screened Dulude-De Celles’ film as well as Maxime Giroux’s allegorical drama “The Great Darkened Days” and Philippe Lesage’s adolescence-focused “Genesis.”
Such efforts come after a year in which Québécois films dominated the awards circuit and box office in Canada.
At the Canadian Screen Awards in March, the leading film contenders were from Quebec and all of the best-picture nominees were French-language. “A Colony” got three trophies and “The Great Darkened Days” got five.
Meanwhile Quebec director Ricardo Trogi’s comedy-drama “1991” won the Golden Screen Award for being the highestgrossing Canadian film at the box office.
Yet for all their success, many Québécois films aren’t wellknown, says Montreal-based Lesage.
“Our films have a short life also in cinema right now because we are always being pushed out by other films coming, so sometimes the good ol’ mouth-to-ear effect doesn’t have the time to happen at all,” Lesage adds.
Lesage says Quebec filmmakers are fortunate that the province has a strong star system and the government provides sufficient funding. It’s the reason many Quebec filmmakers become acclaimed auteurs, says Dulude-De Celles.
But once a film is finished, there often isn’t much left in the budget for promotion, even in Quebec, they say.
“I think there’s a huge problem with distribution of our own films and Canadian films in general, so maybe we should change strategy — maybe put a little more money into marketing of our own films,” says Lesage.
“It’s very ironic to see that we do a film here, and then we screen it outside and we have the impression that it’s touching people all over the world, in different parts of the continent, and then here nobody hears about what you’re doing.”
Lesage also wants the government be tougher with streaming platforms on “imposing some quotas in terms of Canadian content, so they will be forced to buy films and put them there.”