Quebec movie awarded ‘auteur’ prize at Cannes
CANNES, FRANCE — Le Demantelement, a movie by Quebec director Sebastien Pilote, has won one of the main prizes during critics’ week at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film, which translates as The Dismantling, was awarded the prize Thursday from the society for authors and dramatic composers, beating out six other films.
Pilote said he is “very happy” to win the prestigious Societe des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques prize, calling it “a big bonus, the cherry on the sundae.”
“I wasn’t expecting anything, really,” he said. “For me, the honour is being at Cannes.”
He appreciates being honoured as an “auteur.”
“I consider myself a writer,” he said. “I could have written books. When I make films, I feel a bit like a writer when I write the screenplay but also when I do the editing. I have a feeling of building something.”
Distributor Entertainment One said the film has attracted interest internationally, with deals reached in France, Switzerland, Greece and the Middle East. Winning the award has helped, Pilote said.
“Getting this prize puts even more of a spotlight on the film,” Pilote said. “It now has a life outside the festivals.”
Le Demantelement, Pilote’s second feature film, stars Gabriel Arcand as a man who sells his family farm to help his daughters, who have fallen on hard times.
Pilote has been praised for his first film, Le Vendeur, which screened at the Sundance film festival in 2011.
He said his week at Cannes has so far been “a little crazy” between screenings and interviews. But Pilote says he has enjoyed meeting film fans, saying they have given him a warm welcome at the renowned festival.
“A retired man came to the microphone and told me, ‘I was a boxing referee for 40 years and tonight you won all 12 rounds,’ ” he said of one screening.
Another man said he saw himself in the film’s characters.
“After seeing the film tonight, I decided not to sell my farm,” Pilote says the man told him.