CELEBRATING QUEBEC CINEMA
RVCQ to showcase hundreds of films
There’s no better place to tap the pulse of our province’s film scene than the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois (RVCQ). The festival’s 34th edition lifts off Thursday with auteur Denis Côté’s Boris sans Béatrice (by invitation) and will showcase 330 films over the next 10 days, including 125 premières, 46 features, 236 shorts and several interactive works.
The event wraps on Feb. 27 with Chloé Leriche’s debut feature, the aboriginal drama Avant les rues, which is having its world première this weekend as part of the Berlin Film Festival.
Virtually every film that opened in Quebec over the last 12 months will be shown over the next week and a half. Among the heavyhitters are: François Bouvier’s adaptation of Michel Rabagliati’s beloved comic book Paul à Québec (Friday, 6 p.m., QL); Philippe Falardeau’s political comedy Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre (Friday, 8:30 p.m., QL); cinematographer André Turpin’s experimental Endorphine (Saturday, 6:15 p.m., QL); Bernard Émond’s existential aging essay Journal d’un vieil homme (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., CQ); family-friendly La guerre des tuques 3D (Sunday, 10:30 a.m., CQ); Léa Pool’s quiet revolution-revisiting La passion d’Augustine (Monday, 6 p.m. and Feb. 25, 8:45 p.m., QL); Charles Binamé’s Elephant Song, starring Xavier Dolan (Monday, 6:15 p.m., QL); and Harold Crooks’s corporate tax-evasion documentary The Price We Pay (Feb. 27, 8 p.m., CQ); and Helene Klodawski’s NFB documentary Grassroots in Dry Lands (Semeurs d’espoir en terres arides), filmed in Palestine, Israel and Jordan (Feb. 24, 8:30 p.m., QL).
There is no shortage of movies by the new wave of Quebec directors, including: François Péloquin’s understated rural drama Le bruit des arbres (Friday, 8:45 p.m., QL); Winnipeg transplant Ryan McKenna’s deadpan comedy Le coeur de Madame Sabali (Friday, 9:30 p.m., PJJA); Anne Émond’s tough family saga Les êtres chers (Sunday, 8:30 p.m. and Monday, 8:45 p.m., QL); Laura Rietveld’s bobsledder documentary Okpik’s Dream (Sunday, 6 p.m., CQ); Philippe Lesage’s acclaimed Les démons (Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. and Feb. 27, 8:30 p.m., QL); Maxime Giroux’s intercultural Mile End love story Félix & Meira (Wednesday, 6 p.m. and Feb. 26, 8:45 p.m., QL); Guy Édoin’s Ville-Marie, starring a certain Monica Bellucci (Feb. 25, 6 p.m., QL); Sophie Deraspe’s Les loups, starring Évelyne Brochu (Feb. 26, 6 p.m., QL); Rafaël Ouellet’s English-language debut Gurov & Anna (Feb. 26, 6:15 p.m., QL); Mia Donovan’s cult documentary Deprogrammed (Feb. 26, 5:30 p.m., PJJA); and Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell and François Simard’s riotous sci-fi splatter send-up Turbo Kid (Feb. 26, 9:30 p.m., PJJA).
The Toronto International Film Festival has long been a big supporter of Quebec cinema, and the festival’s 40th anniversary will be celebrated with the retrospective series TIFF presents, revisiting important Quebec films including: Denys Arcand’s Le déclin de l’empire américain (Monday, 7:30 p.m., Cinémathèque québécoise); Pool’s La femme de l’hôtel (Tuesday, 5:15 p.m., CQ); and Denis Villeneuve’s Maelström (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., CQ).
The RVCQ offers talks and master classes with a variety of film industry types including cinematographer-director Turpin, director Falardeau, actress and festival spokesperson Pascale Bussières and TIFF director Piers Handling; as well as round tables on film education and diversity.