"Cinéma Québécois"
4 of the Best Films of the last 4 decades

Monthly Screening

Sunday, 30 January 2011 at 6:00 PM:

"Maelström" (2000)

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Country: Canada
Language: French, English, Norwegian (with English subtitle)

Location: Room 323, VA - Visual Arts Building, Concordia University, 1395 René Lévesque West, (René Lévesque + crescent) Montreal, QC, Metro: Guy Concordia or Lucien L'Allier)

Dear Cinephiles / Colleagues / Friends,

This upcoming Sunday, our last film from "Cinéma québécois, 4 of the best movies of 4 decades" is "Maelström" (2000) by Denis Villeneuve, who has recently nominated for the 2011 Academy Awards (the Oscar) for directing the Best Foreign Film, "Incendies"(2010).

"Maelström" has won several international awards, including FIPRESCI Prize at Berlin Film Festival, Best Artistic Contribution (An...dré Turpin
For the cinematography) + Best Canadian Film at "Montreal World Film Festival" (FFM), and Best Canadian Feature Film + Special Jury Citation at Toronto Film Festival (tiff)

Synopsis*:

The story is told by a fish (with the voice of Pierre Lebeau). In Quebec during the autumn of 1999, twenty-five-year-old Bibiane Champagne (Marie-Josée Croze), head of three clothing boutiques, is being crushed by the expectations put on her for being the daughter of a celebrity, Flo Fabert. She resorts to drugs and alcohol in an effort to cope, while trying in vain to keep her problems from for example her colleague brother Philippe (Bobby Beshro) and a persistent magazine reporter (Marie-France Lambert). The early scenes of the film show her friends supporting her through her first abortion and her inability to function in her job.

One night, Bibiane fatally wounds a 53-year-old fishmonger, Annstein Karson, in a hit and run accident. Wracked by guilt, and wanting to erase the evidence, she drives her car into the river. She survives, and interprets her survival as a sign that she deserves to recover her life. The fishmonger's son Evian, a diver who was recently inspecting Manic 5, encounters Bibiane by surprise and she quickly poses as his late father's neighbour. Evian falls in love with her, and Bibiane confesses eventually that she is his father's killer. She helps him sort through Annstein's possessions, and in the final scene, Bibiane accompanies Evian to Lofoten to dispose of the ashes.

The history of cinema in Quebec started on June 27, 1896 when the French Louis Minier inaugurated the first movie projection in North America in a Montreal theatre room. However, it would have to wait until the 1960s before a genuine Quebec cinema industry would emerge. Since 1943, approximately 620 feature length films have been produced, or partially produced by the Quebec film industry.

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Hope to see you all

Best

Cafe Cinema Team

* Wikipedia, IMDB

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