The world premiere of the Canadian film The Fireflies Are Gone launched the competition for the Crystal Globe. Sébastien Pilote has returned to Karlovy Vary with this story about a high-school graduate searching for her identity in a sleepy industrial town. Pilote was here four years ago to present his film The Auction. “I have the reputation of a director of slow films; however, The Fireflies Are Gone is a faster, more accessible and deeper picture. I wanted it to be reminiscent of a pop song,” said the director describing his new film, which is engaging also for its diverse soundtrack.
The name was inspired by a text written by Pier Paolo Pasolini about fascism in Italy in the 1970s, where he used fireflies as a metaphor for flickers of hope. “My film is mainly about love, which is a means of confronting cynicism. The heroine does not like her cynicism and would like to view the world with a bit more innocence,” explained Pilote during the press conference.
Young Léo was played by the talented Karelle Tremblay. “I keep remembering the anger you feel as a teenager when no one understands you,” said the actress explaining how she projected herself into the role. What helps Léo in the end is an encounter with a guitarist, who is played by Pierre-Luc Brillant. “I usually play the bad guys, so this was a challenge for me,” the actor reveals.
Even the director, who shoots all his films north of Montreal, where he lives, projected a bit of himself into the film. He did not intend The Fireflies Are Gone to be primarily a coming-of-age film. “I did not want to talk about today’s teenagers. This is not a naturalistic film. It expresses my own battle with cynicism. And it again contains a father-daughter relationship,” said the father of daughters.
