Variety Critics’ Choice 2017 / Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n’ont fait que se creuser un tombeau / Canada 2016
Inspired by the student demonstrations that sparked 2012’s Maple Spring, co-directors Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie apply the language of radical cinema to a tense, mournful and profoundly ambivalent portrait of four far-left activists who commit acts of vandalism and terror against the system.
With its multiple aspect ratios, on-screen quotes, and cutaways to news broadcasts and documentary footage – not to mention a musical overture and interlude – this three-hour Québécois political epic unfurls with a bravado as outsized as its title. Inspired by the student demonstrations that sparked the Maple Spring in 2012, co-directors Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie apply the language of radical cinema to a tense, mournful and profoundly ambivalent portrait of radicalism. Following four far-left activists as they commit acts of vandalism and terror to foment an uprising against the capitalist system, the film channels their passion while insistently questioning their methods and perspective. Politics aside, the dynamics at the film’s heart are practically universal among youth movements, resulting in a bold portrait that pulses with the vitality of four young people who, however flawed or foolhardy, sincerely want to change the world.
Scott Tobias
183 min / Color, DCP
Director Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie
/ Screenplay Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie
/ Dir. of Photography Nicolas Canniccioni
/ Editor Mathieu Denis
/ Art Director Eric Barbeau
/ Producer Hany Ouichou
/ Production Art&Essai
/ Cast Charlotte Aubin, Laurent Bélanger, Emmanuelle Lussier-Martinez, Gabrielle Tremblay
/ Sales Stray Dogs
Mathieu Denis (b. 1977, Montreal) studied film at Université du Québec in Montreal and editing in France. He began as an editor on Simon Lavoie’s film Les déserteurs, and also teamed up with him to write and direct Laurentie. On his own he shot the drama Corbo (2014) about Jean Corbo, a radical 1960s activist within a separatist organisation striving for political independence for the Canadian province of Quebec. Simon Lavoie (b. 1979, Charlevoix, Quebec) studied film at Université du Québec in Montreal. His first feature film was the historical tale Les déserteurs (2008), based on his own screenplay. He then shared in the scripting and direction of Laurentie (2011), which world premiered at KVIFF. The title The Torrent (2012) is a literary adaptation, as is his latest film La petite fille qui amait trop les allumettes(2017).
Stray Dogs
6 rue du 8 mai 1945, 75010, Paris
France
Phone: +33 (0)1 42 41 31 80
E-mail: [email protected]
Simon Lavoie
Film Director
Lison Hervé
Festival Organizer
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