Tuesday, February 8, 2011

29th Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois announces lineup of films


The Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois unveiled the lineup this morning for their 29th edition of the festival. It takes place from February 16th to the 27th in Montreal. It provides audiences an opportunity to view the latest and best in cinema by Quebec filmmakers. 293 films, 36 special events and professional workshops, film lessons, festive events, and a host of free activities will be offered for 12 days.

The opening night film on Wednesday the 16th will be Stéphane Lafleur's En terrains connus (Famliar Ground). It stars Fanny Mallette and Francis La Haye as dysfunctional brother and sister who see their lives transformed. The closing night film on February 26 will be the English-language The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom by Tara Johns.

This has been an extraordinary year for Quebec Cinema. They accounted for seven of the selections for Canada's Top Ten films of 2010. Incendies by Denis Villeneuve won the award for Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and just won the Public Prize at the Rotterdam Festival.

The festival will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Denys Arcand's classic Le déclin de l'empire américain (The Decline of the American Empire) with a gala screening on Tuesday, February 22. Arcand and the cast will be in attendance.

Another screening to put on your list is Deborah Chow's The High Cost of Living. It was a worthy winner of Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF. She is a talent to watch out for and does a fine job of capturing the true multicultural and multilingual nature of Montreal in her gentle and touching drama.

The full schedule is on their website. Films do not have repeat screenings, so plan accordingly.

I have the pleasure of having a film in the festival, as I'm now a Quebec filmmaker. Notes from the Kuerti Keyboard which I co-directed with Katarina Soukup of Catbird Productions will play at the festival on Friday, February 25, at 9:45pm at the Cinémathèque québécoise (335, boul. De Maisonneuve Est), Salle Claude-Jutra. I hope to see you there.

http://www.rvcq.com/


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