Quebec Film Festival
March 23 - April 4, 2009 at Duke University
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March 23 - Familia (Louise Archambault, 2005)
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March 25 - Maman est chez le coiffeur (Léa Pool, 2008)
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March 30 - Congorama (Philippe Falardeau, 2006)
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April 1 - C'est pas moi, je le jure! (2008) -- with director Philippe Falardeau!
Sponsored by the Center for Canadian Studies
and the Arts of the Moving Image Program
Films will be screened at 7pm in the Griffith Film Theater
in the Bryan Center on Duke's West Campus,
and are free and open to the general public.
Schedule of Screenings:
Monday March 23:
Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival, this generational saga explores the age-old question of whether women are destined to be like their mothers. Michele, a divorced aerobics instructor with a gambling addiction, loses her job and seeks refuge with a childhood friend, Janine, who lives in a seemingly comfortable middle-class suburban neighborhood. Michele's rebellious teenage daughter, Marguerite, and Janine's shy and reserved daughter, Gabrielle, become friends, leading to unforeseen tensions that force both generations to reassess their values.
Winner of the 2006 Claude Jutra Award (for best feature film by a first-time film director) at Canada's Genie Awards.
Wednesday March 25:
Set in the mid-sixties, Léa Pool's vibrant and beautifully crafted Maman est chez le coiffeur focuses on teenaged Élise, who is about to realize that the adult world is not exactly what she thought or hoped it would be. Her principal instructors are her father, the local doctor, and her mother, a frustrated career woman and part-time journalist. A rift between mother and daughter has been growing for a long time, and when a frustrated Élise is disciplined, she begins meddling, sparking her mother's abrupt and angry departure. While the impact of this absence is disastrous for them all, it is especially devastating for Élise, who is now forced to care for her father and brothers.
Monday March 30:
Blood diamonds, world expos, electric cars, long-lost fathers and emus. Such is the stuff of the unlikely world of surefire crowd-pleaser Congorama. Michel, the Belgian son of a paralyzed writer, husband of a Congolese refugee, and father of a future tennis champion, is an erratic inventor misunderstood by his employer. At age 41, he learns that he was born secretly in a barn in Québec, in the town of
Wednesday April 1:
C'est pas moi, je le jure! (It's Not Me, I Swear!)
(Philippe Falardeau, 2008, 105min, Canada, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)
– Followed by a Q&A with director Philippe Falardeau!
Léon is ten years old, has lots of problems and an overly fertile imagination. Of course, there is Mom and Dad who are always fighting, and those annoying neighbors who get to spend the summer at the beach. And then, there's Léa, the exasperating girl who's always right about everything. In the summer of '68, when Mom decides to leave everything behind to start a new life in
- Winner of a Crystal Bear for "Generation Kplus--Best Feature Film" at the Berlin International Film Festival!
- Nominated for 7 Jutra Awards (Canada's academy awards), including Best Film, Actress, Screenplay, and Cinematography!
PHILIPPE FALARDEAU
b. 1968 in Hull, Québec
Philippe Falardeau is an award-winning screenwriter and director. He studied political science at the University of Ottawa before travelling around the world making twenty short films.
He co-wrote and was assistant director with Jacques Godbout's Le Sort de l'Amérique, after which he directed his own documentary, Pâté chinois. His first feature film, La Moitié gauche du frigo won Best Canadian First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival and a Best Screenplay nomination at the Quebec-based Jutra Awards. His 2006 film, Congorama nearly swept the prestigious Jutra Awards.
Have questions about our schedule? Contact Hank Okazaki at hokazak@duke.edu