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Xavier Dolan tied contemporaries Philippe Falardeau and Denis Villeneuve by winning his second Best Feature award at the 17th annual Jutra Awards. Quebec’s answer to the Oscars was a rather suspense-less affair as Mommy claimed nine (plus the top box office award honor) awards winning in all major categories with the exclusion of Best Supporting Actor category win, which would only end up going to Dolan’s other nominated film, Tom at the Farm. Pierre-Yves Cardinal was sublime in his predatory type role and as was the case for several nominees, was hard at work on another project and therefore not on hand for trophyware. Ricardo Trogi’s throwback to awkward teen years tale 1987 did win a trio of awards, but if there were any surprises in the Dolan camp it was the acceptance speeches: Dolan delivered a keynote speech type quality for the last win of the night...

Les trains de la vie

Written by André Mélançon

Directed by André Mélançon

Canada, 2013

Time and space can both be inconsequential when it comes to the unshakable bond between people. The reasons for said bond might be due to the smallest of circumstantial details to the most powerful, life altering events. Local Québec filmmaker André Mélançon found a remarkable example of one such friendship that still holds strong despite that the individuals involved only recently met for the first time in over 60 years. They are the subjects of his most recent film, the documentary Les trains de la vie.

Kees Vanderheyden is a Dutch immigrant to Québec. Having lived in the province since his childhood he has adopted the culture and language just like any other native to the region, yet his early life tells a much different story when he, his siblings and parents had to deal with the...