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Can television have its own New Hollywood moment?

Much like movies such as Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Rosemary’s Baby and Easy Rider took the late 1960s by storm, a group of writers and directors are hoping that their own independent TV projects can break through and find their way to the small screen amidst the current Hollywood contraction.

After a number of web series such as Issa Rae’s The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl, Broad City and High Maintenance were turned into TV series over the past decade, writers and directors hoped that this would lead to more.

However, the rise of streaming originals saw the business go the other way, with incredibly expensive dramas and comedies, often led by movie stars, taking over. This trend is now waning and a new generation of creators hopes that cost-conscious companies will now pay more attention to their projects instead.

SeriesFest, the television event in Denver, drew dozens of independent creators over the last few days and has now handed out some awards for its pilot competition.

Some 45 pilots from around the world were in competition at the tenth iteration of the festival.

Check back later this week to hear from a number of the creators about their plans to breakthrough with their own independent projects.

Winners included Shazia Javed’s Potluck Ladies and Jesse Toledano’s Broken Toilets, while Anna Camp-starring Neo-Dome, from Mark and Matt Pfeffer scooped the audience award.

Potluck Ladies won the drama awards. It follows Sumaira, Azra, and Ruby, who live in “The Wives Condos” in the suburbs of Toronto with their children, while their husbands work in other countries. They initially meet at potluck lunches, a weekly guilt-free escape from the loneliness of immigrant life. At first glance, they seem to be living perfect lives,...

Vulture Watch What's next on The Guy's route? Has the High Maintenance TV show been cancelled or renewed for a third season on HBO? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of High Maintenance, season three. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you? What's This TV Show About? An HBO TV series from creators Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, High Maintenance stars Sinclair as a nameless Brooklyn weed delivery person, known only as “The Guy.” Each episode of cannabis deliveryman comedy-drama features a new set of customers, from whom “The Guy” gets a different glimpse of Big Apple living. New guest stars in the second season include Danielle Brooks, John Gallagher, Jr., Jessica Hecht, Luzer Twersky,...

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for HBO. While the premium network does not have three-time comedy champ “Veep” eligible for this cycle, they do have drama winner “Game of Thrones” back, returning drama nominee “Westworld”, returning comedy nominee “Silicon Valley” (Thomas Middleditch), the relaunch of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (Larry David) and TV movies “Paterno” (Al Pacino) and “The Tale” (Laura Dern) among their 2018 contenders.

SEE2018 Emmys: Which drama will have the most nominations? ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Westworld,’ ‘Stranger Things’ … [Poll]

Below, the list of HBO lead, supporting and guest submissions for their comedy, drama and limited series, TV movies plus other genres. More names might be added by the network before final Emmy paperwork deadlines. Also note that performers not included on this list may well be submitted by their personal reps.

“Ballers”

Comedy Series

Comedy Actor – Dwayne Johnson

Comedy Supporting Actress – Emayatzy Corinealdi,...

HBO will keep living the high life. The High Maintenance TV show has been renewed for a third season on HBO. The early renewal comes halfway into the 10-episode second season. Although they put out a press release, Deadline has confirmed the season three renewal. An HBO TV series from creators Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, High Maintenancestars Sinclair as a nameless Brooklyn weed delivery person, known only as “The Guy.” Each episode of cannabis-laced comedy-drama features a new set of customers, from whom “The Guy” gets a different glimpse of Big Apple living. New guest stars in the second season include Danielle Brooks, John Gallagher, Jr., Jessica Hecht, Luzer Twersky, and Kate Lyn Sheil. Abdullah Saeed and Yael Stone return in High Maintenance season two. Read More…...

While season one of the High Maintenance TV show on HBO never reached anything approaching a high, it buzzed along pretty steadily. Now, this cannabis deliveryman comedy-drama is back for a second season. Can it conjure up some Nielsen fu in season two, or will the possibility of another season go up in smoke? Will High Maintenance be cancelled or renewed for season three? Stay tuned. Created and written by married couple Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, High Maintenance stars Sinclair as a nameless Brooklyn weed delivery person, known only as "The Guy." Each episode of the HBO TV series features a new set of customers, from whom "The Guy" gets a different glimpse of Big Apple living. New guest stars in the second season include Danielle Brooks, John Gallagher, Jr., Jessica Hecht, Luzer Twersky, and Kate Lyn Sheil. Abdullah Saeed and Yael...

Jose here. In the sensitive romance, Félix and Meira, Hadas Yaron and Martin Dubreuil, play the title characters, two lovers who bond through their loneliness, but must struggle with their very different backgrounds, and the fact that she’s married to someone else. An insightful look at Montreal’s Hasidic community, the film is peculiar for its restraint and might be one of the most memorable romantic films in recent years. Director Maxime Giroux paints a unique portrait of people seeking connections that go beyond typical “movie love”. I spoke to him about the film’s origins, casting his leading lady, and being in the race for Oscar.

Jose: At the beginning of the year I spoke to Luzer Twersky who told me the film originally was supposed to be a comedy. How did you end up with such a subdued romantic drama instead?

Maxime Giroux:It’s funny, when...

"Felix and Meira " is Canada's Official Submission in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards. Isa: Udi. U.S. Distributor: Oscilloscope Laboratories

United by spatial closeness yet separated by an ocean of cultural distance, the two doomed lovers in Maxime Giroux‘s “Felix and Meira” embody a romance caught between the clutches of strict religious mandates and the refreshing air of freedom. Sumptuously intimate and permeated with seductive melancholy, Giroux film follows a secular French Canadian man and a married Hasidic woman as they find comfort, even if temporary, from the quiet turmoil in their lives.

Read More: Review: 'Felix and Meira' is a Delicate Portrait of a Uniquely Forbidden Romance

Felix (Martin Dubreuil) is no longer a young man, but his life is far from being stable. His lack of interest in following his father’s footsteps has turned him into an outcast in our success-driven society. Bound to exist under the shadow of the Hasidic community’s expectations, Meira’s only respite from her duties as a wife are music and her occasional walks around the neighborhood. Once Felix and Meira (Hadas Yaron) cross paths and their tender desperation to be someone else takes over them, her husband, Shulem (Luzer Twersky), becomes the collateral victim. Is it Shulem’s fault that Meira feels trapped? Or are they both victims of the only lifestyle they’ve ever known? Is Felix offering an escape or destroying a family? It’s in the intricate search for these answers that Giroux finds moments of human truth for all the affected parts in this emotional triangle.

Read More: Whistler Film Festival 2015 Unveils First 18 Films Plus Other Highlights

Giroux is not a Jewish man and knew nothing about this community and their faith prior to the making of the film, but living in a community where the secular and the religious shared space but never connected inspired him to dive into the unknown. Though he was fearful of the risk he was taking, the result is elegantly executed and unassumingly affecting. He proves that melodrama rarely has a place where there is truth.

Here is our conversation with Giroux on understanding the Hasidic community he only knew from afar before, on the identity Quebecois people, and why he enjoys making films about things he is against.

Aguilar: Both Felix and Meira's world's coexist without ever touching each other. What prompted you to delve into these parallel lifestyles, in particular that of the Hasidic community, which is foreign to most of us?

Maxime Giroux: I have to say I was a little like Felix, the character. I was a bit naïve about the Hasidic community. I didn’t know anything about it and I was living, like him, in the same neighborhood as the Hasidic people. I don’t know why, but for some reason I wasn’t really interested in them. My community and their community live together, but we don’t talk to them and they don’t talk to us. At one point I was searching for an idea to make a movie. I was outside this cafe everyday and they would walk by in front of me. I talked to my co-writer Alexandre Laferrière and said, “Why don’t we make a film about this community? We don’t know anything about them. We should do research and try to learn more about them. We should try to be in contact with them.”

It was as simple as that. The reason why I made this movie was to get to know them a little bit more. I was naïve because I didn’t know it would be so complex to write a movie about them. The movie is simple in a way. It’s a simple love story or a normal love story, but it was tough to write it because there were things we couldn’t say and there were other things we could say but only in a certain way. We had to be careful. Our goal was to say a lot of things about this community but when we wrote it, I realized that it was too much and that we couldn’t show it all in the movie. It was really difficult. It took like two and a half years to write the script, to rewrite it, and to figure it all out.

What sort of research did you do or what kind of interaction did you have with this community in order to portray them accurately or in an honest manner? You are not part of the community, so in a sense, like Felix, you were an outsider looking at them from afar.

Maxime Giroux: That was the main complexity of making the film. Alex was more into the books. He was reading books about the Hassidic community and Judaism. We are not Jewish, so we were starting to learn from the beginning. We knew nothing. We started to write the script and while he was more into the books, I was more on the field. I was riding my bicycle, walking the neighborhood, going into synagogues and community centers, and talking to them. I discovered that every time I started to talk about how I was going to make a movie about their community they stop talking about the subject of the film. They said, “No, you can’t make a movie about that. Forget about it.” Some people among them were curious and asked me, “What’s your story about?” I would say, “It’s a love story between a French Canadian man and a Hasidic woman. ” They would say, “That’s impossible.” I would asked them, “Why do you say it’s impossible I’ve heard stories?” They would always reply, “No, it’s impossible.” At one point I thought, “Oh my God, it’s going to be impossible for me to make this movie because I need some of these people to help me make it. I can’t do it myself. I don’t know this community.” The only way for me to make the movie was to talk to people who have left the Hasidic community.

How difficult was it to find them and how willing were they to help you tell this story?

Maxime Giroux: I found Luzer, who plays Meira’s husband Shulem, on the Internet. I also found other ex-Hasidic people who lived in New York. I went there to talk to a lot of people who had left the community and all of them told me to go see Luzer. I already knew that I wanted to meet him because I thought he was the best prospect for the role, but everybody in New York confirm it and said, “You should go see this guy, he is amazing and he wants to act in movies.” I met him and he was such a character in real life and then I decided to work with him. He helped us translate the script into Yiddish. It was super important for me to make the film in Yiddish. He also helped us be accurate in terms of the set decorations, the props, and the costumes. He really helped us. Without him it would have been impossible to make the movie.

In the film there are also four other ex-members of the Hasidic community. All of them really helped me. A few months before making the film I thought, “I’m not going to make this film. It’s impossible. I don’t have the key to make this film even if I have the script,” but when I met these people they really helped us. That’s why I think that the ex-Hasidic people who saw the film really liked it because they feel it’s accurate. Just yesterday a guy from the U.K, an ex-member of the community, wrote to me because the film played in London a few days ago. He saw it and said, “Oh my God. It’s like my life.”

When you talked to them what were some of the reasons they gave you for leaving the Hasidic community?

Maxime Giroux: There are a lot of reasons. Just like in every community bad things happen. For example, I heard stories that in Brooklyn there have been cases of boys being sexually abused by adults in the community. Some people want to leave the community because of that. Others just don’t accept this way of living and others just don’t believe in religion. They were born into it but then at 8 or 9-years-old they start asking questions and by 14 they want to quit. There are a lot of different reasons depending on the person.

In your film Meira wants to leave because she wants freedom and she is loves, or at least is interested in Felix. Tell me about writing this beautifully complex character. She a woman living a double life.

Maxime Giroux: For me the main thing is that she wants freedom. We discovered that when you are a Hasidic woman you are first a child and then at 12-years-old instantly you become a woman. At 12-years-old they tell you, “Ok, now you have to learn to be a woman in order to become a mother.” They don’t have teenage years. For me, Meira wants to have those teenage years. She never had them but she wants to live them. She wants that freedom when you have when are teenager and you start to listen to music and to define yourself with art. She wants those years where you find a path for yourself. I think she wants freedom. Is she really in love with Felix? He is there and she is perfect for him. I think love in life is like that most of the time. We fall in love with someone that’s at the same place and the same moment of his or her life. You need that person so you can grow for a certain period of time. Sometimes this growth is for 10, 20 or 30 years, and sometimes it’s only for a few months. So is she really in love with him? Maybe.

The ending is also very ambiguous. It doesn’t give us a straight answer or a perfectly wrapped happy ending. There is uncertainty in both of their faces.

Maxime Giroux: Yes, it was very important for a lot of reasons. Even us, in our society, when we leave someone, like if you have two children and a wife or a husband, we are not sure about doing it. After a few months you might think, “Did I do the right thing? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe my life with my wife and children was wonderful but I fucked it up." There was also the fact that when Hassidic people leave the community they don’t have family anymore, they don’t have friends anymore, they don’t have education anymore.

Are they sort of like the stories we hear about people who leave Scientology or cults?

Maxime Giroux: I don’t know much about scientology, but at least some of those people have something before that and they have an education. Hasidic people don’t have an education, some of them barely speak English. When they leave their community they arrive in this society like if they were an immigrant from another country without a job, without money, without friends, and without family. They have nothing. There is a high suicide rate among them because you can’t quit religion in one day. That’s why the ending of the film is like that. Religion was so strong for 20-something years in Meira's life, so when you try to quit everything you feel lost and you feel alone even if there is someone there. She doesn’t really know Felix and he doesn’t know her. It’s going to be a new life for him too. He will have to take care of her and of a child that he doesn’t know. In turn, Meira's daughter will never see her father again, even if he was a good guy and love both of them. It was impossible for me to write a happy ending.

Through small details we see that when Meira is with Felix, outside of her real life her self-image change. The beauty that she’s been hiding comes out and there is a certain glow about her. She rediscovers herself when she is outside of her religious world.

Maxime Giroux: Yes. Something like this happened to me. I was with a woman for years. She was always a beautiful woman, but when she left me everyone was telling her, “You look great!” It's not that I was a bad guy to her, but we were not happy together at the end of the relationship. Once someone leaves a relationship where he or she feels trapped, there is like a new light about that person. That’s what freedom gives you. Hadas Yaron was perfect for this role. She doesn’t have to say anything. It’s all in her eyes and the way she moves. When she puts jeans on for the first time it’s an incredible moment.

Those moments, which we take for granted and consider mundane, are revelatory experiences for her.

Maxime Giroux: When we wrote the scene with the jeans we didn’t really know what it meant. We wrote it thinking, “Probably for her, since she has never had the chance to wear pants in her life, this will mean something.” Jeans are a symbol of freedom. In the 1950s young people would wear casual jeans as a “fuck you” to their parents. Still today they represent something casual and free. For most Hasidic people, men or women, the first time they put jeans on is one of their most memorable experiences. The first time they wear them is like, “Oh my God, what’s happening!” It’s something they’ve never experienced. Something so tight on their skin. It’s a pretty sensual sensation. We discovered what it meant after we did the film. Hasidic people who watched the film would say, “The scene with the jeans is perfect.” Those are great little details, but without a good actress it would have been impossible.

Tell me about your decision to cast Hadas Yaron. This is a challenging role in terms of the languages spoken and the delicate vulnerability required to play a woman divided between two lives.

Maxime Giroux: As you know she was in film called “Fill the Void,” which is also about the Hasidic community, because of that I didn’t want her in my movie at first. I said, “She already acted in a movie about the Hasidic community, and she doesn’t speak Yiddish or French.” I started doing research here in the U.S. to find an actress. I found a few Hasidic women but they were two tall for my two actors who are short and thin. I didn't really find someone that was good. Then my two producers, who are also Xavier Dolan's producers, without my permission, asked her to audition. I saw the video in my computer and she was speaking French and 15 seconds after I thought, "That's Meira. That's totally her." She is very different from her role in "Fill the Void" where she is more reserved. I said, "Yes she is Meira but she needs to learn Yiddish and French," and she did. She was really good.

Speaking about language, although there is dialogue in the film, this is a very quiet story. Silences and gazes are really powerful between the protagonists.

Maxime Giroux: I think that really represents who I am. Even if I talk a lot with you right now, I'm not a really intellectual person. I'm more introspective. My world is more inside of me. I think this comes from my culture, from the Quebecois culture. We are really instinctive people. We don’t talk much. We are not like French people from France who talk and talk and who are really intellectual when they speak. I think this is one of the reasons why my characters not talk a lot. It’s more about little actions and little details. That’s because of who I am. In a way I see myself in Meira too, even if I didn’t live that life. When I was young I was a little bit like her in way. I was trying to get out of the community I grew up in, which was uneducated and where there was no art. Even if I loved those people I wanted to have more than. I see myself in Meira maybe more than in Felix. I think Felix is more like my co-writer.

Felix is going through his own problems after his father's death. He is a mess. He acts like a young man who hasn’t figured himself out. I feel that's what makes him connect with Meira, the fact that he is also, despite his age, still discovering who he wants to be.

Maxime Giroux: He represents a lot of people I know, but I also think he represents my society, the French Canadian society, which is getting older. We are a new country like the U.S. We are a young country unlike France or Germany. In those terms French-Canadian society is really like a teenager in a way. We are a little bit lost. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s we decided to remove everything religious. Before that we were a very religious society, but not anymore. We lost our sense of family and community. I think in that sense Felix really represents my community. These are two communities that are living together. One is really about community and family values and the other one is like, “I don’t give a shit about my father, mother or my neighbor.” It’s a bit like in America too. We care about ourselves: the individual. It was really important for us two have these two communities. He is lost in this community because we have to perform. To be a good citizen in our society you need to be successful and make money, and he doesn’t want to do that. His father did that and he was not happy. Felix is more like, “I don’t give a shit about being that.” He doesn’t want to be part of the system and she is not part of the system either.

Does he love Meira?

Maxime Giroux: I think he loves her more than she loves him, but she loves him too in a way too.

Do you think this sense of isolation in your film also comes from the idea that Quebec and French Canadians are an island within Canada?

Maxime Giroux: Yes. Right now we are a little bit lost in terms of who we are. In the 70s and 80s we were like, “Yes, we are French-Canadian! Quebecois!" We were proud of it. Now we are more like, “Yes, we are French-Canadian but at the same we want to make money and we want the same things as other Canadians. We don’t give a shit about who are. We just want to make money. “

Something that really makes the film emotionally poignant is that you don’t make Shulem, Meira’s husband, a villain. He is a man who loves his wife and child but who has chosen to live by the parameters of his faith.

Maxime Giroux: That was incredibly important. I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in religion, but at the same time the goal of the film was to try to understand people who need religion. I didn’t understand them before making this movie. There are so many people who believe in and who need religion. It was important for me to represent them, which is why Meira's husband is very important. We had to see his humanity, not only the religion behind him but also the human. Most humans on this planet are good people. Most of them. I don’t have a number, but everywhere I've traveled most people are good. When you spend time with people you see most of them are good. Society or religion sometimes makes them bad.

In life, I hate police. In Montreal whenever there is a student protest I’m always on the student’s side, not the police. But I know that there are good people in the police force. That’s why I want to make a movie about police at some point, because I don’t like them and I want to like them a little bit more. I want to say to myself at the end of the journey, “You were wrong. There are some fucking good people in the police.”

Is there a reason why you don’t like police?

Maxime Giroux: I don’t like people with that kind of power. I feel like they are often on a power trip. Not all of them, but in my head I generalize them, just like I did with religion. After making “Felix and Meira” I understood that some people need religion and others simply don’t.

It’s very interesting and admirable that you make films about things you don’t understand in order to understand them better.

Maxime Giroux: Not only that I don’t understand, but that at the beginning of the process I’m against. I know that at the end I’ll change my ideas and that's the reason why I’m making a film on the subject. I want to understand those people and I want to prove to myself that humans and life are more complex and more beautiful than I thought.

Shulem is just doing what his religion mandates. It's definitely his choice, but we know that he doesn't have may options.

Maxime Giroux: He is also a victim. It was important for me to show that in the movie even if it’s subtle. Religion can be good, but in this case the problem is that if you don’t act like you are supposed to in that community people will slap your hand. They tell Meira, “You have to be like this. You have to have children and you have to take care of your children.” That’s the bad thing about this religion, and I wanted to show that. This guy is a victim of that because if the community would give women more space and freedom, he would still be with her. He would still be the father of that child and the husband to that woman.

Regarding the film's cinematography, what kind of references or specific styles did you discuss with your Dp? There is a classic, almost tender quality to the images.

Maxime Giroux: I've worked with Sara Mishara, the director of photography, before. I started working with her in university. We don’t have to talk a lot, but the few things we said to ourselves before starting the movie was that we wanted it to look a little bit like the immigrant movies of the 70s. Not “The Godfather” but all those movies about immigrants that took place in Brooklyn. For me Meira is an immigrant living in North America in a sense. We wanted the 70ish look or Gordon Willis-ish. I had the chance to visit some Hasidic households in Brooklyn and Montreal and all of the colors felt like if I was in the 70s. The color palette was really toned down and there were not bright colors. There might be bright colors sometimes in their clothing but not in the house. We decided to get some lenses that are not very good to avoid having a perfectly sharp image. We decided to make a very simple movie in terms of how we were going to shoot it and let the characters talk. We weren’t trying to do too much. We wanted to be humble like the characters and the subject. At the same we didn’t have a big budget, which I think was good for us because Sara didn’t really have the chance to light the scenes so we were playing with the sun and the available light. I think it gives the film a special quality.

The scenes in New York City, particularly those in Time Square, are incredibly beautiful and intimate. You found a very intimate moment between these two people in a crowded place full of lights.

Maxime Giroux: I thought the scene we shot in Time Square could turn out to be really cheesy, but it didn't. We didn’t have a lot of references for that scene, but I found a screen test that Natalie Wood and James Dean did for a movie. In that test they were doing what Felix and Meira do in the film. I don't know why, but I just did the same scene but in Time Square. I decided not to actually show Time Square but let the lights fall on them. We are in their bubble. It's funny because we had the camera but no lights, nobody saw or noticed us shooting there. The camera wasn't too big or high and there were so many people there that nobody thought we were shooting a movie. You can feel it in the scene, that they are in their bubble and the lights are just falling on them. For Meira, the character, this is special. Most Hasidic people in New York or Brooklyn have never gone to Time Square. They don't know what's there. For her is like, "Wow! There is also things like this out in the world," when for us it might like, "It's only Time Square." I think you can feel that for her it's not only Time Square, it's something more. It's something open, a big world has opened for her. I really like that scene and the music on it too.

Now that you mention music, that's one of the things Meira enjoys the most and that is also prohibited. She enjoys these classic pop songs but is not allowed to listen to them.

Maxime Giroux: Yes. She can't listen to that kind of music. Like I said, for me, and I think also for most people, music defines you or shapes you when you are young, especially when you are on your teens. That's why people still listen to U2 at 40-years-old, because when they discovered who they were that music was there. At 40-years-old you still the same person, you'll probably stay the same person all your life, and you still listen to U2. I don't understand that but that's how it is. She defined herself and found herself with this music, which is music by Black American singers from a particular time period. They were probably not slaves, but their mothers were slaves, they might feel like they are also slaves in a different way and they decide to take the fucking guitar and play music in a rebellious way.

Why did you decide to include that particular clip of this Black woman playing the guitar? It's also placed mostly without context within the narrative, a bold decision on your part because it break the cinematic grammar we are used to.

Maxime Giroux: That's the reason. For me this woman took this guitar in a man's world and said, "Fuck you! I'm gonna play the guitar and I'm gonna do whatever I want." That's what Meira wants, to do whatever she wants. At the beginning I was not supposed to put it in the movie but I decided to bring my computer on the set and I said to my Dp, Sara, "Can you film this clip on YouTube?" I started the clip and she started to shoot. Then the entire crew gathered around the computer saying, "Oh my God, what's that? It's so great" I knew it was great, and everyone was amazed by this woman, so I said, "I have to put this in the movie." I didn't know where, but during the editing process I needed a transition. I placed somewhere where you feel like something happened at that moment even if you don't see it. I thought, "Ok, I'm not supposed to do that as a filmmaker. It's a transgression, but I don't give shit. I just love this scene. I'm going to put it in and I know that some people will ask me why and I understand, but most people will like it. They will enjoy watching this big black woman emancipate herself by taking this guitar." Is the same idea during the scene at the Hispanic bar. This woman is dancing and she says to Meira, "Come dance with us." It was important for me that some women embraced Meira.

"Felix and Meira" is a great film, but it's a small. Did the positive reactions around the world surprise you? It did very well in the U.S. for a film its size.

Maxime Giroux: For sure. You are always surprised when you have success. It's not a huge success, but is still a success. The film cost nearly half a million dollars, so we were very surprised. At the same time I knew that the subject was interesting. Every time someone asked me, "What's your next movie?" I would say, "We'll it's a love story between a French Canadian man and a Hasidic woman who is married and has a daughter." Everyone was like, "Oh that's interesting." I knew that before shooting the movie but I was really afraid. I'm not Jewish, and it's difficult to make a movie about this subject. Telefilm Canada gave me money, but the Quebec government didn't give me money. They said, "How can you talk about them? You are not a Jew." I was really afraid and I knew that I had to be careful, but I also knew that people were interested in this story - even if it's a classic story. Also, when you put music like that in the movie you know that people will be easily touched. In cinema you can put a song like that and a plate of fruit on the screen and people will be touched. Let's be honest. Music is the easiest way to manipulate the audience in a movie. The director has to manipulate the audience in a good way, but music is the easiest way to manipulate the audience. You put a David Bowie song and people from that era will be touched because they will remember, "Oh that was the song that I liked when I was 16."

Now that "Felix and Meira" is traveling on its own two feet and is out there in the world, what are you working on next? Another small character study perhaps or something bigger?

Maxime Giroux: My next project will involve music. I was a drummer before and I did a lot of music videos. For my first film I refused to use music because I thought it was too easy. On "Felix and Meira" I said, "Fuck it, I'm doing whatever I want. I'm doing it for me." But the next one is about a female singer who is not very famous but everywhere around the world some people know about her. Sort of like Grimes, she can walk down the street and most people wont recognize her, but everywhere in the world some people do know her. The character is French Canadian but she sings in English. She has some money problems and to solve this problems she is going to do a concert in China with a cover band at a hotel. However, the real reason why she is doing it is to do some industrial spying in China

"Felix and Meira" is now available on DVD and on digital platforms.

“Hasidic people don’t really understand the idea of love,” said Luzer Twersky, 30, who left his Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn at 22 to become an actor in Hollywood. “They don’t get it. You’re 18, you have eight or nine kids by 35, you have grandkids, then you die.” In director Maxime Giroux’s Canadian foreign-language Oscar submission “Felix and Meira,” which won Best Canadian feature at Toronto 2014, Twersky plays a mournful Hasidic husband in Montreal who begins to get — and also to prove — what love means when his beautiful wife, Meira (Hadras Yaron), falls in love with...

Telefilm Canada announced on Friday afternoon that Maxime Giroux’s film will fly the flag as the country’s foreign-language Academy Award submission.

Félix et Meira premiered at Toronto 2014 and tells of the improbable love affair between a Francophone Quebecer and a young Hasidic Jewish mother. Martin Dubreuil and Hadas Yaron star along with Luzer Twersky and Anne-Élizabeth Bossé.

Telefilm Canada was among the film’s funders and Nancy Grant and Sylvain Corbeil of Metafilms served as producers.

“Félix et Meira, a love story about two people from vastly different worlds, has moved Canadian and international audiences,” said Carolle Brabant, executive director of Telefilm Canada, which chairs the pan-Canadian Oscar selection committee.

“Screened at more than 50 festivals around the world, this story with universal themes has also picked up many awards. It’s now in the running for an Oscar nomination, and on behalf of Telefilm Canada, I wish the film’s talented crew the best of...

This new French-Canadian drama explores the relationship between two people from vastly different backgrounds. The title couple are not from different countries, social status, or races. And not religions, either. They were both raised in the Jewish faith, but their cultures truly seem to clash more than mesh. He’s a somewhat lapsed Jew who’s aware of the teachings and traditions, but doesn’t seem to attend services with any frequency. She’s part of a very strict Hasidic household, married to a husband who adheres very strictly to the teachings and traditions, always clothed in his black prayer garments while spending much of his time with the rabbis and scholars at his local synagogue. And they have a young daughter, perhaps 10 to 15 months old. The title lady tries to be the good, quiet wife, but something seems to be missing, something that her new acquaintance exudes, perhaps. The...

Concealed under subtle gestures, comfortable silences, and the mutual reassurance that one’s imperfections are insignificant, lies the foundation for our romanticized idea of love. One that cares little for consequence and that offers relief from the burdens of routine. This is exactly the kind of ferocious emotion director Maxime Giroux presents his characters with in “Felix and Meira,” his alluring portrayal of an improbable relationship between a married Hasidic woman and a secular middle-aged man going through a crisis.

Tales of forbidden romance between people from opposing worlds are evidently commonplace, but here Giroux handles the strong yearning for tangible connection afflicting both parties with utmost sincerity never asking for his protagonists to reveal more or to give more than they can within their strictly defined boundaries.

Taking care of her daughter and being and active and honorable member of the Hasidic community is all that’s expected of Meira (Hadas Yaron), a beautiful young woman who is clearly dissatisfied with the restrictive expectations of her religious existence. Her husband Shulem (Luzer Twersky) is by no means a perfectly devotee, but he strives to please his fellow men by showing he can manage his household and conform to the defined norms. There is affection in their marriage, but it can only be perceived through cracks in the walls of a fortress made of rules and regulations that separates them.

Nearby, Felix (Martin Dubreuil), a perpetually ambitionless bachelor, is dealing with his father’s imminent death and their irreparable detachment. Although members of the same Montreal neighborhood both Meira and Felix carry out parallel lives unaware of one another. They each enjoy drawing silly creatures, and when they meet at a Jewish deli one morning, this seemingly irrelevant coincidence is enough to ignite their interest.

As Giroux crafts opportunities for the lovebirds to develop intimacy, which go from childishly playing ping pong to enjoying some tunes in silence, he doesn’t forget their particular dilemmas and the risks that the mere idea of hanging out represents for Meira. While mostly quiet, she is an intriguing box of tiny secrets that expose her true personality underneath the oppressive façade she must wear. Small demonstrations of rebellion assert Meira’s individuality even if briefly. Listening to music from a record she must keep hidden, playing with noisy mousetraps despite Shulem’s disapproval, and most importantly, deciding over her own body when those around her pressure her to have more children.

With her captivating and powerfully expressive gaze, Yaron gives Meira a balanced air of innocence and subdued defiance. Slowly, as Felix invites her to discover the sounds and sights beyond the opaque environment she knows, Meira falls for him both because of his kind efforts and because he symbolizes freedom. Yet, Giroux’s film is not concerned with denouncing any particular belief or to depict religion as a paralyzing aspect of Meira’s life, instead he advocates for choice by showing there are other people, Shulem included, that are comfortable with what their faith asks of them. Meira is not, and in this culture straying from the flock has severe repercussions.

Similarly, the men in Meira’s life are confronted with their respective predicaments both as individuals and in relation to her. Felix believes his father was disappointed in him and this becomes a torturous thought, while Shulem can’t fathom the idea of losing his family and being seen as a failure. Giroux refrains from vilifying either of them or judging their reactions, because his three subjects suffer from devastating loneliness that can’t be simply rationalized.

In a marvelously touching scene Felix and Shulem discuss their feelings and, while clarifying they are enemies in the battlefield of love, they also agree that their common goal should be Meira’s happiness. Both Dubreuil’s effortlessly charming demeanor and Twersky’s stern, yet caring, performance capture two distinct versions of romantic love that keep Meira at a crossroads.

Enhancing the strong narrative at hand even further, Giroux makes use of every other storytelling element in a deliberately delicate manner. Even if for some the lack of lengthy dialogue or heavy-handed exposition might appear problematic, these qualities allow the filmmaker to rely, as he should, on the audiovisual aspects. Sara Mishara’s cinematography is brilliantly elegant throughout, but when the couple meets in New York, the shiny lights and crowded streets add a gorgeous exuberance. Colored by neon hues Felix and Meira look even more like two foreigners to the city, to love, and to each other, just trying to make sense of it all.

As an interesting extra touch, Giroux takes the time to momentarily drives away from the central conflict and focuses on singular occurrences like a conversation between a couple of bystanders or to drift into a musical sequence that is equally vibrant and timeless. Music is indeed a fantastic part of “Felix and Meira” whether is classic ballads or themes composed by Olivier Alary.

Unassumingly, Giroux transcended the shackles of familiarity and created a film that is not revolutionary, but definitely remarkable. To love out of choice or to love out of duty is what Meira must decide, but as we see in the film’s perfectly ambiguous conclusion, neither option is faultless. “Felix and Meira” is an exquisite portrait of a possibly futile love that exudes seductive melancholia and delightful nuances.

Now playing in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal and Laemmle's Town Center, and in NYC at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas...

Geographically, the title characters of Maxime Giroux’s quiet Canadian drama “Felix and Meira” live in the same neighborhood of Montreal, but their lives couldn’t appear more different. Meira (Hadras Yaron, “Fill the Void”) is a Hasidic Jewish wife and mother, who feels cloistered within the community and its rules. She has a young daughter, Elisheva, but she defies her prescribed role to procreate by taking birth control pills, which she hides from her husband, Shulem (Luzer Twersky). He declares his affection for her, but chastises her when she isn’t the ideal wife and mother, and warns her of the shame she’ll bring to him and their daughter. Read More: Exclusive Trailer And Poster For Tiff Award-Winning 'Felix And Meira' Felix (Martin Dubreuil) struggles after the death of his father, with only his sister as a confidante. Both Felix and Meira feel isolated and alone, and when...

Following the Toronto International Film Festival (Contemporary World Cinema competition) world premiere (it would quickly move onto an Official Selection at the San Sebastian Film Festival) writer-director Maxime Giroux and trio of featured actors Hadas Yaron, Martin Dubreuil and Luzer Twersky took part in a jovial, post-screening Q&A for Félix et Meira. I called this drama romance an “improbability of the hypothetically tinged union arguably makes this akin to science fiction matter, the apolitical, unified titular observational drama moves beyond the losing religious faith template with its moving, lingering anti-loquacious stance“. The multi-language film would quickly get snapped up for distribution via Oscilloscope (lands theatrically today, 04.17) and it swooned the Toronto audience on hand. In the Q&A we gain insight into the production, and the anecdotal complexities and risks involved in shooting exterior shots with actors in character.

Read More: Watch: Eyes (and Windows) are Wide Open in New 'Félix and Meira' Clip The romantic journey of two characters from opposing worlds drawn together stretches back to Shakespeare, but "Felix and Meira" makes no grand gestures about the timelessness of its tale. Instead, Quebecois writer-director Maxime Giroux gentle drama about a young Orthodox Jewish housewife and the secular man who draws her away from her religious life treats its subject matter with a refreshingly humble air. While there's little doubt early on that crestfallen Meira (Hadas Yaron) would do well to leave her domineering Hasidic husband (Luzer Twersky) and embrace the advances of the similarly alienated bachelor Félix (Martin Dubreuil), Giroux's slow-burn narrative — co-written by Alexandre Lafferiere — takes nothing for granted, least of all the prospects of a happy ending. Instead, Girgoux gives weight to the possibilities of kindred spirits from different worlds bonding over...

Music is used sparingly in Felix and Meira, and each song is key to expressing unspoken emotion. After Shulem (Luzer Twersky) leaves his modest home in Montreal's Hasidic enclave to attend prayers, his wife, Meira (Hadas Yaron), puts on a forbidden record, "After Laughter (Comes Tears)," letting Wendy Rene's plaintive voice convey her own longing. But it's Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat" that captures the exquisite melancholy of Maxime Giroux's romantic drama, where loss and resignation are as important as desire and freedom. When a dissatisfied Meira meets the aimless Felix (Martin Dubreuil), they have little in common aside from a love of drawing and a religion they view quite differently. (His version of...

The awards season is winding down with the Oscars coming up this weekend, but don't think that you'll have to wait until next fall to see a new batch of prize-winning acclaimed films. You may have to look beyond the tentpole titles, but there are plenty of gems to be discovered in the months ahead, and "Felix and Meira" is a picture you'll want to keep on your radar. Today, we'll help you out with the exclusive trailer and poster for the movie. Co-written and directed by Maxime Giroux ("Jo Pour Jonathan," "Demain"), and starring Hadas Yaron, Martin Dubreuil, Luzer Twersky, and Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, the story is set in Montreal's Mile End neighborhood, and tracks the unlikely romance that blossoms between Meira, a Hasidic housewife and mother, and Felix, a secular man reeling from the death of his estranged father. Their chance meeting in a bakery sparks a friendship that becomes something more,...

FÉLIX Et Meira Oscilloscope Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: B+ Director: Maxime Giroux Screenwriter: Maxime Giroux, Alexandre Lafferière Cast: Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron, Luzer Twersky Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 1/22/15 Opens: 2015 Tbd We secular folks without parohocial ties should try not to be smug. There is much to be said for belonging to a group based on religion such as Haredis (Hasidim) or Amish, or what-have-you. There is a feeling of togetherness that’s difficult to find among more urban, cosmopolitan people. There is the paradoxical freedom in knowing exactly what is expected of you, what should constitute your life. However some people [ Read More ]

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On the eve of the third night of Pesach (or is it the second? or fourth? or is Passover already over and we're onto that holiday where you carry the lemon on a stick now?), it is time for all Jews across America to solemnly reflect on the memories of our ancestors, whose traditions we will pass onto our own children for generations to come. In this spirit, some reality TV producer will pay homage to our rich heritage by showing ex-ultra Orthodox Jews doing body shots off each other whilst fist-pumping to a dub-step remix of "Dayeinu." Shunned — which Gothamist refers to as "The Real Ex-Hasidim of New York" — follows three hip young Hasids who have turned their backs on Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox community. The series will follow the three cast members — twenty-six-year old fashionista/Star Wars enthusiast Luzer Twersky, twenty-four-year old Shauli [...]...