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Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has boarded international rights to “Death Does Not Exist” (“La mort n’existe pas”) which is being showcased in the work-in-progress section at the Annecy Film Festival.

Currently in production, “Death Does Not Exist” is directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière who previously helmed “Archipel” which won the Annecy Contrechamps Jury Award in 2021, and ‘Ville Neuve’ which had its premiere at Venice Days 2018.

“Death Does Not Exist” takes place after young activists fail an armed attack to overthrow figures of the establishment in their sumptuous villa. Helen freezes and abandons her accomplices. Manon, another

member of her group, returns to haunt her. The film’s voice cast includes Zeneb Blanchet, Karelle Tremblay (“The Nature of Love”), Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Barbara Ulrich and Irène Dufour.

“’Death Does Not Exist’ deals with difficult subjects – violence, commitment, profound convictions – in a way that exposes their underlying tensions, outbursts, dead ends,” said Félix Dufour-Laperrière,...

Third quarter theatrical release planned.

Corinth Films, the arthouse distributor that has worked with Nadav Lapid and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, has acquired US rights from WaZabi Films to You Will Remember Me.

Corinth plans a third quarter theatrical release for Éric Tessier’s film, which echoes the themes of The Father starring recent best actor Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins.

Based on the play by François Archambault, You Will Remember Me stars Rémy Girard (The Barbarian Invasions) as Edouard, a public figure and retired history teacher who is slowly losing his memory.

Edouard withdraws from the public eye even though he still has a lot to say.

Festival’s Open Air lineup also includes the world premiere of Eric Tessier’s ‘You Will Remember Me’.

Sarajevo Film Festival has secured the world premieres of Niels Mueller’s Small Town Wisconsin and Eric Tessier’s You Will Remember Me, which will both debut online following the festival’s shift to a virtual event.

Both films will be included in the festival’s pared-back Open Air lineup, which will run online this year despite the name of the strand.

Other titles in the section include Pjer Žalica’s Focus, Grandma, which will receive its world premiere as the opening...

Sales slate includes Cannes Official Selection Nadia, Butterfly, You Will Remember Me.

With a week to go before the Cannes virtual market kicks off, Anick Poirier and Lorne Price’s WaZabi Films has picked up worldwide rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to Australian family drama Moon Rock For Monday.

Writer/director Kurt Martin’s film stars Aaron Jeffery, George Pullar and newcomer Ashlyn Louden-Gamble in the title role of Monday.

Moon Rock For Monday centres on a terminally ill girl and a fugitive who embark on a road trip to visit a moon rock the girl believes will heal her.

Festival’s 31st edition built bridges to China and Southeast Asia.

French director Mikhael Hers’ Amanda was awarded the Tokyo Grand Prix at the close of this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff), while A First Farewell from China’s Lina Wang won best film in the Asian Future competition.

Amanda, about a young man who looks after his niece following his sister’s sudden death, also took the Wowow-sponsored best screenplay award. Danish drama Before The Frost took the Special Jury Prize and best actor for Jesper Christensen. Best director went to Italian filmmaker Edoardo De Angelis for The Vice Of Hope,...

Director Sebastien Pilote’s ongoing study of Quebec lives running out of options continues apace with “The Fireflies Are Gone.” This third feature (his first in five years) is, like its predecessors “The Salesman” and “The Auction,” a neatly observed character portrait in a well-detailed small-town setting. But in contrast to the middle-aged protagonists of his prior films, whose lives were already winding down after decades of toil, the heroine here is just at the start of adulthood. And as she obstinately keeps reminding more responsible types, she has no plans for what she’ll do with the rest of it. This is a satisfying, slightly mournful seriocomedy that’s equal parts cynical, hopeful, and ambivalent. It’s also, in Pilote’s now-established style, writ so small and low-key that it may not travel far beyond the festival circuit and standard Canadian distribution outlets.

First impressions aren’t all that...

AngeloLuis Ortega’s El Angel (2018), an Argentinian biopic of 70s pretty-boy serial killer Carlos Puch, establishes its baseline tone in its first scene, in which Puch (Lorenzo Ferro) plays an LP in a house he has broken into, and Ortega amplifies the song Reservoir Dogs-style as Puch dances under the credits. The film sticks with this energetic, amoral agenda, and manages it pretty well from a craft perspective; along the way it shows a fair amount of intelligence and psychological insight that sometimes coexists awkwardly with its wish to entertain. Puch hooks up with a family of thieves that includes his classmate Ramon and enjoys his introduction to firearms so much that the family is unwittingly dragged along with him into the world of homicide. Puch tends to shoot when surprised or irritated, and afterwards isn’t overly sensitive to consequences: the character retains an odd innocence for a psychopath.

To be painfully frank, when it comes to young actors in coming-of-age movies, the road from breakout performance to any kind of relative success (or even frequent work) is paved with also-rans and stunted potential. That said, however, we can be quietly confident that that won’t be the case for 22-year-old Karelle Tremblay, who is already on industry radars for a number of festival hits and proves once again to be a remarkably fresh and captivating presence in Canadian filmmaker Sébastien Pilote’s The Fireflies Are Gone, a film about a young woman teetering on the verge of adulthood, wanting desperately to get out of her small Québécois town.

If that all sounds a bit familiar it’s because it is, not least due to the fact that Lady Bird is still very fresh in the memory and will no doubt be casting its long shadow over films of this ilk for years.

Line-up includes films from Radu Jude, Ivan Tverdovsky and Ana Katz.

The 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 29 - July 7) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West and Documentary sections.

Scroll down for full line-ups Main competition

The 12-strong main competition will comprise ten world premieres and two international premieres, including ”I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians” from Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, whose 2012 title Everybody In Our Family won best film at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Other films in competition include Ana Katz’s family drama Sueño Florianópolis,...

Shooting underway in Montreal on historical drama features Vincent Perez and French-Canadian rapper Samian.

Anick Poirier and her team will launch sales in Berlin next week on the story that François Girard (The Red Violin) directs from his own screenplay.

Roger Frappier, whose credits include Two Lovers And A Bear and Jesus Of Montreal, produces through his Max Films.

Hochelaga spans 750 years and five stories set on the site of Montreal that link an Iroquoian massacre in 1267, Jacques Cartier’s first voyage in 1535, the purple fever epidemic in 1687, the Patriots uprising in 1837 and brain surgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1944.

Perez and Samian are among an ensemble that includes Naiade Aoun, Raoul Trujillo, Emmanuel Schwartz, David La Haye, Karelle Tremblay, Caroline Dhavernas, Linus Roache, and Sian Phillips.

Seville International senior vice-president of international sales Poirier described the project as “a sweeping, beautiful and unique story that we’re excited to launch in Berlin and bring to audiences...

This weekend New Yorkers will have a change to dive into a selection of the best recent Canadian cinema thanks to a showcase created by Tiff and Telefilm Canada appropriately called "See the North." On April 1, 2 and 3 2016, audiences at the IFC Center in New York City will be treated to this curated program of Canada’s finest creative talent, with directors in attendance for intros and Q+A’s.

The series includes the most recent work my Oscar-nominated filmmaker Philippe Falardeau ("Monsieur Lazhar"), an Lgbt-themed debut, and a drama starring Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood.

Here is the full lineup:

"Closet Monster" – Ontario/Newfoundland

A film by Stephen Dunn

Starring Connor Jessup, Aaron Abrams, Joanne Kelly, Aliocha Schneider, Sofia Banzhaf, Jack Fulton, Mary Walsh, Isabella Rossellini

Rt: 90min

U.S. Distributor: Strand Releasing

Screening: 4/1 at 9:30pm with intro and Q + A from director Stephen Dunn

Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

An East Coast teenager and aspiring special-effects makeup artist (Connor Jessup, Blackbird, 2012 Tiff Rising Star) struggles with both his sexuality and his fear of his macho father, in this imaginative twist on the coming-of-age tale from first-time feature director Stephen Dunn.

"The Demons" (Les démons) – Quebec

A film by Philippe Lesage

Starring: Edouard Tremblay-Grenier, Pier-Luc Funk, Pascale Buissière

Rt: 118min

Sales Agent: FunFilm Distribution

Screening: 4/2 at 9:30pm with intro and Q + A with director Philippe Lesage

While Montreal is in the throes of a string of kidnappings targeting young boys, 10-year-old Felix is finishing his school year in the seemingly quiet suburb where he lives. A sensitive boy with a vivid imagination, Felix is afraid of everything. Little by little, his imaginary demons begin to mirror those of the increasingly disturbing world around him.

"Into the Fores" – British Columbia/Ontario

A film by Patricia Rozema

Starring Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, Callum Keith Rennie, Michael Eklund, Wendy Crewson

Rt: 101min

U.S. Distributor: A24 Films

Screening: 4/1 at 7:00pm with intro and Q + A from director Patricia Rozema

Two sisters (Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood) struggle to survive in a remote country house after a continent-wide power outage, in this gripping apocalyptic drama by one of Canada’s most celebrated filmmakers.

"My Internship in Canda" (Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre) – Quebec

A film by Philippe Falardeau

Starring Patrick Huard, Irdens Exantus, Clémence Dufresne-Deslières and Suzanne Clément

Produced by Luc Déry, Kim Mccraw

Rt: 108min

Sales Agent: Film Distribution

Screening: 4/2 at 7:00pm with intro and Q+A from director Philippe Falardeau

Guibord is an independent Member of Parliament representing a vast county in Northern Quebec who unwillingly finds himself in the awkward position of determining whether Canada will go to war. Accompanied by his wife, daughter and Souverain (Sovereign) Pascal, an idealistic intern from Haiti, Guibord travels across his district in order to consult his constituents and face his own conscience. This film is a sharp political satire in which politicians, citizens and lobbyists go head-to-head while tearing democracy to shreds.

"Our Loved Ones" (Les Êtres Chers) – Quebec

A film by Anne Émond

Starring: Maxim Gaudette, Karelle Tremblay, Valérie Cadieux, Mickaël Gouin

Rt: 102min

Sales Agent: Wide Management

Screening: 4/3 at 7:00pm with intro and Q+A from director Anne Émond

The story begins in 1978 in a small town on the Lower St.-Lawrence where the Leblanc family is rocked by the tragic death of Guy, found dead in the basement of the family home. For many years, the real cause of his death is hidden from certain members of the family, his son David among them. David starts his own family with his wife Marie and lovingly raises his children, Laurence and Frédéric, but deep down he still carries with him a kind of unhappiness. Our Loved Ones is a film of filial love, family secrets, redemption and inherited fate. Featuring 2015 Tiff Rising Star Karelle Tremblay.

"Sleeping Giant" (Le géant endormi) – Ontario

A film by Andrew Cividino

Starring: Jackson Martin, Nick Serino, Reece Moffett, David Disher, Erika Brodzky, Katelyn McKerracher, Lorraine Philp

Rt: 90min

U.S. Distributor: FilmBuff

Screening: 4/3 at 9:30pm with intro and Q+A from director Andrew Cividino

City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film, 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

Spending his summer vacation on rugged Lake Superior, teenager Adam befriends Riley and Nate, smart-aleck cousins who pass their ample free time with pranks, vandalism and reckless cliff jumping. The revelation of a hurtful secret sets in motion a series of irreversible events that test the bonds of friendship and change the boys forever.

Film fests such as the Toronto Int. Film Festival afford us the best of opportunities to get instantly familiar with new faces in the world of cinema. With last week’s The Conversation, I gave you a rundown of the talent behind the camera with the 2015 Tiff Top Ten New Voices. Today, we look back at the best performances from fresh and relatively new crop of actors and actresses. Almost evenly split genderwise, we’ll surely look back on these early performances from these youthful players as the moment where they received their big break and if they’re not familiar now, they surely will be in the coming years. In deliberating this top ten list, I focused on offerings either unique to the festival or near concurrent premieres in Locarno and Venice.

#10. Karelle Tremblay – Les Etres Chers

After Podz’s Miraculum (2013) Stefan Miljevic’s Amsterdam (2013) and Mathieu Denis’ Corbo...

Sowing the Seed of Love: Émond Prescribes Depression Medicine for Two

In Zizekian logic, there are the unknown knowns, that is to say, there are things that we fail to admit to knowing. In Anne Émond’s subtly devised, multi-decade spanning family drama, there is a general and generational sentiment that the unknown is best kept secret in order to protect the next of kin. While her boldly truculent debut Nuit #1 delved into urban solitudes and wore all feelings on its sleeveless sleeves, set in a caring and loving family nucleus in a rural backdrop, the French Canadian helmer’s sophomore feature (known internationally as Our Loved Ones) is more curious about the unexplained and what is not being said. While some of the coming-of-ager sequences tucked in the denouement are a tad too overreaching, it’s with an assured, sensitive, sympathetic hand that Les êtres chers deftly explores the...

Read More: Interview with Anne Emond and Catherine de Lean - Writer/Director and Star of Nuit #1 The crisp fall air is tangible in this melancholy clip from "Our Loved Ones," which will premiere at Tiff later today. The clip features two characters sitting on a beach "just looking forward to spring," and its simplicity belies what sounds to be a complex and emotional family drama. "Our Loved Ones" marks the second film by Canadian director Anne Émond, whose debut film "Nuit #1" won several awards and garnered a lot of positive critical attention in 2011. The film's two leads, Maxim Gaudette and Karelle Tremblay, are both stars in the French Canadian film market. Maxim Gaudette has been recognized for his award-winning work with director Denis Villeneuve. The official synopsis of the film reads: "Protected from the truth about his father's death, the sensitive David (Maxim Gaudette from 'Incendies,' 'Polytechnique') has.

World premieres for Patricia Rozema, Guy Édoin and Stephen Dunn are among the selection scheduled to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff).

”The festival is excited to showcase these distinctively Canadian voices,” said Tiff senior programmer Steve Gravestock.

“From compelling documentaries on pressing social issues and complex, affecting dramas to political satires, we are proud to share the impressive range and talent of Canada’s directors.”

“This year’s filmmakers represent the depth and diversity of Canadian storytelling,” said the festival’s film programmes manager Magali Simard.

“By presenting the strong perspectives of the best and brightest in the film industry from across the country, we share with audiences the unique ways Canadians view the world.”

The films will compete for the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, while the City Of Toronto Award For Best Canadian First Feature Film is also up for grabs.

This year’s Canadian awards jurors are director...