Prestigious guests in Montreal for the 30th edition of CINEMANIA
Published on 19/09/2024
For its 30th edition, CINEMANIA is proud to welcome exceptional guests who embody the talent and richness of Francophone cinema. With the presence of international stars like Monica Bellucci, Tahar Rahim, Béatrice Dalle, Romain Duris, and Franck Dubosc, as well as visionary filmmakers such as Grand Corps Malade, Mehdi Idir, and Céline Sallette, our festival will celebrate this year the power of the French language and creativity without borders.
These internationally renowned guests, and many more, will be in Montreal between November 6 and 17. The complete schedule of screenings will be unveiled on October 23. The public will have the opportunity to meet the artists at screenings held in our official venues: at Monument National, Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin, Cinémathèque Québécoise, Cinéma du Musée, Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma Moderne, and Studio-Cabaret of Espace St-Denis.
This anniversary edition promises to be an unforgettable moment where talent, passion, and creativity come together to showcase Francophone cinema in Montreal and Quebec! We are honored to celebrate these artists and their works, which inspire, move, and transcend cultural boundaries. The travel of international artists is made possible thanks to the invaluable support of Air Canada, CINEMANIA’s main partner, in collaboration with Unifrance.
DISCOVER THE FIRST GUESTS OF THE 2024 EDITION
TAHAR RAHIM, GRAND CORPS MALADE, MEHDI IDIR ET KATIA AZNAVOUR
with MONSIEUR AZNAVOUR (biopic)
The rise of Charles Aznavour in the 1950s. From cabaret singer to anonymous lyricist, to official composer, and ultimately to celebrated crooner, he would become, through hard work and resilience, the most acclaimed Francophone artist in the world until his death in 2018. Tahar Rahim amazes and excels as the young Aznavour in a film not only about the artist but also about the importance of his entourage (and for Aznavour, what an entourage: Édith Piaf, Juliette Gréco, Gilbert Bécaud). By focusing the story on the 1950s, the filmmakers avoid the predictable, except for the inevitable desire to immediately revisit Aznavour's great discography. The work done to recreate Paris of that era is masterful.
DIRECTORS: Grand Corps Malade, Mehdi Idir / CAST: Tahar Rahim, Lionel Cecilio / ORIGIN: France / Selected at the San Sebastian Film Festival
CÉLINE SALLETTE ET CHARLOTTE LE BON
with NIKI (biopic)
A portrayal of the life of Niki de Saint Phalle, from her exile from the United States to France in the early 1950s, to her encounter with writer Harry Mathews, and her early roles and modeling gigs. She would soon be confronted by a past she could not forget. For her debut film, Céline Sallette highlights a major figure of Western feminism, and makes Charlotte Le Bon shine brilliantly, both in energy and costumes. Through the lens of a biography, the filmmaker delivers a powerful essay on trauma, in complete contrast to Proust's Madeleine and childhood. It serves as a manifesto on art as a tool for salvation and redemption, with electroshock therapy scenes that recall the intensity of those in Clint Eastwood's Changeling.
DIRECTOR: Céline Sallette / CAST: Charlotte Le Bon, John Robinson, Damien Bonnard / DURATION: 98 minutes / ORIGIN: France / In competition Un Certain Regard (Cannes Film Festival)
With the support of Musée des Beaux-Arts Montréal
ROMAIN DURIS ET GUILLAUME SENEZ
with UNE PART MANQUANTE (fiction)
Jay is an expatriate in Japan. Every day, he drives through Tokyo in his taxi, searching for his daughter, Lily. Separated for 9 years, he was never granted custody. Just as he has given up hope of seeing her again and is preparing to return to France, she gets into his taxi, but she doesn’t recognize him... Belgian filmmaker Guillaume Senez, whose previous films Keeper and Our Struggles left a strong impression, presents his second collaboration with Romain Duris (The Spanish Apartment, The Animal Kingdom). The famous French actor, playing a heartbroken father in perpetual search, delivers one of his most moving performances.
DIRECTOR: Guillaume Senez / CAST: Romain Duris, Mei Cirne-Masuki / DURATION: 99 minutes / ORIGIN: France - Belgium / Selected at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Namur International Francophone Film Festival
BÉATRICE DALLE
with LA PASSION SELON BÉATRICE (documentaire)
Fabrice du Welz invites Béatrice Dalle to join him in Italy, on the filming locations of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s movies, retracing the steps of those who knew him, offering a fresh interpretation of the filmmaker’s work, who was murdered in 1975. Using Pasolini as a pretext, the director ultimately creates a unique documentary about the actress, and about passion, when it is neither sexual nor romantic. Filming in black and white, allowing cinephiles to visually rediscover Pasolini’s settings, and alternating between highly crafted and spontaneous sequences, Du Welz presents a major work for Pasolini (and Dalle) admirers, closer to a dreamlike film than a traditional documentary.
DIRECTOR: Fabrice Du Welz / DURATION: 81 minutes / ORIGIN: France - Belgium / Selected at the Locarno Film Festival
and MALDOROR (fiction)
Young gendarme Paul Chartier investigates a series of child disappearances in Belgium in the 1990s. He is part of Operation Maldoror, an immersive surveillance of a repeat offender, and will be confronted with the contradictions between principles and actions within the gendarmerie. Fabrice Du Welz delivers a thriller reminiscent of the intense media coverage of certain Belgian criminal cases. Anthony Bajon leads the audience much like Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, in a study of human madness. A thriller with almost historical overtones, set in a Belgium where the internet, smartphones, and 24-hour news channels didn’t exist.
DIRECTOR: Fabrice Du Welz / CAST: Anthony Bajon, Alba Gaïa Bellugi, Laurent Lucas / DURATION: 150 minutes / ORIGIN: Belgium - France / SELECTIONS: Venice Film Festival
FRANCK DUBOSC
with UN OURS DANS LE JURA (fiction)
Franck Dubosc will accompany his second feature film as director, Un Ours dans le Jura (A Bear in the Jura), in which he also stars, alongside Laure Calamy (Antoinette dans les Cévennes) and Benoît Poelvoorde (Sink or Swim). A dark comedy where an encounter with a bear disrupts the monotonous daily life of a couple...
DIRECTOR: Franck Dubosc / CAST: Franck Dubosc, Laure Calamy, Benoît Poelvoorde / ORIGIN: France
With the support of M6 International
