French films
If you’ve been to KCFF before, you’ll know that our French Canadian films are some of the best of the fest, and this year is no exception. From Charles-Olivier Michaud, we have a gorgeous adaptation of Kim Thúy’s award-winning novel RU, which tells the story of a prosperous Vietnamese family forced to flee to Montreal. Through eyes of its young protagonist Tinh (Chloe Djandji), Canada becomes a strange, exotic place, where she and her parents adjust to new lives while coping with the emotional fallout of their journey.
Also told from the perspective of its young protagonist, Rico (Rayan Dieudonné), Henri Pardo’s KANAVAL weaves elements of magical realism into the tale of a mother and son fleeing violence in Haiti. They’re taken in by an older Quebecois couple, where Rico is increasingly forced to navigate his own path as his mother withdraws from him.
Writer/director Sophie Dupuis took home the Best Canadian Feature Award at TIFF with SOLO. Burgeoning drag artist Simon (Théodore Pellerin) navigates the ballrooms of Montreal while balancing relationships with his toxic new boyfriend, his low-contact mother, and coping with the tension between his impostor syndrome and his successful artistic practice. Full of cathartic moments and gorgeous drag numbers, SOLO dazzles while still delivering delicate, nuanced moments.
Chloé Robichaud’s DAYS OF HAPPINESS (LES JOURS HEUREUX) follows rising young conductor Emma as she navigates a new relationship and struggles to define herself and her career in the shadow of her overbearing manger father. With members of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain consulting on and performing in the film, the music and tension are riveting.
Don’t worry, Anglophones – all French-language films are subtitled!
Retrospectives
We also have a couple of selections from the vaults this year:
Thanks to the work of the Queen’s University Vulnerable Media Lab, we’re able to present a newly digitized collection of the short films of painter, photographer and filmmaker Kim Ondaatje. BLACK CREEK explores the creation of a community park, while FACTORIES transforms the industrial landscapes of Sudbury into something subtler. PATCHWORK QUILTS is an ode to the gentle, mathematical art of quiltmaking. OLD HOUSES and WHERE THE BITTERSWEET GROWS examine the beautiful details of houses and the families who make them homes. Our screening will be followed by a discussion between Ondaatje’s grandson, filmmaker Kyber Jones, and her longtime friend, author Helen Humphreys.
And before Clarke Mackey began a long teaching career in Film and Media at Queen’s, before directing multiple episodes of the much loved Degrassi High, he directed Kate Lynch in a Genie Award-nominated performance in TAKING CARE. Inspired by actual events around a series of suspicious deaths in a Toronto hospital, the film explores a health care system in crisis and the mechanisms institutions use to protect themselves – sadly just as relevant today as it was 40 years ago.
