2021 Competition
International competition
The panel rewards one dramatic feature and one documentary feature chosen among five films submitted for competition in each category. The winning film will receive respectively the Cercle d’or Meilleur long métrage de fiction (Best Dramatic Feature award) and the Cercle d’or Meilleur long métrage documentaire (Best Documentary Feature award), sponsored by TV5. The films submitted for competition are selected by the Festival’s programming committee.
Jury of the international competition
Helen Faradji – Presidente
Helen Faradji arrived in Quebec in 1999 and completed her doctoral thesis on the Coen brothers and Tarantino. She is the author of several essays, the latest of which explores American Cinema and was published in November 2019 by Les éditions du Septentrion. Both a film critic and host, she collaborates on numerous radio and television shows (Aujourd’hui l’histoire, Plus on est de Fous, plus on lit…). She is also the content manager for Radio-Canada’s film section on their website, producing a variety of online programmes (Pour faire court, Fous de cinéma…) and keeping a daily blog. She is also a cultural columnist for La balado de Fred Savard.
Serge Langlois
Serge Langlois is a long-time cinema lover. He was at the head of the radio show Cinérama, which, for many years, was the only specialized film programme in the Eastern Townships. From the very beginnings of the show up until 2018, he introduced his audience to films of all kinds, hosted countless interviews and shared numerous reviews. For 10 years, he combined this role with his job at the helm of CFAK 88,3 FM. He also curated the Université de Sherbrooke’s Centre Culturel art series Arrières Cours before landing his current job as director for Destination St-Camille.
Annissa Laplante
Annissa Laplante works at the Cégep de Sherbrooke as the coordinator for the Department of Literature and Communication. Over the past twenty years, she has taught a wide range of courses on literature and cinema, both for the General Education courses as well as in the Art, Literature and Communication Programme. She also takes part in extracurricular activities involving student juries, such as the Prix littéraire des collégiens (Collegian Literary Prize) and the Prix collégial du cinéma du Québec (Quebec Collegiate Film Prize).
Patrick Quintal
Playwright, theatre director and actor, Patrick Quintal cofounded the theatre company Théâtre du Double Signe and was its Artistic Director up until 2018. He is the author of 15 plays that have been produced both in Quebec and abroad. Having received many accolades over the past years, including the Yves-Sauvageau prize for his play Kraken and the 2007 CALQ Artistic Creation Prize (Eastern Townships), he has also written for television and teaches playwriting at the Université de Sherbrooke.
Romy Lupien-Phaneuf (Public Jury Member)
I am who I am, due to both the remarkable people who surround me as well as some outlandish experiences. Growing up I was immersed by culture and I’m now reaping the benefits of that. Cinema is a way to experience an audience’s reaction, to have access to their sensitivity. It’s also an opportunity to gain access to a film director’s vision of the world and their reaction to it. Freedom of expression is important to me and I find that cinema is a strongly gentle and beautiful way of doing so. This art has no frontiers, the energy and ideas evoked are incapable of sitting still. I directed my first documentary this year, on dumpster diving, and I’m actively engaged in the Prix collégial du cinéma du Québec. I’ll be representing the Cégep de Sherbrooke again this year. I am impatient to see cinema take life again. I look forward to hearing authentic and creative voices through a filmmaker’s lens.
Regional competition
As part of its annual programming, the FCMS hosts a special screening of several short films produced in the Eastern Townships and shortlisted by the selection panel. The panel then bestows on the winning entry the Cercle d’or Meilleur court métrage de l’Estrie (Best Eastern Townships Short award) – sponsored by La Fabrique culturelle – as well as a grant.
Jury of the regional competition
Anik Salas – Presidente
Passionate and multifaceted, Anik Salas is a director who is equally at ease in both fiction and documentary. She graduated in social communication before creating an online programme [VRÈ] on women’s empowerment. Episodes were then used in France and Quebec as pedagogical tools. Following her training at L’inis (L’institut national de l’image et le son), her first short film, The War of The Blueberries, was screened in cinemas in Quebec and both European and American festivals. The film won a Gold Remi Award. She then continued to work on shorts and produced a series of web capsules. She is currently developing her first feature-length documentary and continues her work as President of Réalisatrices Equitables, lobbying for equitable representation for women in the film world.
Santiago Bertolino
Santiago Bertolino is a filmmaker and scriptwriter. NIN E TEPUEIAN – My Cry (NIN E TEPUEIAN – Mon Cri) is his third feature-length documentary. In 2016, he directed Freelancer on the Front Lines which was produced by the National Film Board. The film followed a freelance reporter’s journey through Middle Eastern war zones. The filming took him to Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Turkey and the Kurdistan region. In 2013, with Hugo Samson, he created his first feature-length documentary, Red Square on a Blackboard (Carré rouge sur fond noir), which was about the 2012 Quebec student protests. The film won 2 Gémeaux Awards – Best Documentary (Society) and Best Script (Documentary).
Annissa Laplante
Annissa Laplante works at the Cégep de Sherbrooke as the coordinator for the Department of Literature and Communication. Over the past twenty years, she has taught a wide range of courses on literature and cinema, both for the General Education courses as well as in the Art, Literature and Communication Programme. She also takes part in extracurricular activities involving student juries, such as the Prix littéraire des collégiens (Collegian Literary Prize) and the Prix collégial du cinéma du Québec (Quebec Collegiate Film Prize).
Pocket film Competition – School Tournament
The Tournoi des écoles (School Tournament) is a short-short contest open to all high school students from participating schools in Estrie.
This friendly competition is a great opportunity for young people to express their creativity through the art of cinematography, to actively learn about film-making, and to develop new talents and interests.