Actualités
Pacifiction
13 and over On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government official De Roller is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end ’establishment’ as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumor has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing. Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival – 2022Best Actor, Best Cinematography – César – 2023
Miguel’s War
Teddy Award for Best Feature Film – Berlinale Panorama – 2021Sélection officielle – Festival du nouveau cinéma – 2021Sélection officielle – NewFest NY – 2021Sélection officielle – Raindance Film Festival – 2021 MIGUEL’S WAR is the story of a gay man who grew up oppressed and shamed during the Lebanese civil war. Raised by a conservative Catholic father and an authoritarian Syrian mother, teenage Miguel was inhibited by a deep inferiority complex and was incapable of asserting himself. In 1983 the deeply sensitive boy, desperate to prove he “exists” and can act like “a real man” joined the fighting as part of an armed faction. But his experience was a failure. Traumatized he immigrates to Madrid, Spain. In post-Franco Madrid, Miguel seeks to liberate himself through debauchery. A string of destructive relationships lead him to a failed suicide. Trying to pull himself together, Miguel becomes a conference interpreter in Barcelona. Only then, thirty-seven years after leaving Lebanon, Miguel feels ready to face his trauma and the ghosts of his past, and hopes to regain his emotional balance and maybe even find love. Using intertwining cinematic forms, melding documentary, animation, theater and archive and filmed on location in Lebanon and Spain, this feature film hopes to offer an experience of self-confrontation, awareness and catharsis.
Last Days of Spring
QUEBEC PREMIERE New Directors Competition – San Sebastian International Film Festival – 2020Best Interpretation – Les Arcs Film Festival – 2020 The Spanish family Gabarre-Mendoza is celebrating the birthday of their grandson, when they are interrupted by a police inspection. In « La Cañada Real », a shanty town just outside Madrid, tensions between the officials and the inhabitants arise since the land has been sold and the different families are forced to leave their self-build homes. While mother of the house Augustina turns from a full of laughter mother into a woman tormented with fear, father David a hardworking scavenger tries to find a solution but fails the bureaucratic system. Meanwhile the younger members in the family, the adolescent Davíd Jr (16), daughter-in-law and teenage mother Maria (17) and the young Alejandro (9) struggle in their own way with their lives in between places.
Out of Sync
QUEBEC PREMIERE Official selection – TIFF – 2021Official selection – Venice Film Festival – 2021Best Feature Length European Film – Sitges – 2021 C. is a talented sound designer, passionate about her work. After delivering a few sound mixes with clear defects of synchronization, her employers believe that she is going through a phase of psychological instability, and that they cannot trust her with new projects. She will then realize that, just like a film with a faulty soundtrack, her brain is processing sound later than images. As the time lapse extends, day after day, she will face hardships, be forced to give up her job and reconsider her whole life.
Mères parallèles
Nominee – Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Oscar – 2022 Best Foreign Language Film – Chicago Indie Critics Awards – 2022 Nominee – Best Foreign Film – César – 2022 With Penélope Cruz, Rossy de Palma Two women, Janis and Ana, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, doesn’t regret it and she is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, and changes their lives in a decisive way.
Josep
Best Animated Film – César Awards – France – 2021Official Selection – Festival de Cannes – France – 2020Best European Animated Feature Film Award – European Film Award – Germany – 2020 February 1939. Spanish republicans are fleeing Franco’s dictatorship to France. The French government built concentration camps, confining the refugees, where they barely have access to hygiene, water and food. In one of these camps, separated by barbed wire, two men will become friends. One is a guard, the other is Josep Bartolí, an illustrator who fights against Franco’s regime.
Finlandia
CANADIAN PREMIERE Winner – Best Feature Film – OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival – 2022Winner – Prix du Jury – Des Images Aux Mots – 2022Winner – Prix du Public – Des Images Aux Mots – 2022 A devastating earthquake hits Oaxaca and causes hundreds to fall victims to its effects. The drastic physical effects are felt in Mexico while across the globe its emotional effects are felt in Finland. This seismic movement has caused an emotional tremor in the lives of people with secrets, frustrations, and hidden relationships that will materialise amongst the debris, screams, and dust. After this earthquake, nothing will be the same for the lives of the Muxes. The first body found after the earthquake belongs to Delirio, an elderly Muxe. She is not a man or a woman. She is a pioneer that has fought for decades so that people like her could find their place in a pa-triarchal and sexist society. Delirio is a spiritual leader, and mentor for the young Muxes. She also has a special gift, she has premonitions of death, even of people she doesn’t know.
Yuli
QUÉBEC PREMIERE Best Screenplay Award – San Sebastian International Film FestivalBest New Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay – Spanish Goya Awards The film follows Carlos Acosta – nicknamed Yuli by his father – from growing up on the streets of his native Cuba, through his time at the country’s National Dance School, to performing at London’s prestigious Royal Ballet. Based on his 2007 bestseller autobiography No Way Home. Written by Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake). Passport not eligible for this film
Le mariage de Rosa
Best Supporting Actress – Goya Awards – 2021Best Original Song – Goya Awards – 2021Official Selection – Festival de San Sebastián – 2020 When Rosa decides to take charge of her own life, she will realize that her plans collide with the interests of her entire family. Getting married, even with herself, is going to be the hardest thing she’s ever done.
Vivre est facile avec les yeux fermés
Winner of 6 Goyas, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor Dramatic Comedy Spain, 1966: Antonio (Javier Cámara, from “I’m So Excited!”) is a teacher and a Beatles fan – facets he combines by getting his pupils to recite the lyrics from “Help” in English class. When he learns that his idol John Lennon is making a film in Almería (Richard Lester’s “How I Won the War”) he resolves to meet him. On the journey he picks up two young runaways: Bethlehem, a pregnant girl fleeing a convent, and Juanjo, a boy escaping a dictatorial father. Discover the films distributed by AZ Films at azfilms.ca