Xavier Dolan - Wonderkin film maker

[Sheriff Roland]

J'ai tué ma mère

http://www.northernstars.ca/News/0509250820_cannes.html

Xavier Dolan's film J'ai tué ma mère ( I Killed My Mother ) won the Art Cinema prize for its screenplay, the Regards Jeunes award and the SACD prize for best French-language film on Friday.

When it came time to turn his screenplay into a film, he used his own money, all $150,000 of it. He did get funding from Telefilm Canada and Québec's Société de dévelopment des entreprises culturelles (SODEC) but only after filming on his debut feature had started.

Dolan wrote, directed and acted in the film, which is a coming-of-age drama about the complicated relationship between a young man discovering his homosexuality and his mother.

Humm... Didn't C.R.A.Z.Y. have a similar 'history' just 4 years ago. ... Coming of age of a homosexual youth ... low budget ... Québecois ... recognition at Cannes.

Hope people get to see this one.

[Sheriff Roland]

"J't'haïs!"

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDa0CkKjfsk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[Sheriff Roland]

Québécois filmmaker electrifies Cannes

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/qubcois-filmmaker-electrifies-cannes/article1151287/


Anne Dorval, a pillar of Quebec television and theatre, was dubbing a film into French when a teenager knocked on the studio door, a screenplay in his trembling hands.

Ms. Dorval took mercy on the nervous boy named Xavier Dolan, a 16-year-old former child actor from Montreal who spoke in a whisper.
...

[magicmountain]

Thanks for that info Roland. Congratulations to Canada!

Australia had a win at Cannes as well. Aboriginal director Warwick Thornton won the Camera d'Or for Samson and Delilah - voted the best first feature film across all sections of the festival, beating 25 others.

The film is a beautiful yet brutal love story set on a remote Aboriginal community in Alice Springs. It deals with the harsh realities faced by those living in Australia’s hundreds of Aboriginal communities, including petrol sniffing, destitution and violence.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N69RgtW6S8o[/youtube]

Here is an interesting round-up of Cannes by Australia’s leading film commentator David Stratton.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25536705-16947,00.html

[louisev]

I think Dolan deserves the credit rather than Canada, wouldn't you say?  Since he wrote, acted, and directed it.

[Sheriff Roland]

Yes Dolan deservers most of the credit.

But then so does Québec for producing him, and having respected actors who supported him because of the very positive cultural climate and (eventually) with funds.

And so does Canada - for similar reasons ($$) + the freedom to being able to express himself (less homophobia), to have the financial means of starting up the film (he was able to earn the original 150 000$ as a child actor) and of fostering the creativity - in what some would call a 'sociallist' country.

Pride can be celebrated by all.

[Front-Ranger]

The Canadian Film Board is a legend worldwide for its support of emerging filmmakers since the times when "Indie" meant a certain car race. You are right to be proud of it!

[louisev]

Yes Dolan deservers most of the credit.

But then so does Québec for producing him, and having respected actors who supported him because of the very positive cultural climate and (eventually) with funds.

And so does Canada - for similar reasons ($$) + the freedom to being able to express himself (less homophobia), to have the financial means of starting up the film (he was able to earn the original 150 000$ as a child actor) and of fostering the creativity - in what some would call a 'sociallist' country.

Pride can be celebrated by all.

yep, them socialist countries sure do serve up some good independent cinema!

[magicmountain]

yep, them socialist countries sure do serve up some good independent cinema!

Can't we leave politics out of it for once?

[louisev]

Can't we leave politics out of it for once?

And so does Canada - for similar reasons ($$) + the freedom to being able to express himself (less homophobia), to have the financial means of starting up the film (he was able to earn the original 150 000$ as a child actor) and of fostering the creativity - in what some would call a 'sociallist' country.

Pride can be celebrated by all.

Roland started the topic, Roland made a point of mentioning the oft-alluded-to "socialist" moniker people use on Canada.  And the fact is, public money raised through taxes in Canada have contributed very heavily to a flourishing in all of the arts which puts the US to shame.  This has been true for as long as I've been alive and living in both the US and Canada.