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Canada picks ‘Felix et Meira’ for the foreign-language Oscar category

Maxime Giroux’s “Felix et Meira” has been selected as Canada’s Oscar hopeful in the best foreign-language film category.

It stars Martin Dubreuil and Hadas Yaron and deals with the unusual romance between a married Orthodox Jewish woman and a young man mourning his father’s death in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood.
Telefilm Canada made it official at a Montreal news conference on Friday in the presence of its elated director.

“It’s difficult for me to say in English, but I guess ‘wow’ in English is OK?,” Giroux said laughing.

“It’s a Montreal film — it’s in French, in English, in Yiddish,” he added. “I’m really happy that I’m here to represent Canada and also Montreal.”

Giroux paid tribute to the entire team — from scriptwriters to technical staff to actors.

Co-producer Sylvain Corbeil noted the film was made on a budget of about $800,000 and was shot in Venice and New York City among other locations.

“We had to be really inventive to make it realistic and good,” said Corbeil.

Writing the script was very difficult because it was not easy to research the closed community. Corbeil also hailed the actors — many of them came from Hasidic backgrounds and had left the community.

“Through our research for this film, we discovered it was a very, very huge step to make because once you leave the community, you’re an outcast in your family, in your community,” Corbeil said. “For them to have this courage was a great source of inspiration for us.”

The selection was made Friday morning by a committee of 23 voting members representing major government agencies and national film industry associations.

Canada’s submissions for Oscar consideration have earned three nominations in the category in the past six years.

They are Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies,” Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” and Kim Nguyen’s “Rebelle.”

“In Darkness,” a Canada/Poland/Germany/ production directed by Agnieszka Holland, was also nominated after being submitted for consideration by Poland.

Last year, Canada submitted Xavier Dolan’s acclaimed feature “Mommy,” but it failed to earn a nomination.

Canada’s last win in the best foreign-language film category was in 2004 for Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions.”

For his part, Giroux was humbled to be associated with that star-studded crop.

“Those directors are inspirations,” Giroux said. “Being just beside them, it’s an honour.”
“Felix et Meira” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, where it won Best Canadian Feature Film and was voted as part of TIFF’s annual Canada’s Top 10 Film Festival. It has been screened at more than 50 festivals.

Corbeil said the film may have a bit of an advantage as it was shown in the United States earlier this year, unlike may of its Canadian predecessors.

Since April, the film has been shown in New York City and Los Angeles and has been the subject of several dozen reviews — with Corbeil saying 90 per cent of them rated the film at very good or excellent.

“It’s going to be an honour and I think a lot of fun and I hope we’re going to go all the way through,” Giroux said. “It’s always tough, but you never know.”
A short list of nine films will be announced at the end of December and the Academy will announce the nominated films on Jan. 14.

The 88th Academy Awards will be held Feb. 28.

Source: CTV News

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Front Page, Headline, Industry News

Canada picks ‘Felix et Meira’ for the foreign-language Oscar category

Maxime Giroux’s “Felix et Meira” has been selected as Canada’s Oscar hopeful in the best foreign-language film category.

It stars Martin Dubreuil and Hadas Yaron and deals with the unusual romance between a married Orthodox Jewish woman and a young man mourning his father’s death in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood.
Telefilm Canada made it official at a Montreal news conference on Friday in the presence of its elated director.

“It’s difficult for me to say in English, but I guess ‘wow’ in English is OK?,” Giroux said laughing.

“It’s a Montreal film — it’s in French, in English, in Yiddish,” he added. “I’m really happy that I’m here to represent Canada and also Montreal.”

Giroux paid tribute to the entire team — from scriptwriters to technical staff to actors.

Co-producer Sylvain Corbeil noted the film was made on a budget of about $800,000 and was shot in Venice and New York City among other locations.

“We had to be really inventive to make it realistic and good,” said Corbeil.

Writing the script was very difficult because it was not easy to research the closed community. Corbeil also hailed the actors — many of them came from Hasidic backgrounds and had left the community.

“Through our research for this film, we discovered it was a very, very huge step to make because once you leave the community, you’re an outcast in your family, in your community,” Corbeil said. “For them to have this courage was a great source of inspiration for us.”

The selection was made Friday morning by a committee of 23 voting members representing major government agencies and national film industry associations.

Canada’s submissions for Oscar consideration have earned three nominations in the category in the past six years.

They are Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies,” Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” and Kim Nguyen’s “Rebelle.”

“In Darkness,” a Canada/Poland/Germany/ production directed by Agnieszka Holland, was also nominated after being submitted for consideration by Poland.

Last year, Canada submitted Xavier Dolan’s acclaimed feature “Mommy,” but it failed to earn a nomination.

Canada’s last win in the best foreign-language film category was in 2004 for Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions.”

For his part, Giroux was humbled to be associated with that star-studded crop.

“Those directors are inspirations,” Giroux said. “Being just beside them, it’s an honour.”
“Felix et Meira” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, where it won Best Canadian Feature Film and was voted as part of TIFF’s annual Canada’s Top 10 Film Festival. It has been screened at more than 50 festivals.

Corbeil said the film may have a bit of an advantage as it was shown in the United States earlier this year, unlike may of its Canadian predecessors.

Since April, the film has been shown in New York City and Los Angeles and has been the subject of several dozen reviews — with Corbeil saying 90 per cent of them rated the film at very good or excellent.

“It’s going to be an honour and I think a lot of fun and I hope we’re going to go all the way through,” Giroux said. “It’s always tough, but you never know.”
A short list of nine films will be announced at the end of December and the Academy will announce the nominated films on Jan. 14.

The 88th Academy Awards will be held Feb. 28.

Source: CTV News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Front Page, Headline, Industry News

Canada picks ‘Felix et Meira’ for the foreign-language Oscar category

Maxime Giroux’s “Felix et Meira” has been selected as Canada’s Oscar hopeful in the best foreign-language film category.

It stars Martin Dubreuil and Hadas Yaron and deals with the unusual romance between a married Orthodox Jewish woman and a young man mourning his father’s death in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood.
Telefilm Canada made it official at a Montreal news conference on Friday in the presence of its elated director.

“It’s difficult for me to say in English, but I guess ‘wow’ in English is OK?,” Giroux said laughing.

“It’s a Montreal film — it’s in French, in English, in Yiddish,” he added. “I’m really happy that I’m here to represent Canada and also Montreal.”

Giroux paid tribute to the entire team — from scriptwriters to technical staff to actors.

Co-producer Sylvain Corbeil noted the film was made on a budget of about $800,000 and was shot in Venice and New York City among other locations.

“We had to be really inventive to make it realistic and good,” said Corbeil.

Writing the script was very difficult because it was not easy to research the closed community. Corbeil also hailed the actors — many of them came from Hasidic backgrounds and had left the community.

“Through our research for this film, we discovered it was a very, very huge step to make because once you leave the community, you’re an outcast in your family, in your community,” Corbeil said. “For them to have this courage was a great source of inspiration for us.”

The selection was made Friday morning by a committee of 23 voting members representing major government agencies and national film industry associations.

Canada’s submissions for Oscar consideration have earned three nominations in the category in the past six years.

They are Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies,” Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar” and Kim Nguyen’s “Rebelle.”

“In Darkness,” a Canada/Poland/Germany/ production directed by Agnieszka Holland, was also nominated after being submitted for consideration by Poland.

Last year, Canada submitted Xavier Dolan’s acclaimed feature “Mommy,” but it failed to earn a nomination.

Canada’s last win in the best foreign-language film category was in 2004 for Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions.”

For his part, Giroux was humbled to be associated with that star-studded crop.

“Those directors are inspirations,” Giroux said. “Being just beside them, it’s an honour.”
“Felix et Meira” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, where it won Best Canadian Feature Film and was voted as part of TIFF’s annual Canada’s Top 10 Film Festival. It has been screened at more than 50 festivals.

Corbeil said the film may have a bit of an advantage as it was shown in the United States earlier this year, unlike may of its Canadian predecessors.

Since April, the film has been shown in New York City and Los Angeles and has been the subject of several dozen reviews — with Corbeil saying 90 per cent of them rated the film at very good or excellent.

“It’s going to be an honour and I think a lot of fun and I hope we’re going to go all the way through,” Giroux said. “It’s always tough, but you never know.”
A short list of nine films will be announced at the end of December and the Academy will announce the nominated films on Jan. 14.

The 88th Academy Awards will be held Feb. 28.

Source: CTV News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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