The Festival du nouveau cinéma is opening its 41st edition on October 10 with the world premiere of La mise à l’aveugle (Small Blind) by Quebec director Simon Galiero. Camille Rewinds by French actress/director Noémie Lvovsky will close the Festival on Saturday, October 20.
La mise à l’aveugle (Small Blind), second feature by Simon Galiero (Nuages sur la ville), will mark the official start of the 41st edition. Opening night takes place on Wednesday, October 10, at the Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts, with the director in attendance along with actors Micheline Bernard (It’s Not Me, I Swear!), Louis Sincenne (La capture; You), Pierre-Luc Brillant (Borderline), Christine Beaulieu (Jaloux) and Julien Poulin (Camion). In 2009, Simon Galiero won the FNC’s Focus Grand Prize for best Quebec / Canadian feature film for Nuages sur la ville.
Denise is a woman of ripe age whose life has recently changed with the divorce from her husband Michel, the relocation to the neighbourhood of her youth, and the retirement from her position as financial director in a large company now directed by her son, Alex. An object of contempt by her husband, her son and at her former workplace, Denise desperately clings to them, unable to communicate. This changes when Denise meets her new neighbours who initiate her to the world of poker. Little by little, she submits to the pleasures of the game and substitutes one family for another.
The Festival’s closing film, presented at the Cinéma Impérial, will be Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds), a fifth feature by Noémie Lvovsky (director of Life Doesn’t Scare Me and Feelings, and actress in House of Tolerance and Farewell, My Queen). Camille Rewinds won the SACD Award (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) during critics’ week at the last Cannes Festival and the Variety Piazza Grande Award at the 65th Locarno International Film Festival. Lvovsky’s delightful comedy takes a lighthearted, quirky look at the passage of time. One night, 40-year-old Camille (Noémie Lvovsky), recently separated from Éric, is transported 25 years into the past and rediscovers life as a teenager with her parents, her friends and Éric. The film stars Samir Guesmi (Outside the Law), Jean-Pierre Léaud (Le Havre), Yolande Moreau (Séraphine) and Denis Podalydès (Adieu Berthe).
Two actresses from this wacky comedy will be present at the closing ceremony. The film, distributed by Métropole Films, will be released in Quebec theatres starting October 26.
The 41st Festival du nouveau cinéma will run from October 10 to 21, 2012 in Montreal at the following venues: Excentris/Cinéma Parallèle, Cinéma Impérial (Centre Sandra & Leo Kolber, Salle Lucie & André Chagnon), Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin, Cinémathèque québécoise, PHI Centre, Théâtre Outremont, Théâtre Maisonneuve and the Festival headquarters, located at the Agora Hydro-Québec in UQÀM’s Cœur des sciences.
The full lineup for the 41st Festival du nouveau cinéma will be announced at a press conference on Tuesday, September 25, at 11 a.m. in the Agora at UQÀM’s Cœur des sciences (175 President-Kennedy, corner of Jeanne-Mance).
