Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Closings and Openings

Well, it's now official!!! I can say it out loud! The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom has been selected to be the Closing Gala Film at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois!

This is a very special invitation for many reasons... Les Rendezvous is a hometown festival that celebrates Quebec production and nurtures homegrown talent. They gave me my first window on the world way back in 2001 when my short film, Killing Time was screened in front of Denis Villeneuve's much acclaimed second feature, Maelstrom. And look where it got Denis! (for those of you who aren't familiar with his name, Denis is the director of a very important and by now almost notorious film, Incendies which is Canada's Oscar entry this year).

Seriously, though, beyond the fact that they have been very good to me in the past, and despite the visibility this kind of prestigious platform will provide our movie in Quebec, it is very significant and, in my mind, very courageous of the programmers to select an English language film to close this particular festival. However, Ségolène Roederer, the elegant director of Les Rendezvous admitted she is possibly most excited about the "female factor" of this film. She is totally grooving on the unabashed "chickness" of not only the story, but the crew and the cast that put it together. Apparently this is still a rare recipe in the indie cinema world!

Anyway, no matter what made the package extra attractive, I know both Ségolène and her colleague Dominique Dugas first loved the film enough to invite us to close their festival.

And that can only open other doors!

Merci beaucoup aux Rendezvous! And if you're in Montreal on February the 26th... Rendez-vous!