After claiming four César awards, including best picture, and a Cannes jury prize with 2019’s “Les Misérables,” and co-producing last year’s Venice winner “Happening,” rising producers Toufik Ayadi…
After claiming four César awards, including best picture, and a Cannes jury prize with 2019’s “Les Misérables,” and co-producing last year’s Venice winner “Happening,” rising producers Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral have set for themselves, and for their follow-up feature, an altogether different task: Paving a new path for Quebecois talent into the French mainstream.
“If we build on the principle that people are better traveled now, that immigration encompasses more than just [a narrow strata of stories], then why can’t you build a story around someone from a different country,” Ayadi tells. “That’s not what the film is about; it’s not a [fish out of water story]. A film can be about more than the character’s background.”
Bertrand played a supporting role in Loiseau’s previous film, “A Bun in the Oven” , but the actor is best known for turns in hometown smashes like “” and “Compulsive Liar.” If both titles set Quebec box-office records, such success hasn’t always translated worldwide. While “Starbuck” did make inroads in France – grossing just under $2.7 million in 2012 – “Compulsive Liar” was never picked up for release.
Indeed, there exists a certain imbalance between the two poles. As France and Quebec share profound social and economic ties, when it comes to popular culture, the wind mostly blows in one direction. While festival-approved auteurs like Denys Arcand, Xavier Dolan and Denis Villeneuve have built fanbases in France, many of their colleagues from the more commercial end of the spectrum have not always found similar success.