Philippe Falardeau: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent While it’s still uncertain how many U.S. movie stars will be attending the upcoming Venice Film Festival, the fest has announced a series of masterclasses to be held by top directors including Wes Anderson, Edward Berger, Damien Chazelle and Nicolas Winding Refn. Several of the Venice masterclasses are dedicated to helmers being lauded by the fest such as “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani, who is being celebrated with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and Anderson, who will receive the fest’s Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award.

Jennie Punter Hot Docs has wrapped its 30th anniversary edition, handing out its top cash prize and announcing the audience top picks after an 11-day festival, which presented 214 films from 72 countries at 308 live screenings at venues across Toronto. Philippe Falardeau’s “Lac-Mégantic—This Is Not an Accident” topped the overall audience poll to win the 2023 Hot Docs Audience Award. The four-part series from the Oscar-nominated director explores the causes of one of Canada’s worst rail disasters and what’s needed to prevent such accidents in the future. “Someone Lives Here,” by Zack Russell, won the Rogers Audience Awards for Best Canadian Documentary, which comes with Cdn. $50,000 cash, and also claimed the second-highest spot in the overall audience poll. The film also won the inaugural Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, a jury-chosen prize, at the main awards ceremony held Saturday.

The pan-Canadian Selection Committee has chosen director Jason Loftus’ Eternal Spring as its entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar.

After 25 years, Toronto International Film Festival Senior Programmer Steve Gravestock has decided to retire at the end of 2022.

JD Linville Canadian director Philippe Falardeau (“Monsieur Lazhar”) and screenwriter Florence Longpré, who has “Audrey’s Back” at April’s Canneseries, have teamed up on new series “Last Summers of the Raspberries” which pulled off the rare feat of screening at Berlinale Series, before being selected for Series Mania, where it will compete in the International Panorama.The heartfelt drama follows Élizabeth, played by Sandrine Bisson (“Le bonheur”), who stands to inherit and run her husband’s ranch when he suddenly dies. Learning to overcome the pain of her loss, Élizabeth will have to find her late husband in the hearts of those he touched.“Last Summers of the Raspberries” is set in rural Quebec and uses the unique language demographics of the region to bring humor and playfulness to the series’ inciting tragedy. Falardeau, whose film “It’s Not Me, I Swear!”landed him a Crystal Bear in 2009, is no stranger to framing tension around the family unit and uses cinematic flourish to bring Longpré’s comedic timing to life.

Tim Dams Since its launch in 2015, the Berlinale Series section has emerged as a kind of a boutique scripted TV fest set within a major film festival.The Berlinale was famously the first A-list festival to embrace changing viewer habits and to officially incorporate television drama into its lineup — and this head-start is reflected in the growing stature of Berlinale Series.Taking place over a concentrated three-day period (Feb. 14-16), Berlinale Series offers up seven world and international premieres from around 200 entries, giving each of them the red-carpet treatment at the Zoo Palast cinema.Running parallel, the Berlinale Series Market — part of the European Film Market — offers up an online conference program, showcases and screenings.