MONTRÉAL, Oct. 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - The 2015 edition of
Éléphant ClassiQ, the very first event of its kind in Canada, will take place in Montréal,
November 19-22, 2015. The four-day
programme honouring the masterpieces of French-language cinema
includes: nineteen full-length films, presented in their restored
versions, meetings with international stakeholders in the
cinematographic industry and exhibits. Éléphant ClassiQ will be
held at three Montréal theatres: the Imperial Cinema, Salle
Claude-Jutra at the Cinémathèque québécoise, and Salle
Pierre-Bourgault at UQAM's Pavillon Judith Jasmin.
Spokesperson
The spokesperson for this year's edition
of Éléphant ClassiQ is Québec director Maxime Giroux, whose film Félix &
Meira has been selected as Canada's official entry in the best
foreign-language film category at the Oscars. Riding a wonderful
wave of national and international recognition and, after winning
awards at numerous festivals, Maxime
Giroux had a most gratifying year in 2015, with the release
of his third feature film.
Opening and closing
This first edition will open on
Thursday, November 19, at
8:00 pm at the Imperial Cinema with
the projection of the famous popular French comedy La Folie des
Grandeurs by Gérard Oury (1971), starring Louis de Funès,
Yves Montand and Alice Sapritch.
During this opening evening, which will also celebrate Gaumont's
120th anniversary, Nicolas Seydoux,
its president, and Danièle Thompson, the film's scriptwriter and daughter
of director Gérard Oury, will be the guests of honour. Many
renowned guests will also be on hand for the occasion. During this
evening, La Folie des Grandeurs will be preceded by the
short film Comment Monsieur prend son bain, directed by
Alice Guy, the very first female
director in the history of cinema.
On Sunday, November 22 at
7:00 pm, the French film
Marius by Alexander Korda (1931), for which the script and
dialogue were written by Marcel Pagnol, will close the festival.
The first part of the Marseillais trilogy by Marcel Pagnol, this
full-length feature films stars Raimu, Pierre Fresnay and Orane
Demazis. For this occasion, a jury composed of film professionals,
representatives of Éléphant ClassiQ and UQAM's Communications
Faculty will present the "Maisonneuve, me reconnais-tu?" award
to the student who wins the short film contest organized in
association with UQAM. Three selected works will also be presented
during the event, at the start of the session, at the Imperial
Cinema.
Programme
The 19 feature films presented as part of
Éléphant ClassiQ will give viewers an opportunity to discover or
re-discover film masterpieces from here and elsewhere, with the
projection of French, Québec, Belgian, Swiss, Vietnamese and
Senegalese films.
At the Imperial Cinema
In addition to the opening and
closing films, the Imperial Cinema will also host the first world
projection of the restored copy of Entre la mer et l'eau
douce (1967), the first feature film directed by Michel Brault; it will be projected in the
presence of the film crew. The following films will also be shown:
Clandestins by Denis
Chouinard and Nicolas Wadimoff (Québec, Canada, Switzerland, 1997), presented in the presence
of the directors; Deux hommes dans la ville by José Giovanni
(France, Italy, 1973); Le
Grand bleu by Luc Besson
(France, United States, 1988); L'Homme de Rio by
Philippe de Broca (France,
Italy, 1964); Les Parapluies de
Cherbourg by Jacques Demy (France, 1963) and Le Roi et l'oiseau by
Paul Grimault (France, 1979) as
part of a presentation for families.
At the Cinémathèque québécoise
The Salle Claude-Jutra
of the Cinémathèque québécoise will host the following projections:
Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard
(France, Italy, 1965); L'Armée des ombres by
Jean-Pierre Melville (France, Italy, 1969); Le Banquet des fraudeurs
by Henri Storck (Belgium, 1952) preceded by the short film
L'Occupation du bureau de surveillance du cinéma by
Denys DesJardins, which will be
presented by historian Eric Bédard; Cléo de 5 à 7 by Agnès
Varda (France, Italy, 1962); L'Odeur de la papaye
verte by Tran Anh Hung
(France, Vietnam, 1993); Le Pacha by
Georges Lautner (France, Italy, 1968); La Planète sauvage by
René Laloux (France,
Czechoslovakia, 1973) and Touki Bouki by Djibril Diop
Mambety (Senegal, 1973), which
will be preceded by the short film Afrique sur Seine by
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra (France,
1955), first short film by a Senegalese director.
The Salle Claude-Jutra will also host the film-concert Quatre
cinémathèques, quatre stars! during which Québec composer,
pianist and conductor Gabriel
Thibaudeau will accompany the projection of rare films
proposed by four French-language film libraries working to preserve
the film heritage presented by Marcel
Jean, the Director of the Cinémathèque québécoise,
Serge Toubiana, Director of the
Cinémathèque française, the Cinémathèque suisse and the
Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique.
November 22, 3:00 pm, Cinémathèque québécoise (Salle
Claude-Jutra).
At the Pavillon Judith-Jasmin
The Salle
Pierre-Bourgault of the Pavillon Judith Jasmin will present the
documentary Le jardin oublié – La vie et l'œuvre d'Alice
Guy-Blaché (1995), in the presence of its director,
Marquise Lepage.
Meetings
In addition, Éléphant ClassiQ
will present meetings with international stakeholders in the
cinematographic industry, which will take place UQAM's Pavillon
Judith-Jasmin.
Meeting: RESTORE, DISTRIBUTE
Important guests from the
cinematographic world, both national and international, will be on
hand to discuss the issues of financing the restoration of film
works: Nicolas Seydoux, President of
Gaumont; Alain Juppé, Mayor of Bordeaux and President of Bordeaux Métropole
in France, former Prime Minister
of France and driving force behind
a French government investment programme that specifically enabled
Gaumont to restore and digitize a portion of its cinematographic
heritage; Pierre-Karl Péladeau, leader of the Parti Québécois and
former President and CEO of Québecor, which originated the Éléphant
project.
Participating moderator: Nathalie Bondil.
November 20, 11:00 am, Pavillon Judith-Jasmin (Salle
Pierre-Bourgault).
Meeting: RESUSCITATED IMAGES
During this round-table
panel, the following guests will discuss the various aspects of
restoring works: Davide Pozzi,
Director of Immagine Ritrovata (one of the largest laboratories
specializing in the restoration of films) and Viva Paci, Professor at UQAM.
Participating moderator: Claude
Fournier.
November 20, 4:00 pm, Pavillon Judith-Jasmin (Salle
Pierre-Bourgault).
Meeting: WOMEN OF CINEMA
During this meeting,
festival-goers will have an opportunity to talk with director
Micheline Lanctôt, producer Denise
Robert, photo director Sara
Mishara and Flavie
Payette-Renouf, director and granddaughter of Lise Payette.
November 21, 4:00 PM, Pavillon Judith-Jasmin (Salle
Pierre-Bourgault).
Meeting: PERRAULT AND BRAULT, SIAMESE TWINS
At this
meeting, Director André Labarthe will present his documentary
Pierre Perrault, l'action parlée
(1968) from the "Cinéastes de notre temps" collection.
Participating moderator: Gérald Duchaussoy.
November 21, 6:30 pm, Pavillon Judith-Jasmin (Salle
Pierre-Bourgault).
Guests
Several renowned guests from the
cinematographic scene will be in Montréal as part of Éléphant
ClassiQ, for the film projections and professional meetings. These
include: Nicolas Seydoux, President
of Gaumont; Danièle Thompson,
director (La bûche, Fauteuils d'orchestre) and
scriptwriter (Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob, La reine
Margot); Ariane Toscan du
Plantier, Director of Communications and Heritage at Gaumont and
daughter of producer Daniel Toscan
du Plantier; Nicolas Wadimoff, director (Clandestins,
Aisheen (chroniques de Gaza), Spartiates); Davide Pozzi, Director of the restoration
laboratory at Immagine Ritrovata; Serge
Toubiana, Director of the Cinémathèque française,
Rui Nogueira, film critic, former
festival director, André S. Labarthe, director, and Alain Juppé,
Mayor of Bordeaux (France).
Numerous Québec personalities will also attend these events:
Micheline Lanctôt, actress and director (Pour l'amour de
Dieu, Autrui); Claude
Fournier, director (J'en suis!, Je n'aime que
toi); Denise Robert, producer
(Les invasions barbares, Maurice
Richard, De père en flic); Flavie Payette-Renouf, director of the
documentary about her grandmother Lise Payette : Un peu
plus haut, un peu plus loin; Sara
Mishara, photo director (Tu dors Nicole, Félix et
Meira); director Marquise Lepage
(Marie s'en va-t-en ville, Martha qui vient du froid, Le
jardin oublié – La vie et l'œuvre d'Alice Guy-Blaché); director
Denis Chouinard (Clandestins,
L'ange de goudron, Délivrez-moi); actress Geneviève
Bujold (Entre la mer et l'eau douce, Pour l'amour de
Dieu, Chorus); actor Claude
Gauthier (Entre la mer et l'eau douce, Les
ordres); singer and actor Robert
Charlebois; director Denys
Arcand (Le déclin de l'empire américain, Les
invasions barbares, Le règne de la beauté); director
Jean-Claude Labrecque (A hauteur
d'homme, Infiniment Québec); actress Louise Latraverse (Entre la mer et l'eau
douce, Les ordres, A l'origine d'un cri);
Denise Bombardier, television host;
Marcel Jean, Director of the
Cinémathèque québécoise and Pierre-Karl Péladeau, leader of the
Parti Québécois.
Exhibits and hommage
Alice Guy
One hundred
and twenty years ago, Alice Guy, a
simple shorthand typist, discovered the cinema through a
demonstration of the cinematographer Lumière, and decided to
dedicate her life to it. In 1896, she directed her first film La
Fée aux choux and then was put in charge of all production at
Gaumont which is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year. The
first director in the history of cinema, she took part in the first
film colourization experiments and then opened her own studio,
Solax Film, in 1907 in the United
States. To honour this cinema pioneer, Éléphant ClassiQ will
present one of her films at the start of each session, including:
Chapellerie et charcuterie mécaniques, Comment Monsieur prend
son bain, Effets de mer, Faust et Méphistophélès, La fée aux
choux, Une histoire roulante, Les maçons and Le
tango.
Poster exhibit
In cooperation with Tribu grafik,
Éléphant ClassiQ has organized a poster competition which is open
to students attending Québec universities and professional graphic
artists in Québec. The jury, which is made up of graphic artists
and film personalities, selected the poster created by Laurent Pinabel, a French designer and
illustrator who has settled in Montréal, to represent the Éléphant
ClassiQ event, along with 19 other creations which festival-goers
will be able to discover at an exhibit which will take place in the
Espace musée at Québecor's head office, located at 612
Saint-Jacques in Montréal, and will be accessible until
December 18.
Gaumont exhibit at the Cinémathèque
québécoise
Gaumont, the oldest cinematographic company in
the world, was born at the same time as cinema and is celebrating
its 120th anniversary this year. For this occasion, an exhibit of
Gaumont's most beautiful posters and its masterpieces will be
presented to visitors at the Cinémathèque québécoise in
Montréal.
Tickets and general information
Tickets will be on
sale on-line at www.elephantclassiq.ca as well as by telephone at 1
855 506-4097. During the event, from November 19-22, sales outlets will also be
located at the la Cinémathèque québécoise and the Imperial Cinema,
where wickets will open one hour before each session.
Tickets will be sold at a flat rate of $7, with the exception of tickets for the film
Le Roi et l'Oiseau, which will be free for those under the
age of 18.
The meetings which will be held in the Salle Pierre-Bourgault of
UQAM's Pavillon Judith-Jasmin will be free and accessible to
all.
About Éléphant: The memory of Québec
cinema
Éléphant: The memory of Québec cinema,
launched by Quebecor on November 18,
2008, is a large-scale project dedicated to restoring and
digitizing in HD Québec's heritage of feature films, and making it
available to the public. To date, nearly 200 films have been
restored and digitized. It is a particular source of pride to
Éléphant that the films can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.
Once they have been restored and digitized, the movies can be
accessed via video on demand on Videotron's illico platform,
including channel 900, illico mobile and illico.tv. The films are
also being gradually added, in the original version with subtitles,
to iTunes in Canada, the U.S.,
France and all other European and
African countries where French or English is one of the official
languages.
The Éléphant website at www.elephant.canoe.ca contains the
largest existing database and information bank on Québec cinema.
Also produced under the aegis of Éléphant, the book Les images
que nous sommes, 60 ans de cinéma québécois by anthropologist
Serge Bouchard (Éditions de l'Homme)
provides an original and incisive history of 60 years of Québec
cinema. It is available in bookstores and in digital format. The
digital version, available on iTunes, includes 73 movie
excerpts.
Éléphant: The memory of Québec cinema is fully funded by
Quebecor. It is a philanthropic enterprise from which
Quebecor derives no financial benefit. Aside from a small amount to
cover a portion of the platform's operating costs, all revenues
from distribution of the movies on illico go to the rights holders
and filmmakers.
Acknowledgements and partners
Éléphant ClassiQ is presented by Québecor and thanks its major
partners: UQAM, Cinémathèque québécoise, Tribu grafik and Gestev as
well as all other official partners and suppliers without whom the
event would not have been possible.
Visit our website:
www.elephantclassiq.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @elephantcineqc
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/elephantcineqc
Join the conversation: #elephantclassiq
The media room will be located in UQAM's Pavillon Judith-Jasmin
(Annexe (JE), 1564 Saint-Denis) and will be open every day from
November 19-22 from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.
SOURCE Quebecor