The well-known Canadian director and screenwriter Philippe Lesage will be the president of this year’s Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF) Jury. Originally a documentary filmmaker, Philippe Lesage entered narrative cinema in the 2010s with the films Copenhague: A Love Story , The Demons (Les Démons) and Genesis (Genèse). Genesis has won numerous awards including the Golden Wolf (New Cinema Festival, Montreal), Best Film and Best Director Awards at Seminci in Valladolid (Spain) and Best Film at Los Cabos International Film (Mexico) . The film was also selected at the renowned Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films Festival, AFI FEST and the Rotterdam Film Festival. Metacritic ranked it the 16th best film of 2019.
RETROSPECTIVE![]()
FESTIVAL SECTION: RETROSPECTIVE
Who by fire/ Comme le feu
Jeff is invited by his friend Max to travel deep in the woods and stay at the isolated estate of acclaimed director Blake Cadieux. He has high expectations for the trip:
Cadieux is an artist he greatly admires – plus Aliocha, Max’s older sister, with whom he is secretly in love, is also coming. The untouched and hostile forest and the director’s huge cabin become the territory where the youthful search for ideals and freedom confronts the wounded egos of the adults.
WITH: Noah PARKER, Aurelia ARANDI-LONGPRE, Antoine MARCHAND-GAGNON, Arieh WORTHALTER, Paul AHMARANI, Sophie DESMARAIS, Laurent LUCAS, Irene JACOB
Produced by Productions l’unité centrale, Shellac Sud
GENESIS / GENÈSE
A film by Philippe LESAGE
2018 – Canada – Drama – 130′
Three teenagers are shaken up by their first loves in the turmoil of their youth. At a time when others are conforming, they stand their ground and assert their right to love and be free.
WITH: Noée ABITA, Théodore PELLERIN, Jules ROY-SICOTTE, Maxime DUMONTIER, Edouard TREMBLAY-GRENIER, Émilie BIERRE, Pier-Luc FUNK, Vassili SCHNEIDER, Mylène MACKAY
Producer – Galilé MARION-GAUVIN
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS +
Valladolid IFF 2018 – Golden Spike Award, Best Director Award & Best Actor Award
2018 Los Cabos IFF – Best Film Award
FIFF Namur 2018 – Best Actor Award
Festival du Nouveau Cinema 2018 – Louve D’Or Award, Best Actor Award
2018 CPH PIX – Denmark Audience Award
The Demons / Les démons
A film by Philippe Lesage
2015, 1h 58m
Montréal is in the midst of a series of kidnappings of young boys, and Félix, at ten, is just finishing up the year at school. Gradually, his “imaginary demons” start to reflect those of the remarkably troubling and disruptive world around him.
WITH: Édouard Tremblay-Grenier, Pier-Luc Funk, Vassili Schneider