From March 2 to 10, the Montreal International Children’s Film Festival will offer stops in around fifteen countries, with an eclectic program that promises to take families staying in Quebec during the school break.
In all, seven feature-length fiction films will compete for honors in the official competition, while eight short films will compete in the Canadian competition and nine others in the international competition.
Quebec film Echo in Delta, selected to open the festival, will kick off the festivities in grand style. A bursting, daring and deeply touching proposition, the work addresses the delicate question of mourning with skill and originality, offering material for discussions that are certainly difficult, but essential.
“We rarely dare to talk about death with our children, yet it is something with which they will necessarily have to learn to deal,” says the director, Patrick Boivin. With this film, I tried to show both the consequences of silence and the power of the imagination. I hope this sparks some nice thoughts. »
Different readings
Echo in Deltawhich has already won over audiences at international festivals in Germany, the Netherlands and Estonia, tells the story of Étienne, a 10-year-old boy with a fertile imagination who, with his little brother David, maintains a almost obsessive passion for extraterrestrials.
One stormy evening, while the two kids attempt to communicate with the inhabitants of space, an accident occurs. When Étienne regains consciousness, his father explains to him that his brother has left. Convinced that the latter was kidnapped by aliens, the eldest, helped by his friends, will do everything in his power to find him.
If adult viewers quickly grasp that little David will not reappear aboard a spaceship — bring your tissues! —, Patrick Boivin offers the youngest members of the public an exciting investigation full of twists and turns, big questions, mysteries and learning.
“When I was little, my father’s friend lost one of his children. I remember going to the funeral home and experiencing the whole thing with a mixture of incomprehension and lightness, recalls the filmmaker. I knew that the brothers and sisters of the deceased were sad, but I was unable to share this pain, I experienced it with a distance, even with a kind of magic. There was incredible creative potential there to compose a story comprising different reading levels. »
A bold staging
Although he is addressing a youth audience for the first time, Patrick Boivin, who says he is inspired by the cinema of Robert Morin, does not hesitate to use processes that have made his mark – both in his short footage as well as in the sketches broadcast on his popular YouTube account – processes which serve his purpose admirably.
The staging, which is mainly based on real shots, is therefore energized by animations, special effects and comic and playful elements which give the work a dreamlike aspect and wonderfully transpose the modes of thought of the ‘childhood.
“The screenwriter, Jean-Daniel Desroches, approached me in particular because he had magical ambitions with this project. I like poetry, allegories on screen. I find that you can say a lot without saying a word. We developed the story by considering the strengths I had, without setting limits. We did everything ourselves. »
As a true one-man band, Patrick Boivin therefore wears, in addition to that of director, the hats of animator, special effects designer and director of photography. “When filming resumed after COVID, we lost our director of photography, who went to work on another project. I would have preferred not to play this role, even though I knew I could do it. Ultimately, I’m proud of the result, but it could have been even more beautiful. »
However, the film does not lack spectacular panoramas and scenes as touching as they are amusing, where origami figurines come to life and where beams of light show reality in a new light.
These magical aspects also allow the filmmaker to take some liberties on the narrative level, to create characters and situations which, in the real world, would raise questions, thus leaving the children presented on the screen a latitude and an autonomy which make credible story. “We took risks, but we really wanted to adopt Étienne’s point of view, without thinking about the realism of the thing. To portray his learnings, his emotions, the isolation he feels, we dove deep into the allegory, hoping that people would get on board. »
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