Three years after being nominated for an Oscar with her film Daisy, Quebec filmmaker Marianne Farley once again shines abroad with her most recent short film, Frost, which has had a good run on the international festival circuit.
Since its world premiere last June at the REGARD Festival in Saguenay, Frost has been presented in around twenty festivals around the world including those in Rome, Namur (in Belgium), Trouville (in France) and Rhode Island (in the United States).
The 20-minute film starring Karine Gonthier-Hyndman was also recently named Best Short Fiction at the Miami Short Film Festival. Interesting fact: Marianne Farley won that same award in Miami three years ago with her previous short film, Daisy.
Polarizing subject
Interviewed at Newspaper, Marianne Farley admits that she did not know what kind of reaction to expect when she presented Frost in a conservative state like Florida. This is because his film deals with a very polarizing subject in the United States: the right to abortion. Frost, a thriller, features a young woman who has an illegal abortion in a dystopian Quebec where abortion is once again criminalized.
“Of course, I had apprehensions going to present my film to an audience in Florida, but at the same time, I made this short film precisely because I wanted to provoke discussions,” explains the filmmaker.
“I have to say that in general the film was very well received. I think the people who go to festivals are open-minded. But I still had some less positive reactions after the screening from spectators who did not share the same point of view as me on abortion. But I remained very calm and explained to them why I considered the right to abortion to be fundamental and important for women’s health. “
Towards the Oscars?
Thanks to his award winning Miami and the fact that he recently appeared in a movie theater in Los Angeles, Frost is one of a long list of films eligible for an Oscar nomination for Best Short Fiction. We will know in a few weeks if the short film by Marianne Farley is shortlisted for the Oscars. But until then, the filmmaker keeps a cool head.
“I already lived an Oscar race three years ago and if, luckily, it happened again, I think I would not live it at all the same way,” she says.
” With Daisy, it was really a whirlwind. Today, the big Hollywood machine scares me a little less. But for now, I’m trying to be detached from it. An Oscar nomination, I know it’s something that can’t be controlled: it happens or it doesn’t. “