Filmmaker Vincent René-Lortie, aged 30, has just achieved quite a feat. His first movie, Invinciblewas selected among the five finalists for the Oscar for best short fiction film.
To be part of this select group – with among others a certain Wes Anderson, who directed the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar –, the young filmmaker has defied all predictions by finishing films like Strange Way of Lifeby Pedro Almodóvar, or even The Shepherdby Iain Softley (with Ben Radcliffe and John Travolta).
Quebec films dead catby Annie-Claude Caron and Danick Audet, and Oasisby Justine Martin, which were part of the list of 15 preselected films, were excluded from the final selection.
Tuesday morning, Vincent René-Lortie was in the Montreal offices of distributor h264, with the producers of Téléscope Films and the entire film team.
“It was 8:30 a.m.,” the filmmaker tells us. The finalists were revealed at 5:30 a.m. in Los Angeles, it was live and it went really fast, it was like tearing off a tape. When I heard the name of the movie, I screamed, then I cried. It was an incredible moment because honestly, we didn’t expect it. »
A personal story
Invincible is inspired by a very personal story, that of his friend Marc-Antoine Bernier, who died tragically at the age of 14 after spending about a year in a youth center. He died following a runaway, which turned into a police chase, his car ending up in the Rivière des Prairies.
“This story really resonated with me,” Vincent René-Lortie tells us. When I finished my studies at Concordia, I knew I was going to make a film about this story. About six years ago, I got in touch with his family, and I started writing the screenplay, which is based on his story. But it is above all Marc’s energy and his sensitivity that I wanted to highlight. »
Le jeune Léokim Beaumier-Lépine, qui incarne le personnage de Marc, a sans aucun doute contribué au succès du film lancé en 2022 au Festival du nouveau cinéma, et qui a remporté quelques prix dans le circuit des festivals depuis, dont le prix du meilleur court métrage de fiction au Festival du film jeunesse de Chicago ou encore le prix spécial du jury au Festival du court métrage de Clermont-Ferrand.
Invincible a également remporté le prix Iris du meilleur film court de fiction québécois l’an dernier.
« Au moment du tournage, Léokim avait presque l’âge de Marc, nous dit Vincent René-Lortie. Il avait 15 ans. C’est un garçon qui est très proche de ses émotions et qui comprenait très bien le personnage de Marc. C’est vrai qu’il porte le film sur ses épaules pendant 30 minutes. Il a reçu des prix à Montréal [Prends ça court] and in Brussels. He can play emotions that very few young people can play at that age. »
The actors Isabelle Blais and Pierre-Luc Brillant also play the roles of his parents.
By investing in the writing of the film and with the hindsight necessary to shoot it, Vincent René-Lortie admits to having been able to mourn the loss of his friend, even if he regrets today having distanced himself from him in the last months of his life.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Filmmaker Vincent René-Lortie, whose short film is an Oscar finalist
“In the last year [de sa vie], I saw him less because he was in a youth center. He was no longer the same person, he was difficult to follow, but Marc was someone important in my life, I have many beautiful memories with him,” tells us the filmmaker who sealed a solid friendship with him at Collège Mont-Saint-Louis, where they met.
Marc-Antoine Bernier’s family followed all stages of the film’s production, up to the final editing.
“I gave them a private screening at their home, before the film was released,” Vincent René-Lortie tells us. They have to live with this grief all their lives, so it was important for me that they were comfortable with the film. Afterwards, they attended almost all the screenings that took place in Montreal. I don’t want to put words in their mouths, but I think it allowed them to reconnect a little with Marc. »
The distributor h264 is in its third Oscar selection, after Daisyby Marianne Farley, and Wildcat by Jérémy Comte in 2019. We asked Jean-Christophe Lamontagne if there was a winning “recipe” to get to the final of the Holy Grail of cinema.
“It’s difficult to say,” he replies. Wildcat had been presented at every major festival, from Sundance to SXSW, winning several awards, and Daisy, which had been rejected in these festivals, had instead been screened in niche festivals, and despite everything, it was noticed. So, no, there is no recipe, you just have to find the right path for each film, even if fundamentally, there must of course be a universal language that can reach everyone, which is the case of these three films. »
Filmmaker Philippe Falardeau publicly supported Vincent René-Lortie’s film, a “plus” for the young director who submitted a first independent film in the Oscar race. “Philippe really liked Invincibleand as he has already been nominated for an Oscar for his film Mr. Lazhar [en 2011]it’s sure that it helped us, because the other films were supported by big studios, Sony, Disney, Netflix…”
As you always have to be one step ahead, Vincent René-Lortie has been working for a year on a feature film project which bears the working title What separates us. “This is the project that keeps me awake at night. » The filmmaker does not want to talk too much about it, but it will be a fiction which will once again explore the theme of mental health, but “from a personal point of view”. He co-wrote the screenplay with screenwriter and director Clara Milo.
But in a few weeks, he will put all that aside to go to Los Angeles with his entire production team (Samuel Caron and Élise Lardinois) and distribution team (Jean-Christophe Lamontagne and Justine Baillargeon), in order to grant the more interviews to talk about his film.
“I’m going to try to experience it to the fullest, I’m going to meet the other nominated directors, so I’m really looking forward to it. » The Oscars party takes place on March 10.
Invincible will be broadcast in the coming weeks on AppleTV, Unis.TV and Arte.
A nomination for the NFB
PHOTO MRINAL DESAI, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Nisha Pahuja
The ONF also did well by collecting a 78e Oscar nomination. To Kill a Tiger by Nisha Pahuja is in the running for the Oscar for best documentary feature film. The film tells the story of Ranjit, a farmer from Jharkhand, who embarks on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, a survivor of sexual assault.
“I am absolutely delighted with the nomination of To Kill a Tiger for an Oscar. This is an extraordinary honor for the creative team who followed this eight-year journey,” said Nisha Pahuja, producer, writer and director of the film in a press release.
Among other Canadian nominations, the late Toronto musician Robbie Robertson was nominated for his work on the music of Killers of the Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese. Nova Scotia filmmaker Ben Proudfoot received a nomination in the best documentary short category for co-directing The Last Repair Shop.
With The Canadian Press