(Berlin) When she was a child, Zoé Pelchat liked to watch Steven Spielberg films with her father. On Monday, the young Quebec filmmaker presented her film in world premiere Gaby the hills at the Berlin International Film Festival. On Tuesday, the filmmaker of Schindler’s List And The Fabelmans will receive an honorary Golden Bear from the Berlinale.
” Jurassic Park was one of our favorite movies. We have watched it so many times. I think my father, who adored Steven Spielberg, would have been proud to see me here,” Zoé Pelchat told me, a sob in her voice.
Zoé’s father, Martin, was one of my mentors at The Press. He was a division manager when I was a young general news reporter. It was, as the German word has it in its Yiddish interpretation: a mensch (a man of integrity and honor). A calm, well-liked and respected leader in the newsroom. A pillar of the shadows, with a keen sense of humor and sure judgment, who was a manager, at the Sun and to The Press. He died of cancer in 2020, aged 58.
Martin had been very moved when his daughter had won the Prize for the best digital series at the Canneseries Festival for his web series Dominoin 2018. The previous short film by her daughter, Moon, was selected in competition at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2020, before being presented in around forty festivals. But she could not accompany him anywhere due to the pandemic. Not even in Quebec.
The 33-year-old filmmaker, trained in communications at Concordia University and in directing at INIS, was able to see, for the very first time, one of her professional films in the company of an audience. Several artisans of Gaby the hills are on site in Berlin, including editor Amélie Labrèche (Nadia Butterfly, Noémie says yes), who had the honor of being chosen this year among the “young talents” of the Berlinale.
There is worse, as a baptism of fire, than a world premiere in one of the four biggest festivals on the planet. ” It was wonderful ! says Zoe Pelchat. I loved it. The movie theater [Zoo Palast] is magnificent, all red velvet with a golden pleated curtain. I have never seen anything like this! »
She did not sleep the day before her premiere, too feverish at the idea of finally meeting her audience. Gaby the hillswhich features the young Lou Thompson, was selected in the section Generation of the Berlinale, aimed at a young audience. Monday’s was particularly receptive. “There’s a bunch of teenagers who asked Lou for autographs after the screening. It was really touching. »
Zoé Pelchat’s short film, a comic and charming, subtle and relevant initiatory story, tells the story of a 13-year-old Montreal teenager who visits her father (Emmanuel Bilodeau) like every summer in the Magdalen Islands. . But this summer is not like the others…
“It’s a film about the shift that you can experience with your body at the time of puberty,” explains the author-filmmaker. Gaby’s body has grown faster than her and she’s not prepared to handle the stares and reactions it gets from others. »
The one who reacts the most strongly is her childhood friend, “Ant” (Gaspard Chartrand), with whom she would like to play soccer as usual, but who pushes her away, intimidated by this redhead who now exceeds him by two heads. Other teenagers instead cast leering glances at her or take inspiration from her figure to compose saucy songs. Because yes, the hills mentioned in the title of the film refer to Gaby’s chest.
“Your body is a battlefield,” her mother-in-law (Catherine De Léan) tells her, after giving her a low-cut summer dress that has its effect on the restaurant’s young waiter (Robin L’Houmeau ). The college student will notice, during their conversation, that Gaby is less mature than she looks.
The sibylline phrase at the heart of Gaby the hills is inspired by the work Your Body Is A Battleground by American artist Barbara Kruger, explains Zoé Pelchat. “The female body has always been very politicized. It is a symbol of many fights. The film talks about the negotiations that you have to make as a woman with everyone, from a very young age. »
The filmmaker had, unlike Gaby, a late puberty and a rather tortured adolescence. “I worked for almost ten years in the restaurant business. This was before #metoo. Microaggressions, sexist comments, I have experienced them as all women experience them. In a society that is more egalitarian than others like Quebec, it presents itself in a more pernicious way. »
Like the character of Emmanuel Bilodeau in his film, a father who is both loving and committed, Zoé Pelchat noticed on the set of Gaby the hills the reassuring presence of several fathers, including those of certain actors and members of the technical team.
“There were plenty of dads! I felt like my dad was there,” says the director, whose next short film, Atlantis, will be presented at the Regard sur le court festival next month. Zoé Pelchat also has in her boxes a feature film project, on the story of her brother, a fruit picker in the Okanagan Valley.
His family inspires him. I noticed, moved, at the very end of the credits of Gaby the hills, his thanks to “the incomparable Martin Pelchat”. It’s an adjective that describes him well, I think. I’m sure your father would be very proud, Zoe.