Young filmmaker Vincent René-Lortie will have the honor of representing Quebec at the next Oscars ceremony, on March 10, in Hollywood. His first movie, Invincible, was selected Tuesday among the five finalists for the prize for best short fiction film.
The 30-year-old director was still floating on cloud nine when The newspaper met him Tuesday noon in a Montreal restaurant. A few hours earlier, Vincent René-Lortie had gathered several members of his film’s team to follow live the announcement of the nominations for the 96e Oscar ceremony.
“It was a super touching moment, and very emotional,” confided the filmmaker.
“I can’t believe I went through all this today. It was a big year for short films, with films from big-name directors like Wes Anderson and Pedro Almodovar. It was big caliber, so I didn’t believe we would make it this far in the race. I’m really touched. It’s big, the Oscars… It’s a childhood dream come true.”
Inspired by a True Story, Invincible looks back on the last 48 hours in the life of Marc-Antoine Bernier, a young 14-year-old boy who finds himself confronted with his crying need for freedom.
“It’s inspired by the story of one of my childhood friends who died at 14,” explains Vincent René-Lortie.
- Listen to the interview with Vincent René-Lortie, director of the Oscar-nominated short film Invincible, via QUB :
“In the last year before he passed away, I lost touch with him a bit and there were a lot of things I didn’t understand about his death. With the film, I wanted to reconnect with him and talk about a universal subject: mental health.”
TELESCOPE FILMS
The film, which stars Léokim Beaumier-Lépine, Ralph Prosper, Élia St-Pierre, Isabelle Blais and Pierre-Luc Brillant, has already shone at several festivals around the world, including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival ( where he won the Special Prize of the International Jury), the REGARD Festival (Grand Prize of the Jury) and the Portuguese festival Curtas Vila do Conde.
Invincible also won the prize for best short fiction film at the Gala Québec Cinéma last month. A few weeks ago, director Philippe Falardeau, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2012 for his film Mr Lazhar, announced its support for the Quebec short film in its campaign for an Oscar nomination.
In recent years, several Quebec short films have received Oscar nominations, including Wildcat by Jeremy Comte (in 2019), Daisy by Marianne Farley (2019), Brotherhood by Meryam Joobeur (2020) and Henry by Yan England (2013).
Invincible isn’t the only Canadian film to land an Oscar nomination this year. The feature film To Kill a Tigera co-production of the National Film Board (NFB) directed by Torontonian Nisha Pahuja, earned a place among the five finalists for the best documentary award.
The 96e The Oscars ceremony will take place on March 10 in Hollywood.