Canada’s presence at this year’s Cannes festival promises to be extra exciting, full of content, stories, talent, and opportunities. We’ve rounded up all your must-sees and must-dos, from premieres to networking events, and of course, our Canada Pavilion. The 76th Festival de Cannes runs from May 16 to 27, 2023, alongside the Marché du film, May 16 to 24.
First, Canadian films and filmmakers:
- In the official selection of Un Certain Regard is Monia Chokri’s The Nature of Love (Simple comme Sylvain). This is the Canadian actress and filmmaker’s third directorial feature and second selection at the fest. In 2019, her debut feature A Brother’s Love (La femme de mon frère) won an Un Certain Regard – Jury Coup de Coup Coeur award. And last year, she sat on the Cannes Short Film Jury.
- Showing in the Directors’ Fortnight selection is Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames. This Canadian feature shot in Pakistan is the very first Telefilm Talent to Watch-supported project to make it to Cannes! (P.S. Check out our spotlight on producer Shant Joshi, this way.)
- Following its 2022 showcase at last year’s Marché du Film as part of the Docs-in-Progress Canada Showcase, Justine Harbonnier’s feature documentary Caiti Blues has been invited to parallel sidebar ACID Cannes.
- And Canadian actress and filmmaker Charlotte Le Bon (who premiered her debut directorial feature Falcon Lake at last year’s Cannes) is part of this year’s Short Film Jury!
Canadian presence at Marché du film
With 12,500 attendees from more than 121 countries, you won’t want to miss this year’s Cannes Film Market (Marché du film)! We’ve got more than 400 Canadians attending the Market, loads of Canadian programming, networking events, showcases, screenings and more!
Canada Pavilion
The heart of the Canadian action is the Canada Pavilion, located in the Marché du Film’s International Village!
Want to meet with a Canadian producer or director? Eager to explore coproduction opportunities or Canadian projects seeking international partners? Or just want to discover what we’re all about? You’re in the right place! Our Canada Pavilion houses the best of Canada’s audiovisual industry, content, stories, and talent.
impACT Lab
Two Canadian producers are participating in this year’s impACT Lab workshop series (celebrating its second year of existence), presented by the Cannes Film Market.
- Nach Dudsdeemaytha (Musubi Arts), is a Thai Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, currently developing the feature film Akashi.
- Sibel Guvenc (Kybele Films) is a Turkish-Canadian director, writer, and producer based in Toronto and will spotlight her first feature, Loya.
Docs-in-Progress Showcase Canada
Presented by Telefilm Canada, in partnership with RIDM (Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal), this year’s diverse Canadian selection consists of four projects in their final production stages, ready for distribution deals:
- Sean Devlin’s Asog (Produced by Amanda Ernst, Beb Bingo Entertainment)
- Laurence Lévesque’s Mama no himitsu (Produced by Rosalie Chicoine-Perreault, Catherine Boily, Metafilms)
- Sonya Ballantyne and Stephan Peterson’s The Death Tour (Produced by Sergeo Kirby, Loaded Pictures and Stacey Tenenbaum, H2L Productions)
- The Soldier’s Lagoon (Directed and produced by Pablo Alvarez-Mesa)
Not Short on Talent
Presented at the Short Film Corner, this collection of seven Canadian short films reminds us of what it means to be human. The Not Short on Talent programme aims to increase the visibility of new Canadian short films and promote talent to international delegates, from buyers to festivals curators, and more.
- Derek Kwan’s 100 Days
- Catherine Boivin’s 6 minutes/km
- Teyama Alkamli’s I Never Promised You a Jasmine Garden
- Dada’s Joie de vivre
- Olivier Côté’s Les rois
- Karen Knox’s The Comics
- Vanessa Magic’s The Future Above Us
Discover these short films in our article, right here.
Frontières
Organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival in partnership with the Marché du film, the Frontières platform is all about the genre film industry and focused on financing and coproduction opportunities between North America and Europe.
Frontières – Proof of Concept:
We’ve got two Canadian projects in this showcase of seven teaser videos from projects in advanced financing stages, seeking potential partners.
- Peter Ricq’s Dark Tide (produced by Hangar 18 Media, GoodBye Productions, League Productions)
- Zach Gayn’s The Second Woman (produced by Precious Chong, Party Hunks)
Frontières – Buyers Showcase:
And three projects in this showcase of works-in-progress or recently completed films seeking international distribution and sales deals, as well as festival selection.
- RKSS (Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell, François Simard)’s We Are Zombies, a France-Canada coproduction produced by Laurent Baudens, Full House; Christian Larouche, Christal Film Productions; Fabrice Giger, Pierre Spengler, Humanoids, inc.
- Annick Blanc’s Hunting Daze (Jour de chasse), produced by Maria Gracia-Turgeon; Midi La Nuit
- Siluck Saysanasy’s Den Mother Crimson, produced by J. Joly; Cinecoup, George Assimakopoulos, Katarina Kovecses; Branded to Film
Goes to Cannes
Selected by Queer Screen – Mardi Gras Film Festival, we’ve got one Canadian project in this selection of films seeking festivals, agents, and distributors.
Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen Of My Dreams
Produced by Tiger’s Eye Pictures, Shut Up & Colour Pictures, Baby Daal Productions
International Indigenous co-production forum
The Canada Pavilion will host the very first International Indigenous Co-Production Forum, organized by the Indigenous Screen Office and Ontario Creates. On the agenda: panels discussions, roundtables, and more; creating opportunities and connections for 18 Indigenous producers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Greenland, and northern Europe to connect with each other and key industry professionals.
(By invitation only)*
