First day of shooting of Benoit Pilon’s new film Iqaluit
Montreal, Aug. 19, 2015 – Tomorrow will mark the first day of shooting of Iqaluit, the new film by Quebec writer-‐director Benoit Pilon. Produced by the ACPAV (Quebec’s audiovisual production cooperative, based in Montreal) and co-‐produced by Piksuk Media (in Nunavut), the film stars Marie-‐Josée Croze and Natar Ungalaaq as well as several Nunavut actors and artists, including Paul Nutarariaq and, in her screen debut, Christine Tootoo. François Papineau and Sébastien Huberdeau co-‐star.
Natar Ungalaaq (winner of the best-‐actor Jutra in 2009) starred in Pilon’s previous film, The Necessities of Life (also produced by the ACPAV), which won the Jutra for best film as well as the Jutra for best script (by Bernard Émond, with Pilon’s participation).
Travelling to the Far North for the first time, Carmen (Marie-‐Josée Croze) arrives in Iqaluit to tend to her husband, Gilles (François Papineau), a labourer who has been seriously injured. Trying to get to the bottom of what happened, she strikes up a friendship with his Inuk friend Noah (Natar Ungalaaq) and realizes they share a similar story. Together, Carmen and Noah head out to Frobisher Bay – she, looking for answers to her questions; he, trying to stop his son from committing what can’t be undone.
Shooting of Iqaluit will last through Sept. 29 at various locations in and around the town. The film will be shot in three languages: Inuktitut, French and English.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in cinema from Concordia University, in 1988 Benoit Pilon helped found the Quebec production company Les Films de l’autre. Among his many credits there, he directed La rivière rit (1987), Regards volés (1994), Rosaire et la Petite-‐Nation (1997), and 3 Soeurs en 2 temps (2003), as well as 15 episodes of the TV series Réseaux (1998-‐99). Roger Toupin, épicier variété (2003), his third documentary feature, won a number of prizes in Canada and abroad, including the Jutra for best Quebec documentary in 2004 and the Bayard d’or for best documentary at the Namur International Francophone Film Festival in Belgium. He followed up with the documentary Nestor et les oubliés (2006) and the drama Décharge (2011).
Iqaluit’s director of photography is Michel La Veaux, Patrice Bengle is artistic director, and Francesca Chamberland is in charge of costumes.
Iqaluit is written and directed by Benoit Pilon. The film is produced by Bernadette Payeur, Robert Lacerte and Marc Daigle for the ACPAV Corporation Inc. (Quebec) and co-‐produced by Charlotte Dewolff for Piksuk Media (Nunavut), with financial support from the SODEC (Société de développement des entreprises culturelles – Québec),
Telefilm Canada, Bell Media’s Harold Greenberg Fund, and federal and provincial tax-‐ credit programs, in collaboration with Nunavut Film Development Corporation, Technicolor Creative Services and First Air.
Distributed by Seville Films, a subsidiary of Entertainment One, and represented in the
U.S. and abroad by Seville International, Iqaluit will be open in Canadian cinemas in 2016.
Photos : http://bit.ly/1MulZYk
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Information : IXION Communication 514 495 8176, info@ixioncommunications.com Information Les Films Séville :
Annie Tremblay, vice-‐présidente aux communications 514.878.4979 / atremblay@filmsseville.com
About Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a leading international entertainment company that specializes in the acquisition, production and distribution of film and television content. The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Spain, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Film and Television divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming, merchandising and licensing, and digital content. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 40,000 film and television titles, 4,500 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks
Headquartered in Montréal, Les Films Séville is the leading distributor of film content in Québec. An important partner of the Quebec film industry and a subsidiary of Entertainment One, Les Films Séville has also emerged as the largest distributor of Québec films internationally through its affiliate Seville International.
Seville International is the company’s Montreal-‐based international film distribution boutique specializing in strong independent films with crossover potential and arthouse films with award pedigree from Québec, Canada and around the world.