There are films for the youngest or for the oldest, but I have the impression that, since Contes pour tous, there have not really been films for pre-teens in Quebec
deplores Charlotte St-Martin, who plays Justine in the film, a 12-year-old girl who hopes to see her parents divorce.
It’s a total void, adds Pierre-Luc Brillant, who plays his father in the film and who began his career in Conte pour tous Combines et Cie piggy bank in 1992. When we were young, there was at least one movie [de ce type] per year.
With No chicane in my cabin!Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers wanted to offer a film to children. They too deserve to see themselves on screen and to have films that deal with issues they encounter in their schoolyard
she points out.
Quebec films for children and pre-teens have been so rare in recent years that in 26 years of existence, the Montreal International Children’s Film Festival (FIFEM) has presented only three new Quebec feature films. For a long time I survived with shorts [pour intégrer des films québécois à la programmation]
says Jo-Anne Blouin, the general and artistic director of the festival.
Children raised in American cinema
As a result, young people in Quebec often grow up being immersed in American children’s films. They watch Netflix, Disney+ and superhero movies
, notes the producer and screenwriter Dominic James, who has four children himself and who has been at the head of Productions La Fête for a few years. This production house was created by Rock Demers, the late producer of Tales for All.
At some point, we lost our values in there, he continues. Les Contes pour tous were films that conveyed our values and in which we could recognize ourselves.
Recently, he went to meet children in a school and a little girl told him that being able to recognize herself in the characters was what she had liked the most in The tuque war.
He thinks that live-action films allow a greater identification of the spectators than animated films.
When you invest yourself emotionally in the quest for a protagonist in whom you can recognize yourself, because he speaks like you and lives in a universe in which you recognize yourself, it is sure that this creates a stronger emotional bond and a sense of belonging.
Preparing the next generation of Quebec cinema for adults
And the void left by Tales for All is detrimental to Quebec cinema as a whole. We have lost a generation, observes Jo-Anne Blouin. People who are now in their twenties or thirties don’t go to see Quebec films.
If since they were very young, they just see American films, there is little chance that at 14, they will say to themselves: “I am going to see a Quebec film”, she adds. Investing in children’s films is the best way to ensure a bright future for Quebec cinema.
How did we get here? [Des gens du milieu du cinéma] left children’s films to Rock Demers saying to themselves: “we take care of real cinema”
regrets Jo-Anne Blouin.
At some point, animated films from the United States took over the market and we quietly stopped making good live-action films for families.
believes Dominic James.
The return of Tales for all
However, the tide is turning. I see a light at the end of the tunnel
says Jo-Anne Blouin, who thinks that the Quebec film community has become aware of the economic potential that Quebec children’s films can represent, as evidenced by the success of Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa. This animated film, produced in Quebec and released in 2021, has been sold in more than 100 countries.
Les Productions La Fête are preparing no less than four new Tales for everyone, including Miss Bootiewhich will be a film derived from Bach and Bootie.
I believe in it, says Dominic James. We see the enthusiasm of the people approached to work on these next Tales for all. Everyone is excited!
It was impossible for me to think that it wouldn’t come back and that we wouldn’t see other Tales for All that were going to make us dream and grow.
Jo-Anne Blouin now hopes that the next Quebec children’s films will not all be released at the same time during spring break, but more regularly throughout the year, in order to build audience loyalty. The more movies there are, the more people will enjoy them.
With information from Louis-Philippe Ouimet
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca