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Mafia Inc Film Movement Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Daneil Grou Writer: André Cédilot, Sylvain Guy, André Noël Mafia Inc: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada’s Sicilian Clan by journalists André Cédilot and André Noël, Cast: Sergio Castellitto, Marc-André Grondin, Gilbert Sicotte, Mylèlen Mackay, Donny Falsetti Screened at: […]

The post Mafia Inc Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Though there haven’t been a lot of movies about it, the tentacles of Italy-based organized crime duly reach above Scorsese territory to the even-more-frequently-Frozen North. If not for the French dialogue, however, you wouldn’t necessarily know “Mafia Inc” were taking place in Quebec, or even Canada, so familiar and insular is the brutal syndicate business depicted here. This solid mob drama is based on journalists Andre Cedilot and Andre Noel’s best-selling nonfiction tome of the same name, which had the self-explanatory subtitle “The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada’s Sicilian Clan.”

Somewhat fictionalizing a few elements from that decades-spanning exposé, “Mafia Inc” isn’t the most stylistically flamboyant, violent or memorable specimen within its screen genre. But it does provide an engrossing thicket of criminal intrigue that ultimately comes down to a conflict between two families, one headed by veteran Italian star Sergio Castellitto, the other by native son Marc-André Grondin.

"Godfather or Pope, I don't want to see you or your family of crooks!" Film Movement has released the official US trailer for mafia crime drama Mafia Inc, made in Montreal by filmmaker Quebecois filmmaker Daniel Grou. Set in Montreal in the 90s, the film tells the story of the Gamache family, tailors for the Paternò Mafia family for generations. Vince works on behalf of Frank the godfather with his eldest son, and seeks to earn his stripes by impressing him, but goes too far and ends up starting a war. Based on the book with the subtitle: "The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada's Sicilian Clan." Starring Marc-André Grondin as Vince, along with Sergio Castellitto, Cristina Rosato, Benz Antoine, Mylène Mackay, Domenic Di Rosa, Gilbert Sicotte, Mark Day, Pina Di Blasi, Rafael Petardi, & Ali Hassan. This actually looks pretty good, with all the usual mafia tropes, but still cool to...

Montreal’s underworld is the focus for this meaty flick about a crime boss aiming to set up a money-spinning project in the old country

This unexpectedly absorbing gangster movie is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by André Cédilot and André Noël that delved into Montreal’s organised crime world. Set in the 1990s but with flashbacks to the 80s, the film revolves around Francesco “Frank” Paterno (a silky Sergio Castellitto), an affable local godfather whose great ambition is to build a bridge back in the old country between Sicily and the Italian mainland, and thoroughly skim off all the money such a massive project will produce. To bankroll it, he has all sorts of funds squirrelled away in offshore accounts, but slippery accountants are skimming off the top, and there’s major trouble brewing between his son and chosen successor, Giaco (Donny Falsetti), and upcoming...

Film Movement, Level 33 among Us buyers.

Heading into the Cannes virtual market, busy WaZabi Films has closed Us and European sales on Mafia Inc, a key territory on Cannes official selection Nadia Butterfly, and a North American deal on Broken Mirrors starring Unorthodox breakout Shira Haas.

The Montreal-based sales outfit run by Anick Poirier and Lorne Price has licensed Us rights on Mafia Inc to Film Movement in the Us, Koba Films in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and French-speaking Switzerland, and One 2 See in Dutch-speaking Benelux.

Film Movement plans a digital launch in early winter later this year.

Daniel Grou directed...

Film Movement, Level 33 among Us buyers.

Heading into the Cannes virtual market, busy WaZabi Films has closed Us and European sales on Mafia Inc, a key territory on Cannes official selection Nadia Butterfly, and a North American deal on Broken Mirrors starring Unorthodox breakout Shira Haas.

The Montreal-based sales outfit run by Anick Poirier and Lorne Price has licensed Us rights on Mafia Inc to Film Movement in the Us, Koba Films in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and French-speaking Switzerland, and One 2 See in Dutch-speaking Benelux.

Film Movement plans a digital launch in early winter later this year.

Daniel Grou directed...

Skipping school certainly contains its perks. First time actress (and climate change activist) Sara Montpetit has landed the lead role in Sébastien Pilote‘s fourth feature film, Maria Chapdelaine. The young thesp beat out about one thousand plus hopefuls for the role; she’ll be surrounded by Hélène Florent, Sébastien Ricard, Émile Schneider, Antoine-Olivier Pilon (Xavier Dolan’s Mommy), Robert Naylor (Denis Côté’s Ghost Town Anthology), Gilbert Sicotte (who played the lead in Pilote’s Cannes selected Le Vendeur), Gabriel Arcand with additional parts going to Henri Picard, Martin Dubreuil, Danny Gilmore, Arno Lemay, Charlotte St-Martin, Thomas Haché, and Xavier Rivard-Désy.…...

"We'll make a lot more money by working together than by shooting each other." eOne has released the official trailer for a crime drama from Quebec titled Mafia Inc, based on the book of the same name. This film is opening in Canada this week, but doesn't have any Us release planned just yet. Set in Montreal in the 90s, the film tells the story of the Gamache family, tailors for the Paternò Mafia family for generations. Vince works on behalf of Frank the godfather with his eldest son, and seeks to earn his stripes by impressing him, but goes too far and ends up starting a war. Based on the book with the subtitle: "The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada's Sicilian Clan." Starring Marc-André Grondin as Vince, along with Sergio Castellitto, Cristina Rosato, Benz Antoine, Mylène Mackay, Domenic Di Rosa, Gilbert Sicotte, Mark Day, Pina Di Blasi, Rafael Petardi,...

Slate includes Advantages Of Travelling By Train, Below.

Montreal-based Seville International arrives at Efm with a packed sales slate led by new additions The Last Right, 14 Days, 12 Nights and Mafia Inc.

Comedy drama The Last Right shooting now in Ireland stars Michiel Huisman, Niamh Algar, Samuel Bottomley, Colm Meaney, Brian Cox, Jim Norton in the tale of a reluctant stranger tasked with driving a corpse across Ireland for a burial, who in the process evades the police, finds love, and fixes family relations. Aoife Crehan directs and Pippa Cross, Paul Donovan and Casey Herbert serve as producers.

Xavier Dolan regular...

Adaptation of Jocelyne Saucier’s 2011 novel.

Paris-based Indie Sales has scooped up world sales on Canadian director Louise Archambault’s upcoming feature And the Birds Rained Down.

Adapted from Jocelyne Saucier’s prize-winning 2011 novel, the film follows three elderly hermits living deep in woods that are periodically ravaged by wildfires.

Their quiet lives are disrupted by the arrival of two women, a luminous octogenarian who has been unjustly institutionalised her whole life and a young photographer charged with interviewing survivors of a historically deadly forest fire.

It is Archambault’s third feature and follows her 2013 drama Gabrielle, about a mentally...

Hovering around the twenty-one to twenty-four feature film mark with at least a quarter of those films belonging to first time filmmakers, the Quinzaine des Realisateurs (a.k.a Directors’ Fortnight) has in the past couple of years, counted on a healthy supply of French, Spanish and Belgium produced film items, and has been geared towards the offbeat genre items as with last year’s edition curated by Edouard Waintrop and co. To be unveiled on the 22nd, as we attempted with our Critics’ Week predix, Blake Williams, Nicholas Bell and I (Eric Lavallee) are thinking out loud and hedging our bets on what the section might look like or what the programmers might be looking at for 2014. Here is our predictions overview:

Alleluia

Six years after presenting Vinyan at the Venice Film Festival, Fabrice Du Welz finally returns with potentially not one, but a pair of works for the ’14 campaign.

The Raindance Film Festival recently announced its 20th festival programme lineup which includes an unprecedented 105 features, 138 shorts and 64 UK Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres, 19 World Premieres and 24 Directorial Debuts from 38 countries, proof of another exceptional year of internationally acclaimed films, special live events, exclusive Q&As and masterclasses. The festival will take place from 26th September to 7thOctober at its home of the Apollo Cinema Piccadilly Circus SW1Y 4Lr.T

Opening the festival on Wednesday 26th September is the International Premiere of Here Comes The Devil – a powerful fantasy horror from Mexico. Shot in Tijuana, a married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be and that something terrifying has changed them. The Opening Night afterparty will feature band The Real Tuesday Weld which The Sunday Times calls: “beautiful…...

Raindance have just announced their line-up for their 20th annual film festival. The 2012 festival will, like every year showcase some of the best independent movies that we can expect in the coming year and beyond. Raindance 2012 will take place 26th September to 7th October at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly Circus in London. This year we can expect to see 105 features, more than 138 shorts, 64 UK Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres, 19 World Premieres and 24 Directorial Debuts from 38 countries.

Scroll down to see the full press release as well as all the feature films that will be showing at the festival. To find out more, click here to visit their official site.

Opening the festival on Wednesday 26th September is the International Premiere of Here Comes The Devil a powerful fantasy horror from Mexico. Shot in Tijuana, a married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana.

The Raindance Film Festival has announced its 20th festival programme today. This year?s lineup includes 105 features and over 138 shorts and 64 UK Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres, 19 World Premieres and 24 Directorial Debuts from 38 countries. The festival will take place from 26th September to 7th October at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly Circus.

Here’s the low-down:

Opening the festival on Wednesday 26th September is the International Premiere of Here Comes The Devil a powerful fantasy horror from Mexico. Shot in Tijuana, a married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be and that something terrifying has changed them.

Closing the festival on Sunday 7th October is the UK Premiere of 7 Crates from Paraguay and fresh from its screening in Toronto Film Festival’ s vanguard section. The film focusses on Victor,...

If there is one director who has made his presence felt with a debut in 2011, it is Sébastien Pilote from Canada. Few have heard of him, and even fewer have seen his first feature film The Salesman. The Salesman is probably one of the most powerful films from Canada in recent decades that recall the quiet intensity of the works of Canadian directors Claude Jutra and Norman McLaren, some forty or fifty years ago. The Salesman was honoured with the Jury’s Grand Prize and the Best Actor Silver Gateway award at the recently concluded Mumbai International Film Festival where the competition section is only open to debut films across the world. Having caught up with the film at the International Film Festival of Kerala, one realizes that the Mumbai jury had honoured the two aspects of the movie that truly make it a rewarding experience—the direction and the acting.

The 13th Mumbai Film Festival, a Reliance entertainment initiative organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami) that kick started on 13th October, concluded this evening, after showcasing over 200 films from 60 countries across various sections at its three venues- Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas. The gala eight day affair came to an end with its closing film Dolphin's Tale directed by Charles Martin Smith starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd amongst others which was followed by the closing night awards function event at 'Sun n Sand' hosted by actress Essha Koppikhar. The event witnessed numerous celebrities that include award winning International and Indian actors, directors and producers. The International lifetime achievement award was given to Morgan Freeman and Indian lifetime achievement award was given to Gulzar. In the International Competition category, The Golden Gateway Award and cash prize of Us $ 100,000 for The Best Film was presented to French...

The 13th Mumbai Film Festival, a Reliance entertainment initiative organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami) that kick started on 13th October, concluded this evening, after showcasing over 200 films from 60 countries across various sections at its three venues- Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas. The gala eight day affair came to an end with its closing film Dolphin's Tale directed by Charles Martin Smith starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd amongst others which was followed by the closing night awards function event at 'Sun n Sand' hosted by actress Essha Koppikhar. The event witnessed numerous celebrities that include award winning International and Indian actors, directors and producers. The International lifetime achievement award was given to Morgan Freeman and Indian lifetime achievement award was given to Gulzar. In the International Competition category, The Golden Gateway Award and cash prize of Us $ 100,000 for The Best Film was presented to French...

The Golden Gateway Award and cash prize of Us $ 100,000 for The Best Film at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival was presented to French film My Little Princess directed by Eva Ionesco.

The festival came to an end with the closing film Dolphin’s Tale directed by Charles Martin Smith starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd amongst others which was followed by the closing night awards function event at ‘Sun n Sand’ hosted by actress Isha Koppikar.

The Silver Gateway Award for Jury Grand Prize and cash prize of Us $ 50,000 was presented to Canadian film The Salesman (Le Vendeur) directed by Sebastien Pilote.

The Silver Gateway Award for Best Director was presented to Eva Ionesco for My Little Princess. The Silver Gateway Award for Best Actress was presented to Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei for their performance in the same film.

The Silver Gateway Award for Best Actor was presented to Gilbert Sicotte...

Director: Sébastien Pilote Writer: Sébastien Pilote Starring: Gilbert Sicotte, Nathalie Cavezzali, Jeremy Tessier Marcel Lévesque (Gilbert Sicotte) is a 67-year-old car salesman living in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec. But he is not just any car salesman, Marcel has been deemed “Salesman of the Month” for the last 16 years at the dealership where he has spent his entire career. A product of a bygone era of salesmanship, Marcel learned to dress his lies up nicely in order to make his customers happy -- a strategy that obviously still works for him even in Dolbeau-Mistassini’s bleak economic climate. The town of Dolbeau-Mistassini’s economic backbone is the pulp and paper industry which writer-director Sébastien Pilote’s debut feature film finds in a rapid decline. The one and only local plant has laid off a majority of its workforce -- a complete closure is looming -- and the skyrocketing unemployment rate is effecting all of Dolbeau-Mistassini’s businesses,...

Reviewed by Chris Allsop

(January 2011, screening at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Sébastien Pilote

Starring: Gilbert Sicotte, Nathalie Cavezzali, Jérémy Tessier, Jean-François Boudreau and Pierre Leblanc

The first feature from Canadian writer-director Sébastien Pilote, “The Salesman” is a thoughtful meditation on life, salesmanship and the clearance of snow.

The titular salesman is Marcel Lévesque (Gilbert Sicotte), the local, likeable top gun of the car lot. Lévesque is a workaholic, always selling, even when getting a drink at the bar. He’s also 67 and his only daughter wants him to retire, but without his wife (an absence that goes unexplained), there is little that attracts Lévesque to life after sales.

The backdrop of Lévesque’s story is Dolbeau-Mistassini, a one-factory town in a “resource extraction” region of northern Quebec. That one factory is on the brink of closure — it’s the only news on the radio — and its employees...

Sébastien Pilote's Le vendeur is likely to have a limited release after a run at the Sundance International Film Festival.

The film stars Gilbert Sicotte, Nathalie Cavezzali, Jean-Robert Bourdage, Jean-François Boudreau, Pierre Leblanc and Jeremy Tessier.

Marcel Lévesque (Sicotte) is the best salesman of a declining small industrial town's car dealership in the St-Jean Lake. During an endless winter, a local factory is temporarily shut down. Marcel will come across François (Boudreau), a jobless worker from the local factory. Moreover, a tragedy will change his life.

Five Canadian films are in the Sundance Film Festival's line-up.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

The Salesman (Le vendeur)

Director: Sébastien Pilote

Car salesman Marcel Lévesque operates by the rules of a bygone era, turning on the charm to make his quota. But the increasing decline of his fading industrial town threatens to plummet this peddler of dreams into an unfriendly reality.

Cast: Gilbert Sicotte and Nathalie Cavezzali.

Vampire

Director: Iwai Shunji

On the surface, Simon seems like a fairly normal, average young man, devoted to his teaching job and ailing mother. Secretly, he is compelled to hunt through online chat rooms and message boards, searching for the perfect girl who will ensure his own survival.

Cast: Kevin Zegers, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rachel Leigh Cook, Kristin Kreuk, Aoi Yu and Adelaide Clemens.

***Spotlight

Incendies

Director: Denis Villeneuve

A mother's last wish sends Jeanne and Simon, twins living in Canada, on a journey...

It has been another great year of film. I still have but seven movies left to watch before I complete my “Best of the Year List” but we are already looking towards 2011.

The 57 feature films selected for the four competition programs of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival were announced today, and the titles include some exciting works from returning filmmakers. While the lineup isn’t has loaded with big names it does feature the return of James Marsh whose documentary Man on Wire won the Grand Jury Prize at the fest in 2008. Some interesting movies we should mention that appear on the list are Mike Cahill’s Another Earth, Carlos Moreno’s All Our Dead One (Todos Tus Muertos), Anne Sewitsky’s sexual drama Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) Rashaad Ernesto Green‘s Gun Hill Road, Sean Durkin‘s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean‘s On the Ice, Dee Rees...

It's the first day in December, and whether you want to recognize it or not, January isn't too far away. Today the awesome folks at the Sundance Film Festival unveiled their first list of films, international and domestic, which will be presented at the festival. Check it out, and yes there are more to come. Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.For the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, 115 feature-length films were selected, representing 28 countries by 40 first-time filmmakers, including 25 in competition. These films were selected from 3,812 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,943 U.S. and 1,869 international feature-length films.

As we’re getting ready to wrap up another great year of film, some are already looking to 2011 and what it will have to offer and what better way to look a head than with the first round of titles for the year’s first big festival: Sundance.

The list of festival titles isn’t as loaded with as many big name titles as have made the cut in previous years but there’s are definitely some interesting film in the competition line-up including Mike Cahill’s Another Earth which takes place on the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth (wicked!), Carlos Moreno’s All Our Dead One (Todos Tus Muertos) about a guy who finds a pile of dead bodies in the middle of his crops, Anne Sewitsky’s sexual drama Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) along with the Canadian/Japanese co-production Vampire.

Loads of great stuff on the line-up.

The announcement of the movies playing the 2011 Sundance Film Festival is like looking into our film futures. It's December and most movie fans are looking back at the last 12 months, picking out award winners, writing top ten lists, and chances are we haven't even heard of the Sundance films. They're just titles, people, words on a computer screen. Then in January they unspool on screens across Park City, Utah and become something more. Finally, months later, these are the movies we discuss with our friends and choose on ballots at awards parties. Yet we get to read about them now, a year in advance. Last year at this time, who had heard of Four Lions, Catfish, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Blue Valentine, The Kids Are All Right, Winter's Bone, Restrepo or Animal Kingdom? Sundance, that's who. All those films screened at the 2010 festival and now many have become not only personal favorites,...

The Sundance Film Festival has announced the films in competition for the awesome and cold film festival running January 20th through January 30th 2011 in Park City, Utah.

This will be my third year attending the festival, and I'm really excited for it! There's a great line-up of films this year! Check out the list below!

From the press release:

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

On Day One, the Festival will forego the convention of one opening night film and instead screen one narrative film and one documentary from both the U.

Park City, Ut . Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at http://www.sundance.org/.

On Day One, the Festival will forego the convention of one opening night film and instead screen one narrative film and one documentary from both the U.S. and World Cinema competitions, as well as one shorts program.

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival said, .The Festival is a challenge to narrowly define. It is all at once exciting, fun, crazy, engaging, visceral, and sometimes even painful. We can explain storylines,...

Here's the first Sundance line-up announcement, of the fiction and nonfiction feature competitions, both U.S. and world. A few things of interest, on first scan: Vera Farmiga's directorial debut "Higher Ground," in which she also stars; "The Ledge," which sounds like this year's try for "Buried"; Iñupiaq Arctic thriller "On the Ice"; "Terri," the new film from "Momma's Man" director; Michael Rapaport's doc on A Tribe Called Quest "Beats, Rhymes and Life"; doc about the beloved Muppet "Being Elmo"; "If A Tree Falls," a new film from "Street Fight"'s Marshall Curry; Paddy Considine's feature directorial debut "Tyrannosaur"; and "Vampire," the new film from Japan's Shunji Iwai, a favorite of mine.

Descriptions courtesy of the festival:

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Another Earth (Director: Mike Cahill; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling) - On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, a horrible tragedy...

HollywoodNews.com: The 2011 Sundance Film Festival has just announced its lineup for January. John Cooper, director of Sundance Film Festival, said, “With more than 10,000 films submitted this year, we have had to make some very tough choices. Yet in the end, I’m excited about the way the program has come together. It’s an incredible honor to introduce these films and filmmaker…these are the stories that will define not only our Festival, but also the cultural year ahead.”

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in six out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 2. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

On Day One, the Festival will...

The Film Stage is headed to Sundance this year and the festival has just announced its line-up. With over 10,00 entries here is what they narrowed it down to. Most initially notable is Vera Farmiga‘s directorial debut, Higher Ground (pictured above). There is a clear lack of stars as NYTimes notes, so the excitement of discovery is back in full swing. The fest will also announce 6 more out-of-competition categories tomorrow. Check out the full list below via the official site.

Us Dramatic

Another Earth (Director: Mike Cahill; Screenwriters: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling) – On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, a horrible tragedy irrevocably alters the lives of two strangers, who begin an unlikely love affair. Cast: William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, Flint Beverage.

Benavides Born (Director: Amy Wendel; Screenwriters: Daniel Meisel and Amy Wendel) – A high school senior in a forgotten town...

Well, here they are – the Sundance Film Festival class of 2011, split up into 4 categories as indicated by the headers below. In future posts, I’ll be going over the complete list, highlighting titles that need to be, taking into consideration this blog’s specific interests.

Of note, some titles that I listed on my list of 2011 black films on our radar… Gun Hill Road, Rashaad Ernesto Green’s debut feature (which I actually saw a cut of over the weekend, and gave a thumbs up to; but I’ll talk more about it in detail when the time comes), Dee Rees’ Pariah, and Alrick Brown’s Kinyarwanda. Further, titles we’ve previously covered here… Beats, Rhymes and Life, Michael Rapaport’s documentary on hip-hop legends, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Redemption of General Butt Naked, a documentary on the Liberian warlord turned evangelist.

One film I’m surprised isn...

The Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films selected to screen in the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Tomorrow will see the announcement of the six out-of-competition sections, which will all screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival which runs from January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

For the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, 115 feature-length films were selected, representing 28 countries by 40 first-time filmmakers, including 25 in competition. These films were selected from 3,812 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,943 U.S. and 1,869 international feature-length films. 92 films at the Festival will be world premieres.

The films featured in the U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic and World Cinema Documentary Competition are listed directly below and I've gone through and highlighted a few of the bigger known names to check out. However, Sundance has been introducing us to a...

Chicago – In our latest crime/drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Mesrine: Killer Instinct”! “Mesrine: Killer Instinct” stars Gérard Depardieu, Vincent Cassel and Cécile De France.

The film also stars Gilles Lellouche, Roy Dupuis, Elena Anaya, Michel Duchaussoy, Myriam Boyer, Florence Thomassin, Abdelhafid Metalsi, Gilbert Sicotte, Deano Clavet, Mustapha Abourachid and Ludivine Sagnier from director Jean-François Richet based on a book by Jacques Mesrine.

To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “Mesrine: Killer Instinct” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This screening is on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The movie poster for “Mesrine: Killer Instinct” with Gérard Depardieu.

Image credit: Music Box...

Quebec knows Fabienne Larouche for penning Virginie, a daily (and uninteresting) soap opera taking place in high school. Now, since many months, it has been announced that Radio-Canada will come up with a medical drama written by Larouche. For what I know, we shouldn't expect to see an imitation of Grey's Anatomy or ER.

Shot with a budget of $710,000 per hour (which is a lot for the French Canadian market) for 10 episodes, the series follows Dr Julie Lemieux (Isabelle Richer), is the head of the St-Arsène Hospital's traumatology wing. Each week, this dramatic TV series explores different facets of life as a surgeon when it comes to professional ethics, their reaction when a patient dies or their own personal weaknesses. In fact, Dr Pierre Meilleur (James Hyndman) drinks too much. Sophie Léveillé (Laurence Leboeuf), the young intern, does too much mistakes.

The show also stars Jean-François Pichette, Catherine de Léan,...

Christal Films Distribution/Max Films International

Exploring the familiar territory of bourgeois ennui and duplicity, first-time feature screenwriter-director Stephane Lapointe brings considerable confidence and fluidity to his storytelling, if no earth-shattering insights. The Quebec-set drama "The Secret Life of Happy People" screened in competition at AFI Fest.

At the center of the story is the soft and malleable Thomas (Marc Paquet), a 25-year-old architecture student still living with his parents and too easygoing to acknowledge how miserable he is. He's the misfit in the high-achieving, seemingly perfect Dufresne family, a klutz sporting a little boy's haircut who has no luck with the opposite sex despite the encouragement of his good-looking friend (Maxime Denommee). When she is not studying for her appearance on a trivia quiz show, Thomas' passive-aggressive mother (Marie Gignac) wonders if a shrink is in order for her boy. His businessman father (the excellent Gilbert Sicotte) ponders the possibility that steroids would deliver the needed jolt, but he spares Thomas such suggestions, instead delivering tepid pep talks.

Everything changes for Thomas, sort of, after he meets and starts seeing Audrey (Catherine de Lean, in a striking big-screen debut). Vibrant and self-possessed, the diner waitress is an unlikely match for the awkward Thomas -- and indeed, their romance is not what it seems. He is increasingly relegated to the role of babysitter for her young daughter, but as with his controlling parents, Thomas can't take a stand with Audrey.While his mother scores success on "Without a Doubt" and his father plunges into a deluded second youth, Thomas has only the vaguest inkling of the betrayal that awaits him.

Lapointe, a director with TV experience, draws subtle performances from his cast and convincingly captures the gilded prison of upper-middle-class self-preservation, depicting a world where trivia and home renovation projects sub for intimacy and self-knowledge. "Secret Life" doesn't plumb any great depths, but it is an elegantly told tale that earns its hopeful ending.

This charming Canadian gem, starring the lovely Genevieve Bujold, should prove to be a compatible mate to the art-house crowd. Its simplicity and gentle humor make it one of the few truly heartwarming films out there, almost guaranteeing it a warm reception.

Bujold has never looked more comfortable in a role, nor has she ever looked so naturally beautiful as she appears here. It's not simply that all brides are beautiful, or that director of photography Sylvain Brault's camera is in love with her (which it obviously is). It's that Bujold's inner beauty, and her character's, are in full bloom on the screen.

She plays Claire, a 39-year-old college professor who, though she's in love with her lover, Milosh (Teo Spychalski), is unhappy being just a mistress. She would love to do something with him while ''fully dressed.''

Her inner loneliness sets the stage for her willingness, after initial reluctance, to marry Pablo (Manuel Aranguiz), a Chilean political refugee whose visa has expired. Immigration is after him, but if he is sent back to his home country he is sure to be tortured, imprisoned or worse. His lawyer happens to be Claire's sister, Annie (Dorothee Berryman), whose bright idea it was for this seemingly mismatched pair to get married.

Naturally, there is an overzealous immigration official, Bouchard (Gilbert Sicotte), out to prove that their marriage is a farce, who keeps them under observation 24 hours a day. This necessitates that they live together in order to fool Bouchard. However, they need only stay under one roof for three days until they take the immigration exam, which will determine if the government considers them legally married.

In that time, they slowly reveal themselves to one another, peeling off layer after protective layer. An unspoken bond develops between them. Their emotions speak louder than their words, but each pretends not to hear. Their future, whether together or apart, is as much a mystery to them as it to us.

Again, the plot will sound quite familiar to anyone who saw ''Green Card, '' yet many films with similar plots are quite different in quality and effectiveness. ''A Paper Wedding'' is its own film entirely. There is nothing broad or predictable about it. And there is a natural, believable chemistry between Bujold and Aranguiz that keeps the film in the realm of reality. Director Michel Brault allows the story to build at a necessarily even pace, which enables the viewer to absorb all the dynamics that take place between the different characters.

''A Paper Wedding'' is a tender no comma here julie little ceremony you'll be happy to attend.

A PAPER WEDDING

A Capitol Entertainment Release

Director Michel Brault

Writers Jefferson Lewis, Andree Pelletier

Director of photography Sylvain Brault

Editor Jacques Gagne

Music supervisorMartin Fournier

Color

In French and Spanish with subtitles

Cast:

Claire Genevieve Bujold

Pablo Manuel Aranguiz

Annie Dorothee Berryman

Milosh Teo Spychalski

Gaby Monique Lepage

Bouchard Gilbert Sicotte

Running time - 90 minutes

No MPAA Rating

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...