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French production and distribution firm Oble is to handle international licensing of Canadian hit drama series “Aller Simple” or “No Return.”

Produced by French-Canadian firm Sphere Media, the six-episode psychological thriller premiered on prime-time earlier this year in Canada and has been a hit with critics and audiences. It plays on Noovo, where it has been the most watched drama in the channel’s history, and is available before linear broadcast via subscription on Crave TV.

Written by Annie Pierard, Bernard Dansereau and Etienne Pierard-Dansereau, who all previously worked on Sphere’s “Epidemie” (aka “The Outbreak”), the show sees six complete strangers; a former policeman, an art-dealer, a retired teacher, a marketing director, a criminal lawyer and a businesswoman, en-route to a reclusive billionaire’s home when their helicopter makes an emergency landing deep in the forest. Having survived intact, they stumble across a fishing camp. But disturbing incidents suggest...

Not knowing is the point. At least that’s what writer/director Simon Lavoie says in his director’s notes for Nulle trace [No Trace]. He’s not looking to create a film with narrative propulsion or mainstream appeal within an industry he’s actively seeking to rebel against. He instead wants to go back to the art by engaging audiences with form, sensory input, and ideas. Lavoie’s goal is to therefore embrace an unspoken “pact” with viewers that allows for a benefit of the doubt where understanding and intent are concerned. What we take from the film is thus more about what we’re bringing to the experience than what he has provided for it. Setting and time are rendered inconsequential as meaning takes centerstage. Its purpose and success are ours to give.

There’s beauty and frustration in this truth depending on how you enter this pact. Those looking...

Chloé Robichaud's Delphine is playing on Mubi from April 16 - May 15, 2020 in the Canada Now series.Delphine, a short film adapted from a short play, traces the evolution of a young Lebanese girl who rebels in her own way against the intimidation to which she was subjected in childhood. Very young, our Delphine has a difficulty adapting to the cultural codes and the language of her adopted country, Canada. She quickly becomes prone to mockery from other children in her school. Once in high school, Delphine learns to take advantage of her imposing stature and a newly won confidence, to impose herself physically and establish a superiority. The story is told from the point of view of the narrator, young Nicole. She is our indirect point view on the situation. Like us, she is a spectator of Delphine's transformation.The film speaks with great vivacity of human relationships, but especially of politics among children.

Chloé Robichaud's Boundaries (2016) is exclusively showing July 31 – August 30, 2018 on Mubi in most countries in the world as part of the series Canada's Next Generation.Politics use to be a men-only territory, but women are now sharing a piece of it. Statistics, however, show that there are still less women than men who chose the political path. It is this rarity that first drew me to these women characters. Furthermore, I was interested by the fact that women, taken by the heavy tasks inherent to the profession of mediator or politician, must revisit the classic family stereotype, only recently deconstructed. And it is precisely this deconstruction of pre-established ideals that challenges and interests me in my work. The idea quickly imposed itself on me because of my interest for politics, and politicians. I must be gaining in maturity and I position myself more strongly as a woman, citizen and film director.

The Summer Is GoneOne of the greater pleasures of New Directors/New Films, the yearly collaboration in New York between the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Museum of Modern Art, is reveling in the mystery of emerging directors. Of course, many and most festivals have offerings from first (and second and third time) directors, but at none is this explicitly the point. When a minimum of information is offered, save for a brief bio, relinquished is the burden of pre-viewing research and any expectations that may arise from it. More prominent titles have been covered by the Notebook already, but here are highlights from around the globe, from directors not-yet-known, though hopefully for not much longer. The Summer Is Gone echoes the ghosts of Edward Yang by locating drama in a particular moment in history, wedding personal histories to political ones. Set in inner Mongolia, the film throws back to the ever-receding 90s,...

It's Only the End of the World and Operation Avalanche recognized among the 2017 Canadian Screen Award NominationsIt's Only the End of the World and Operation Avalanche recognized among the 2017 Canadian Screen Award NominationsAdriana Floridia1/17/2017 2:50:00 Pm

This morning the Canadian Screen Awards announced their 2017 nominations, recognizing the best of last year's Canadian films.

The awards are given out by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. This year's nominees boast a diverse line up of films that tell stories not just in English and French, but also Mandarin, Atikamekw and Inuktiut.

The most high-profile of the bunch would have to be Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World, which is a likely contender at the Oscars this year in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It made the shortlist of nine films that will be considered at the Oscars, which also includes Germany's Toni Erdmann and Chile's Neruda.