CINEMANIA 26TH FILM FESTIVAL
NOVEMBER 4 to 22
Aline
Directed by VALÉRIE LEMERCIER
A fiction inspired by the life of singer Céline Dion
OPENING FILM
BYE BYE MORONS
Directed by ALBERT DUPONTEL
CLOSING FILM
CINEMANIA FILM FESTIVAL is delighted to announce that ALINE in which Valérie Lemercier acts and directs will launch the 26th edition of the Festival on November 5. CINEMANIA has also chosen Albert Dupontel’s comedy BYE BYE MORONS to close the Festival with a flourish on November 15.
Premiered internationally a few days after opening in France, Valérie Lemercier’s ALINE will open the Festival with great fanfare on November 5. Inspired by the life of singer Céline Dion, this epic biography, a 30 million dollars film shot in the greatest secrecy, retraces the story of the Dieu family. We follow the young Aline from her dreams of glory as a little girl to the grandest stages in the world.
To bring this ambitious project to fruition, Valérie Lemercier (THE VISITORS, PALAIS ROYAL, LITTLE NICHOLAS) surrounded herself with Québécois actors, in particular Sylvain Marcel (DE PÈRE EN FLIC 2), in the role of Aline’s agent and husband as well as Danielle Fichaud (THE PASSION OF AUGUSTINE) who plays Aline’s mother. The director and actress Valérie Lemercier underwent a spectacular transformation to embody the Québec star from ages 5 to 52. She pays her sincere and unconditional homage. To push the realism even further, Céline Dion’s favourite designer Stéphane Rolland was called upon for the costumes. Co-produced by France (Rectangle Productions) and Canada (Caramel Films), the film will be distributed in Quebec by Maison 4:3.
Producers Edouard Weil, Laurent Zeitoun, André Rouleau, Valérie d’Auteuil and distributor Chantale Pagé are very happy to announce that ALINE will begin its theatrical run on November 27.
Québec, end of the 60s. Sylvette and Anglomard greet their 14th child: Aline. In the Dieu family, music reigns and, as Aline grows up, her gift comes to light, she has a golden voice. When the music producer Guy-Claude hears this voice, he has one thing in mind… to make Aline the world’s greatest singer. Supported by her family and guided by Guy-Claude’s experience and then his burgeoning love, together they will write the pages of an out of the ordinary destiny, a love story that sweeps us away on a wave of emotions.
BYE BYE MORONS, Albert Dupontel’s new feature film (9 MONTH STRETCH, SEE YOU UP THERE) in which the filmmaker plays alongside Virginie Efira (SIBYL, VICTORIA, POLICE, SINK OR SWIM) will be the Festival’s closing film on November 15. Following the historical work SEE YOU UP THERE (closing film and winner of CINEMANIA’S 2018 Mel Hoppenheim Audience Award), Albert Dupontel renews his ties with extravagant and burlesque comedy. The author of BERNIE, LOCKED OUT, THE VILLAIN and 9 MONTH STRETCH, takes to the screen in the leading role of an antisocial civil servant specializing in cyber security, along with actors Virginie Efira, Bouli Lanners and Nicolas Marié. Dupontel blithely critiques the wrongs of modern-day society which dehumanizes and sidelines the wounded and the marginalized of a world become too cynical for them. BYE BYE MORONS takes its inspiration directly from Terry Gilliam (BRAZIL), while gaining visual prowess and large screen effects. Distributed by AZ Films, BYE BYE MORONS will be released in Québec cinemas on November 20.
When Suze Trappet learns at age 43 that she is seriously ill, she decides to go off in search of the child she was forced to abandon when she was 15. Her administrative pursuit brings her face-to-face with JB, a 50-year-old man in full burn-out, and Mr. Blin, a blind archivist whose enthusiasm is impressive. Together, the three of them embark on a quest as spectacular as it is improbable.
Additionally, as part of a partnership with the Mezzo and Planète + tv channels (Thema Canada group), CINEMANIA announces two new titles as part of its 2020 crop. First, Marc Fitoussi’s APPEARANCES, a psychological thriller inspired by Claude Chabrol, plunges the viewer into the midst of the happy privileged few of the French community in Vienna, with Karin Viard (JEALOUS) and Benjamin Biolay (ROOM 212). Furthermore, Fabienne Berthaud’s A BIGGER WORLD, a fascinating tale about shamanism in Mongolia, completes CINEMANIA’s offering: adapted from a true story that blends documentary beauty and spiritualism, the film showcases Cécile de France (REBELS). Note also, Philippe Lacote’s NIGHT OF THE KINGS, which is the Ivory Coast’s entry at the Oscars 2021, will be shown as CINEMANIA’s pre-opening feature film on Wednesday, November 4.
The 26th edition of CINEMANIA runs from the 4th to the 15th of November in several Montreal theaters and will be accessible on line across Canada as well from the 4th to the 22nd of November. The tickets will go on sale at festivalcinemania.com at the beginning of October.
