- DATE: Saturday January 27
- TIME: 2:00 pm
Trying to get her life back on track after a breakup, Ariane (Ariane Castellanos) moves back to her hometown by the Richelieu river in southern Quebec. To save her sinking finances, she takes a job at the local food processing plant as a French to Spanish interpreter for the seasonal migrant workers employed there. She befriends Manuel (Nelson Coronado), an illiterate, naive young man who has left his small children behind in Guatemala to earn as much as he can in Canada. Although she is supposed to remain impartial, when she repeatedly witnesses the migrant workers’ mistreatment, she cannot remain silent. She may possibly be the only person who sees them as more than wage laborers – for they are above all human beings. Also starring Marc-André Grondin (C.R.A.Z.Y.).
Director Pier-Philippe Chevigny will be joining us for an audience Q&A after the screening, moderated by host Ron Base.
Pier-Philippe Chevigny is a filmmaker from Montreal, Quebec. His films explore social justice issues with suspenseful storytelling and anxiety-inducing camerawork. In 2019, his short film Rebel was a big success: over 150 international festivals including Toronto, Busan, Namur, Stockholm, Vladivostok, Seattle, and the Milton Film Festival. His debut feature Richelieu had its world premiere at Tribeca, quickly followed by European and National Premieres in Karlovy Vary and Fantasia respectively. He is currently working on a follow-up feature.
“Companies spend a good amount of money hiring people that’ll help them evade the protections unions and legal systems can offer workers. All in the name of profit. [Richelieu] explores this complex situation in detail, offering an unflinching look at the exploitation of immigrant workers. If the film is a work of fiction, it’s built over a reality that many would prefer to ignore.” – Marco Vito Oddo, Collider
- IMDB entry
- Language: French and Spanish, with English subtitles
- Shown with the short film The Line (La Ligne), dir. Myriam Guérin
Thalia is a young ballet dancer, who after failing to impress the judges at an audition, is offered a second chance to redeem herself.
