2015 Focus Québec: (Im)possibilités

So basically, things happen or they don't. Events might occur, but with totally opposite effects to what you may have expected. For example, what happens when you push a family relationship to extreme sacrifice like in Première Neige? Can you figure out how it feels to be a human deprived of emotion just like this guy in Dive? And what will happen between the two hypersensitive people in Turn off Before Living? Could you have dealt differently with this mysterious girl 30 years ago in The River's Lazy Flow? What are the consequences of the impossible behaviour made possible in The Pedophile? And what if you were the one who could make love happen like in Take Me? These stories could have been told differently. These shorts could not have been made at all. But hell, if you happen to be sitting here, waiting for this programme to start, you just might experience the (im)possibilities.

Since the beginning of Travelling Distribution in 2007, its mission has always been to bring the best of short films to the world. With its cherry-picked catalogue, ranging from every part of the cinematic spectrum, Travelling Distribution has developed its own brand of expertise in handling the distribution and international sales of the short film art form. Each year we harvest hundreds of selections and awards in a variety of festivals and prestigious events, such as the Cannes official competitions, Locarno Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, Tribeca, TIFF and Sundance just to name a few. Proudly independent, Travelling Distribution believes in cultivating and supporting the people at the heart of short film.

Alexandre Dostie, Travelling

The Films

PREMIÈRE NEIGE (FIRST SNOW), Michaël Lalancette (Fiction, Canada 2012)

A disconnected family find themselves at a hospital. The father is in urgent need of a kidney transplant and all of the family members are compatible donors. This situation brings back old conflicts between them.

TURN OFF BEFORE LEAVING, Annik Blanc (Fiction, Canada, 2014)

On a trip to Havana, Paul finds it difficult to keep a smile on his troubled face. He meets Agnela, a young local working girl, whose job it is to please with a practised smile of her own.

DIVE, Kaveh Nabatian (Fiction, Canada, 2013)

An urban fairytale about a self-destructive man who cannot feel anything. From the moment he sets eyes on a mysterious young woman who is part of a community of hyper-sensitive beings, something stirs inside him.

LE COURANT FAIBLE DE LA RIVIÈRE (THE RIVER'S LAZY FLOW), Joël Vaudreuil (Animation, Canada, 2013)

During a cigarette break, memories come back to an old man who had come to the same spot with a girl when he was 13 years old. He wanted to become a man, she wanted to share a secret. Neither got what they wanted.

LE PÉDOPHILE (THE PEDOPHILE), Ara Ball (Fiction, Canada, 2014)

The hard hitting story of a woman coping with a history of being sexually abused, and the violence and tenderness which helps her leave it behind.

PRENDS_MOI (TAKE ME), Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, André Turpin (Fiction, Canada, 2014)

A nurse working in a center for the disabled is confronted with his principles when he is asked to accomplish a particular task.