2014 Focus Québec: Sans limites

For eight years now, Focus Quebec has been one of the permanent programme events in FILMFEST DRESDEN. Each and every year, we renew our commitment in it to the latest short film output from Canada's Francophile province and, with the generous support of SODEC (Quebec's film and culture funding body) and the Quebec government representative, we invite filmmakers to come to Dresden and personally present their work to the audiences and media professionals at the festival. Over the years, a close bond has been established between FILMFEST DRESDEN and the short film scene in Quebec, one which provides both the filmmakers and the festival organisers in both regions with a unique opportunity for mutual exchanges and networking.

This year's selection is an excellent demonstration of the fact that Quebec's movie industry is not only incredibly productive, but consistently matches its high aspirations with an enormous amount of innovative energy. As the title "Sans limites" already suggests, the protagonists in the films are testing limits, be they personal, physical or social. They stride a tight edge between love, excess and revolt, provoke for all it is worth and even challenge fate – vociferously and with fierce cursing at times, then pensively and poetically at others. They are willing to take the risk and explode the surface of social conventions, with the curtain falling and the "Hurricane" raging. So sit back and enjoy five politically incorrect films that have no fear of pathos and which have been sprinkled with a pinch of fathomless humour and a touch of B movie charm.

The Films

L'OURAGAN FUCK YOU TABERNAK! (HURRICANE BOY F.Y.T.), Ara Ball (Fiction, Canada, 2013)

Delphis, an 11-year-old kid from the roughest part of Montreal, lives life according to his own rules under the label of the Hurricane.

MÉMORABLE MOI (REMEMBER ME), Jean-François Asselin (Fiction, Canada, 2013)

Mathieu looks for all kinds of ways to attract attention to himself. You think of me, so I am.

FULL LOVE, Olivier Godin (Fiction, Canada, 2013)

An Irish gangster living in Houston, Texas, falls in love with a suicidal woman. It is clear that they both need each other to survive. But for how long?

QUE LES CHOSES CHANGENT (THINGS CHANGE), Martine Asselin (Fiction, Canada, 2013)

From the other side of the world, a fleeting glimpse into the filmmaker's mind.

QUELQU'UN D'EXTRAORDINAIRE (AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSON), Monia Chokri (Fiction, Canada, 2013)

Sarah has everything to succeed. But her fear of banality keeps her in a permanent state of inertia. One day, she wakes up in an unknown suburban house after a complete blackout.