The great slaps of Annie St-Pierre with Steve Laplante, Lilou Roy-Lanouette, Larissa Corriveau, Amélie Grenier, Jérémie Jacob and Laurent Lemaire. (Picture: Screenshot)
The big slaps by director Annie St-Pierre is part of the selection of 15 international short films vying for a place at the prestigious 2022 Oscars ceremony. Shot in Châteauguay, this film with aromas of sweetness and bitterness highlights the shared custody of the children, a reality that many Quebec families began to come to terms with in the 1980s.
In the film, we follow Denis, a recently divorced father, who picks up his children from the house of his ex-in-laws on Christmas Eve. Heartbreak, discomfort and tenderness rock this wintery short film.
“It’s not an autobiography, I would say it’s autofiction, it’s like a mix between emotions already experienced and a fictional context, a kind of intuition”, explains Annie St. -Rock.
The one who is from Bas Saint-Laurent maintains that each author and director has his little obsessions. For her part, she says she is fascinated by the gentle cruelty of ordinary life. This is what she wanted to convey in Les grandes slaps.
“I think it was a good time to talk about that generation of kids who are now adults whose parents were trying to invent the notion of shared custody in the ’80s. They were awkwardly taming that reality,” says -she.
Chateauguay as background
The director indicates that she would have liked to shoot her film in her native region, but for practical reasons, she and her team decided to stay in the Montreal region.
“We scouted all over the suburbs of Montreal and I found that in Châteauguay, there were still neighborhoods that had this vibes 80s, that’s what we were looking for,” admitted Ms. St-Pierre.
Located on rue du Parc, the rented house has undergone slight interior transformations in order to recreate a design worthy of the desired era.
A film that travels
Since its premiere at the renowned Sundance Festival in Utah in 2020, Annie St-Pierre’s film has seen many festivals around the world, a sign that the work has met with great success among various audiences. The film was presented in particular in Finland, Korea, Belgium, Spain, Italy and even Japan.
“For the Oscars, we are currently in the shortlist of the last 15 films. We will find out on February 8 if we are one of the 5 short films that will be nominated! she announces.
Asked about her future projects, Ms. St-Pierre indicates that she currently has two feature-length fiction projects in development.
In Quebec, Les grandes clades will be presented on January 20 as part of the free festival of short films Plein(s) Ecran(s) on Facebook, Instagram and on the web.
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The Southern Courier | A short film shot in Châteauguay is eyeing the Oscars