Frontières 2021: Shorts to Features Projects, Taking Small Ideas And Making Them Bigger

In the final part of the program this year, Shorts to Features Projects, five projects from Canadian filmmakers came to the market with big ideas for their previous short films. it's not wholly unlike the main program except these filmmakers have already committed their idea to film, in short form. Some short films have already had their run on the circuit, others are just looking to star theirs. 

 

Director Jean-Paul Botelho and his writer Martin-Philippe Tremblay were looking to develop their short film Bloodtears into a web-series but have decided that they want to go feature length. The story centers around a young woman, Charlotte, who discovers that she is part of an amazing lineage. But the villain of the story, a big pharma boss called Arthur Murk, wants to eliminate her lest he lose his grip on the city. It is up to Charlotte's father, Lance, to return from exile and tell her the truth. The truth about what? Lance is a powerful knight and she is part of this long line of knights. More importantly she is the key to saving the city. 

 

Right? That's pretty cool stuff. The story of the underdog saving the day has long been a staple in cinema. And who doesn't want to see knights back on the screen again? We think that there are loads of global appeal in putting knights up on the big screen again. Well, at least for those of European descent. Might be a tough sell to countries where knights were the baddies. Botelho and Tremblay came to the market with the project in early development (first or second draft) looking for their first financial backer. 

 

The next project was Carcajou from director Nicolas Krief. He called Carcajou, '... a gangster movie seen through the eyes of a teenager'. It's origins come from his own life when the police raided his home during Operation Carcajou in the Spring of 2001. His father never confessed to having dealt with members of organized crime. 

 

In his film, a teenager discovers a large amount of dirty money after police raid their home. He decides to go into business for himself, proving to his dad that he can join him in his schemes. The young boy will get deeper and deeper until something forces him to make a decision that will impact the rest of his life. 

 

Krief wants to explore how this event in their family history impacted his life, a family life built around secrets and lies. He also wants to explore his mixed heritage and his identity from that. He and his producer, Julie Groleau, came to the market with the project in early development. They're stilling looking or a festival to launch his short film at. 

 

We guess that our only concern about this and any Montreal/Quebec based productions is that the rest of Canada tends not to know about them. We of course would like to know more about this story but the reality is, the provincial entertainment industry is pretty well self-sufficient. It should be no problem for them to find some kind of support from the provincial programs and they're looking into European support, primarily out of France because part of the story takes place there. Also, tapping into the Wallimage program over in French-speaking Wallonia, Belgium should also be one of their first stops as well. 

 

The third project was called Frontera, the story of a teenage girl in Colombia who is forced to take care of her younger brother when her mom 'disappears'. A dying guerilla fighter shows up at their little farm and the pair go mad, convinced there is an evil presence in the nearby forest. The local military also becomes suspicious of the parentless pair and it becomes a fight for survival and their sanity. 

 

Frontera is the next in line of historical dramas that take place within a horror film. Think The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth and most recently Tigers Are Not Afraid. The pitch video mentioned the first two but we think it was probably concerned about naming the other one because it is the most recent example in our minds as we looked at this project over. Director Juan Zuleta's film will take place in Colombia in 2004 during the height of the disappearances in the country. See? You're thinking about the similarities too. 

 

The project's Canadian link is through producer David Bond (Bloodthirsty) and has a modest budget goal that seems really attainable in our eyes. The film is in pre-production and came to the market looking for a sales agent. We wonder if the production has ventured into any of the production markets in the LatAm region as well

 

Louis-David Jutras' pitch for feature length adaptation of his short film Mes Peurs Noires was shorter than this sentence. Kidding. But it was succinct and to the point. Under the English title My Deep Dark Fears the story is about a man named Robert who just cannot seem to keep a relationship going. The best he can do is three days. In fact, all of his relationships end after three days when the woman mysteriously dies. This growing 'deep dark fear' keeps Robert from finding true love. It could also be the creatures that linger outside his window at night. Could be. 

 

Jutras wants to make a horror film that will linger with its audience after they've left the cinema, where simple tasks like grating cheese of all things take on a horrific meaning which will haunt you the next time you pick up your grater. This is very interesting to us, one because we've done that and have the scars to prove it; its a very fucking real concern now every time we grate cheese, don't laugh. 

 

Jutras came to the market with the project in early development, looking for a writer to help realize the feature version of this story, and for a producer to come on board. 

 

Finally there was The Fool, a suspense horror that came to the market looking for financing and possible co-production in the UK. The Fool is a kids story gone wrong, a nightmare disguised as a coming of age tale. Why the UK specifically? Well, the story takes place in an old apartment building that sits on the remains of The Fool, Fendrel, a jester who settled into America with the early European settlers. Fendrel may or may not have been guilty of crimes he was convicted of but he has been turned by thoughts of pure evil so now his reawakened spirit is out for revenge. It is up to a gaggle of kids living in the building to defeat him. 

 

The aim of The Fool is to create a villain that the audience sympathizes with and understands. Throughout the film we would see two sides of Fendrel quarreling with each other about what they're doing. Kind of like Smeagol and Gollum. Writer Derrick Adams in the pitch referred to Freddy Krueger as such a villain that deserves our sympathy. But, Krueger did kill children, so... we don't know what we're supposed to sympathize with.Hopefully for the team during their trip to Frontieres they could convince potential production partners.