March
07
BELLE RIVER selected at SXSW, Tampere Film Festival and REGARD
BELLE RIVER
A short film by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin
Selected at SXSW, Tampere Film Festival and REGARD
SPIRA is proud to announce three new festival selections for Belle River directed by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau & Yannick Nolin. Following its World Premiere at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Belle River will screen as a US premiere at the prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, in the Documentary Short Film Competition, March 11-20. It will also be part of the International Documentary Competition of the Tampere Film Festival, one of the top short film festivals in Europe, taking place March 9-13this year. Belle River will have its Canadian Premiere on opening night of Festival REGARD, which is happening March 23-27.
Belle River is the third part of a documentary trilogy filmed in Louisiana and exploring Acadian culture. Whereas Laissez les bons temps rouler (2017) was about the Cajun folk heritage, and Acadiana (2019) depicted the way Louisiana society currently stands apart from the rest of the United States, Belle Riverfocuses on the Louisiana territory and its quiet inhabitants, who are both endangered by the emerging climate crisis. Past, present, future: three films in three tenses that complete each other, adding up to a complete portrait.
Trailer: vimeo.com/652357046
Synopsis
2019. Spring flooding in Mississippi hits record highs. In Louisiana, the residents of Pierre-Part are preparing for the worst. Barring an unexpected turn of events, local authorities will soon be forced to open the floodgates of the Morganza Spillway, in order to save the cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge from further uncontrolled flooding. Faith and resilience are the two best weapons they still have in the face of uncertainty.
BELLE RIVER
Quebec. 2022. 11 minutes. Original version in Cajun French, with English subtitles.
Directed and written by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin | Editing: Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin | Cinematography: Yannick Nolin | Sound: Mathieu Grégoire | Sound editor: Mathieu Grégoire | Sound mix: Jean‑Paul Vialard | Music: The Lost Bayou Ramblers | Production: Kinomada (Jean-Pierre Vézina) | Distribution: SPIRA | Website– IMDb – TMDB – Letterboxd
FESTIVALS
29th edition of the South by Southwest – SXSW Festival (March 11-20) – Austin, Texas, USA
US Premiere | Documentary Short Film Competition
52nd edition of the Tampere Film Festival (March 9-13) – Tampere, Finland
International Documentary Competition
Selections: International Competition | Tampere Film Festival
26th edition of Festival REGARD (March 23-27) – Saguenay, Quebec
Canadian Premiere | Official Competition
REGARD | Belle River (festivalregard.com)
BELLE RIVER was produced thanks to the financial participation of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Première Ovation program that is part of the cultural development agreement between the Government of Quebec and Quebec City, and the SPIRA cooperative. The film benefited from the promotional and marketing assistance program of SODEC.
About SPIRA
SPIRA is a cooperative devoted to independent filmmaking, born in 2015 from the merger of Spirafilm and Vidéo Femmes, which had both been around for nearly 40 years. Spira’s core mission is to support the production and distribution of independent films, whether short or feature. Each year, about thirty works benefit from its various creation support programs. SPIRA also distributes documentary and fictional works in various markets in Canada and abroad: festivals, theatres, television, Web, etc.
We would like to thank Caroline Rompré | pixelleX communications for the press release.
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