Films in French regularly top Canada’s box office, and they’re shining at TIFF, too

At the box office, on the awards circuit and in the eyes of the international community, French-language cinema seems to be outpacing its English-language cousin in Canada.

Quebec films are also well represented at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

“It’s an especially exciting year,” said Pascal Plante, a Montreal filmmaker who was part of a panel on Quebec and transnational cinema at TIFF last week.

“In a year where we’re not talking about necessarily the Xavier Dolans and the Denis Villeneuves, it is just other filmmakers doing great stuff in Quebec.”

Away from the festival circuit, films from Quebec have seen critical and commercial success over the years.

Directors and stars of this year’s films say that beyond factors related to language, creative freedom from funders and unique stories are driving success in the province. They also say Canada’s film industry needs to do a better job of letting all Canadians see successful films, no matter what language they’re in. 

This year’s films

From an ethical teenage vampire to a conductor at a crossroads to a family fleeing Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, there’s strong diversity in the films on offer.

In addition to seven features in the main categories, and one in the Industry Selects program designed for international buyers, there are also some minority co-productions from Quebec this year, including Irena’s Vow, directed by Canadian Louise Archambault. 

Filmmakers in Quebec are given a lot of liberty by the industry, says Days of Happiness director Chloe Robichaud, whose film is about a conductor on the rise in Quebec’s classical music scene.

“Nobody’s telling me ‘You should do it this way,’ ” she said. “They trust my process.”

The province’s films are getting international recognition as well. 

Ariane Louis-Seize’s Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person picked up the Giornate degli Autori directors award in Venice earlier this month. The dark comedy is about a teenage vampire who doesn’t want to hurt people but is forced to adapt when her parents cut off her blood supply.

Speaking in French at a question and answer session following the film’s North American premiere at TIFF, Louis-Seize said she didn’t have difficulty financing her project, despite its off the wall subject matter.

She said filmmakers can’t be afraid to pursue their vision.

“My advice would be ‘Go for it,’ ” she said. “You can’t be afraid to go outside of the box.”

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Although most Canadian films are made in English, the true critical and commercial success comes in Canada’s other official language.

Among the other Quebec films at TIFF this year are Ru, based on the award winning novel of the same name about a family fleeing Vietnam before settling in 1970s Quebec, and Solo which tells the story of a drag queen caught up in a web of codependent relationships.

Critical and commercial success

Matthew Miller, producer of BlackBerry, an English Canadian film about the doomed smartphone, says there seems to be a perception that films from Quebec are better quality than those from English Canada. 

“I do think that is the perception internationally,” he said. 

Even within Canada, nine of the last 14 films named Best Motion Picture at the Canadian Screen Awards have been from Quebec. 

That’s despite the fact that less money is spent making films in French than English, according to a report from the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) — $246 million for English films, compared to just $141 million for French films.

But the disparity in spending doesn’t show at the box office.

In six of the last seven years, the top grossing Canadian film domestically has been a French-language effort from Quebec (the exception being 2021’s Paw Patrol: The Movie).

In total, Canadian films in French brought in $9.7 million at the domestic box office last year, while English films made $2.1 million, CMPA numbers show.

In Quebec, there were at least five Canadian films that each had more than 100 screenings in theatres last week, whereas in some Canadian provinces, there wasn’t a single screening of a Canadian movie, according to data from Canadian film industry platform Panoscope.

Total public funding for English Canadian films was $139 million in the last reported fiscal year. For French films it was $112 million. These numbers represented around 60 per cent of all funding for English films, and about 80 per cent for French films.

Quebec’s star system

Miller says a big part of French Canada’s relative success comes from being able to establish a star system.

“Quebec audiences know actors in French Canadian films, and like them and go see their movies in theatres.”

That’s harder to create in English Canada, he says, because when Canadian actors and directors reach a certain profile, they go to Hollywood and, for the most part, stop making Canadian projects.

“If we want the English scene to improve, I think we need to develop filmmakers here and find a way that once they achieve a certain level of success, they don’t need to leave,” said Miller.

“People who are born in Quebec and create in Quebec tend to stay in Quebec,” said Solo star Théodore Pellerin.

One notable exception is Dune director Denis Villeneuve, who began his career with a number of films in French, including 2010 TIFF selection Incendies.

Miller says no one could begrudge Canadians for going to Hollywood to make the biggest movies in the world, but says it would be amazing if Canadian organizations like Telefilm could offer some of the bigger Canadian talent money to come back for the occasional Canadian project.

Days of Happiness star Sophie Desmarais says it can be hard for actors to make the jump overseas, as well.

“Some actors … will go to France and make some movies there, but it’s very different also with our accent to work there.”

Now in her 30s, Desmarais says she no longer feels the pressure to act somewhere else.

“What we do in Quebec is just amazing,” she said. “It’s like a family.”

Finding common ground 

Within Canada, Desmarais feels like there isn’t much communication between English and French cinema.

“It’s like two solitudes, I feel,” she said.

Director Robichaud says there should be more opportunities to share films across provinces.

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“The conversation needs to also be about ‘How can we talk more about each other?’ ” she said. “TIFF is a great way to connect, but if there’s no TIFF, what do we do?

“We need to create more events and our films need to be projected in other provinces and vice versa.”