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ATLANTIS

A FILM BY ZOÉ PELCHAT & JEAN-FRANÇOIS SAUVÉ

Short Film – Québec – 2023 – 15 min
Color | French English subtitles | 2:39 | 5.1

SYNOPSIS

During an idyllic family vacation by the sea, Marie, the matriarch, develops an irrepressible urge to escape. As days go by and the languor of the vacation envelops them, her relatives feel a growing threat weighing on their clan. To the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, Atlantis opens a window into the final moments of a family on the brink.

Cast

Marie-France Marcotte, Michel Laperrière, Alexandre Nachi, Benoît Finley, Juliette Gariépy, Victor Finley

Crew

DIRECTOR : Zoé Pelchat & Jean-François Sauvé
WRITER : Zoé Pelchat & Jean-François Sauvé
PRODUCERS : Caroline Bergoin & Patrick Francke-Sirois (Sentiments Films & Club Vidéo Inc.)
CINEMATOGRAPHY : Olivier Gossot
PRODUCTION DESIGN : Catherine K. Pelletier
SOUND DESIGN : Nataq Huault
EDITING : Louis Chevalier-Dagenais
MUSIC : Ouri

Directors statement

“Sometimes I would look out to sea and just want to go as far as I could and never come back.”

This sentence, as told by the mother of one of the filmmakers, was the genesis of Atlantis. How could the wealthy, healthy grandmother of a loving family want to get lost in the sea? Later, she confided that she was suffocating in her role as pillar of the clan, crushed by the expectations of her husband, her children and her entourage, which have only multiplied over time. That she dreamed of freedom and poetry in spite of her sixty years of age. But that she never allowed herself to complain or cry for help given her comfortable situation. Haunted by the image of a woman sinking in the waves, we imagined a family vacation tinted by the threat of a catastrophe, reinforced by the nature and the singularity of the place. The atmosphere of the film – and its imminent tragedy- also echoes the feeling of apocalypse felt by many in the wake of climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

After studying communications at Concordia and film directing at l’INIS in Montreal, Zoé Pelchat began her career directing music videos before devoting herself fully to fiction and advertising. Her web series DOMINOS (2018-2020), broadcast on TV5/Unis and Tou.tv, was her first success. The two seasons traveled around the world and won several awards, including the trophy for Best Digital Series at Canneseries. Zoé followed up with her first short, LUNE (2020), presented in competition at Clermont-Ferrand, and then selected in more than thirty festivals. The film won five awards and numerous mentions for the touching performance of its lead actress, Joanie Martel. It was also nominated for the “Best short film” Iris at the Gala du Cinéma Québécois.

In 2021, Zoé was selected to take part in the TIFF Filmmaker Lab. In 2023, she premiered her second short GABY LES COLLINES in the Generation Kplus competition of the Berlinale. ATLANTIS, another short film she co-directed with Jean-François Sauvé, premiered at REGARD. She is currently pursuing her advertising career within iconic production company Cinélande, as well as writing her first feature, DOUCE PRIÈRE.

FILMOGRAPHY

GABY’S HILLS I 2023

LUNE I 2020

DOMINOS II I 2020

DOMINOS I 2018

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Born in the small town of Magog, having grown up in Quebec and now well settled in Montreal, Rafaël Beauchamp is a screenwriter and director who graduated from the University of Quebec in Montreal in cinema. During his studies, he directed two short films, allowing him to shine in local and international film festivals. Fresh out of the school benches, his screenplay “Les battues” wins the grand prize of the writing laboratory “Cours écrire ton court”, organized by the SODEC. A great lover of genre film, he tries to import cinema from elsewhere into the local filmography. He is currently working on the development of two short fiction films as well as the writing of a first feature film.

FILMOGRAPHY

CHEZ LES HEUREUX DE CE MONDE I 2020

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Gala Prends Ça Court !, 2023

Festival REGARD, 2023

Cinema Jove, 2023

CineFest Miskolc, 2023

FIN Atlantic, 2023

Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2023

Festival CINEMANIA, 2023

Whistler Film Festival, 2023 *MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE CANADIEN

Festival de Cinéma International en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FCIAT), 2023

Festival International du Cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA), 2023

RVQC, 2024