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HEAT SPELL

A FILM BY MARIE-PIER DUPUIS

Short Film – Québec – 2023 – 13 min
Color | French with English subtitles | 1.85 | 5.1

SYNOPSIS

A hot summer day. A half-unpacked house. A mother who needs room to breathe, and a child who needs space to exist. As the afternoon heat turns oppressive, time seems to move entirely differently for each person.

Cast

Agathe Ledoux, Gabrielle Poulin B, Simone Ledoux

Crew

DIRECTOR : Marie-Pier Dupuis
WRITER : Marie-Pier Dupuis
PRODUCERS : Amélie Tremblay (Nemesis films)
CINEMATOGRAPHY : Simran Dewan
PRODUCTION DESIGN : Catherine White
SOUND DESIGN : Ilyaa Ghafouri
EDITING : Mathieu Bouchard-Malo
MUSIC : Peter Venne

Director statement

Heat Spell is the story of a child, but above all the story of a family. Taking place over a single afternoon, the film zooms in on a mother and her two kids. We witness how each character’s past experiences impact their perceptions, and how perceptions rule emotions. Through the eyes of eight-year-old Maxime, we follow the banality of an act, as a heaviness accumulates through a string of ordinary events. In her debut short film, Marie-Pier Dupuis explores the subtilties that underlie family dynamics—and the ripple effect when one person falters.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Marie-Pier Dupuis graduated from UQAM in 2016 and has been editing documentary and fiction films ever since. She has always been drawn by narrative structures in which form and content converge. Recently her interests—poutine, microwaved coffee and Quebec reality TV—have led her to screenwriting and directing. Produced by Némésis Films in summer 2022, L’été des chaleurs is Dupuis’ first short film.

FILMOGRAPHY

HEAT SPELL I 2023 (Directing)

SOLO I 2023 (Editing)

DAYS I 2023 (Editing)

LES ENFANTS DU LARGE I 2022 (Editing)

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Brussels Short Film Festival, 2023 *ARTE AWARD

New Directors New Films, 2023 *SILVER LYNX AWARD – BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

CineFest Miskolc, 2023

Melbourne International Film Festival, 2023

Off-Courts Trouville, 2023

San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival, 2023

Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (FNC), 2023

Telluride Film Festival, 2023

Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur, 2023

Cinemagic BELFAST, 2023

BOGOSHORTS Film Festival, 2023

Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FCIAT), 2023 *TV5 AWARD

Anchorage International Film Festival, 2023

Izmir International Short Film Festival, 2023

Foyle Film Festival, 2023

Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma, 2024

Flickfest International Short Film Festival, 2024

Gender Equity in Media Festival, 2024 *BEST SHORT FILM

Tampere Film Festival, 2024

International Film Festival of Ottawa, 2024

Florida Film Festival, 2024

Festival du Film canadien de Dieppe, 2024 *BEST SHORT FILM AWARD

Reflets du Cinéma canadien, 2024

Festival Court d’un Soir, 2024

Festival du Film de l’Outaouais, 2024

In the Palace International Short Film Festival, 2024

Festival du Film francophone d’Autriche, 2024

Festival BAZAR, 2024 *SLA AWARD *JURY AWARD

Vaughan International Film Festival, 2024 *BEST FILM * BEST DIRECTOR

Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, 2024

Les Percéides, 2024

FICBUEU, 2024

Focus on Female Filmmakers, 2024

Ottawa Film Festival, 2024