November 19th: LAURENCE ANYWAYS (encore screening)

Note: this film will be shown in the high-definition Blu-ray format

A couple struggles to preserve their relationship when one announces she is a woman in a man's body.

Quebecois filmmaker Xavier Dolan began his career as a child actor, as well as dubbing French language tracks for many popular Hollywood films.  At 20 years old, his debut feature I Killed My Mother won several awards after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival's Director's Fortnight section.  His follow-up Les Amours Imaginaires (a.k.a. Heartbeats) also played at Cannes, and drew comparisons to the work of Jean-Luc Godard and Wong-Kar Wai.

Dolan's third film marks a leap forward as the subject matter is removed from his own milieu, writing about characters in their 30s and 40s, setting the story in 1989, and looking through the perspective of a transgender individual.  He began the screenplay while still at work on his debut feature, inspired by a story told to him by a crew member.

The cast includes French actor Melvil Poupaud (a favorite of director Raúl Ruiz), former Dolan collaborators Suzanne Clément and Monia Chokri, and Nathalie Baye (Catch Me If You Can).

In addition to writing and directing, Dolan has also edited, done costumes, and selected music for all of his films.  For Laurence Anyways, the decision was made to frame the image in the old "Academy" 1.33:1 format, creating a boxier screen.  It was shot on location in Montreal and surrounding areas.

Despite the more mature themes, Dolan alternates the intimate realism with flourishes of style, including surreal imagery, and sequences and montages set only to pop music.  The length of the film is unusually long for a "relationship" film, but allows the audience to fully know the characters and their worlds.

The film premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard, where it received very positive reviews and earned an for Clément's performance and the "Queer Palm", an independent award for LGBT-relevant works.  It was also nominated for 10 Genie awards from the Canadian film industry, and won the Best  Canadian Feature award at the Toronto Film Festival.

Running time is approx. 2 hrs, 40 min.