“Invincible” and “Simo”, big winners of the Gala Prends ça court!
The short film “Invincible” by Vincent René-Lortie won the Special Prize of the International Jury earlier this year at the last edition of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.
A total of 71 prizes were awarded on Thursday during the 19th edition of the Gala Prends ça court!, an evening presented as part of the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma (RVQC) rewarding the best short films from Québec.
These are the films Invincible by Vincent René-Lortie and Simoby Aziz Zoromba who left with top honors: they are respectively winners of the Coupe du court – MELS and the Denis Villeneuve favorite award.
Sharing your culture
The Denis Villeneuve Favorite Prize comes with $25,000 in cash. The director of Dune was finally absent, despite what had been announced during the launch of the RVQC program on February 6th.
Aziz Zoromba, particularly touched, had difficulty holding back his tears following the announcement. director at Metro. It's a film about my experience as an Egyptian Quebecer and the fact that the film resonates so much around the world and also in Quebec, it's the best gift I could hope for.”
This is not the first prestigious award received by this short telling the story of the rivalry between two brothers. Simo also won the Best Canadian Fiction Short Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as well as the Audience Award at the Festival du nouveau cinema (FNC), not to mention that the short film has shone at Sundance and Berlin.
“This film is an opportunity to share my culture”, adds the filmmaker.
We are so stereotypically portrayed in film and TV. Simo helps to humanize my [Egyptian] people and show a side of our culture that people may not know about.
Aziz Zoromba, director of Simo
Proof of his quality, Simo won a total of nine awards during the evening, which made host Guillaume Cyr say that Aziz was going to s open a skate shop, the trophies being skateboards bearing the image of the gala.
Simois currently available on the La Fabrique culturelle platform: https://www.lafabriqueculturelle.tv/capsules/14458/simo.
Inspired by a true story
Director Vincent René-Lortie was inspired by the tragic death of a childhood friend when writing the screenplay for his first fiction film, Invincible.
“He was my best friend from high school and when he passed away, I was upset, I didn't quite understand what had happened. For me, it was a huge mourning to do at the time.”
It was by wanting to understand what had happened to his friend that Vincent René-Lortie decided several years later to make a film about him.
Not only Invincible won the MELS, CINELUME and OBJECTIF 9 awards, but in addition its main actor, Léokim Beaumier-Lépine, walked away with the board for the best male interpretation.
“Léokim n' had never performed in front of a camera. When we met him, he was someone extremely close to his emotions. Already, we could see that he had the talent, it was innate in him”, tells Métro the director in an admiring tone.
Barely 16 years old, Léokim Beaumier-Lépine has since made a name for himself on TV in series such as Le Pacte, Les Cavaliers and, most recently, em>Eyes closed.
While balancing work and studies can be difficult at this age, Léokim Beaumier-Lépine considers his young career as an actor a “really trippy” opportunity.
His inspiration? Pier-Luc Funk. “This guy can do everything in life,” says Léokim, adding with joy that he did improv with the actor. “It was a dream come true. I was so happy.”
Best female performer
Comedienne Marie-France Marcotte won the Prix Union des Artistes for best female interpretation for his role in the disturbing thriller La Guêpe by Marc Beaupré, an award in addition to that of the Fantasia Festival in the same category.
“I am very happy to have worked with Marc Beaupré. It's his first short, but when I watched him go, it was as if he had been doing this all his life.”
Marie-France Marcotte plays a hotel manager. who tries somehow to raise his daughter and save her the same fate.
If we recently saw Marie-France Marcotte on television in Avant le crash as well as in the film Frontières by Guy Édoin, it was the series Do you hear me? which breathed new life into his career, which he began in the 1990s. It’s indeed for this role that she won an interpretation award at the Gémeaux. /em> which brought me back to the screen”, explains the actress to Métro, saying that she owes one to Florence Longpré. “He's someone for whom I have a lot of admiration.”
In total, more than $300,000 was awarded in cash and services to the winners.  ;
RVQC ends this Saturday, March 4.
