Mars & Avril
Mars & Avril (French: Mars et Avril) is a 2012 Canadian science fiction film starring Jacques Languirand, Caroline Dhavernas, Paul Ahmarani and Robert Lepage. The movie, based on the photo-novels of the same name published by Sid Lee & la Pastèque, is written, produced and directed by Martin Villeneuve. The film was shot on a budget of C$2.3 million and featured numerous green screen effects. Belgian comic book artist François Schuiten is the production designer, former ILM Senior Compositor Carlos Monzon worked as VFX supervisor, and Benoît Charest composed the original score. The film was financed by Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Les Productions du 8e Art and the Harold Greenberg Fund, and is distributed in Canada by Alliance Vivafilm (now owned by eOne) and in the United States by Gaiam. The official trailer was released in Quebec theatres and on Alliance Vivafilm's YouTube channel on 21 December 2011. The world premiere took place on 2 July 2012 at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic (the film was selected in the section "Another View" for its unique artistic approach in both form and content). Since then, the film has been screened in twenty other major cinema events around the globe and has received 10 nominations. Martin Villeneuve was nominated for "Best Adapted Screenplay" at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards, and he also won an "Imaging the Future Award" at the Neuchâtel International Fantasy Film Festival in Switzerland. In addition, Villeneuve gave a TED Talk about his film at TED2013 in Long Beach, California, thereby becoming the first speaker to come out of Québec. Synopsis
In Montréal, in the near future, humanity is about to set foot on Mars. Jacob Obus (Jacques Languirand), a charismatic musician, takes pride in slowing down time by playing instruments inspired by women's bodies, designed by his friend, Arthur (Paul Ahmarani). A love triangle develops when Jacob and Arthur both fall in love with Avril (Caroline Dhavernas), a young photographer. Enter Eugène Spaak (Robert Lepage), inventor, cosmologist and Arthur's father, who unveils a new theory about man's desire to reach Mars and helps Jacob find the true meaning of life and love. 