Kim Nguyen, Nathan Morlando films bound for Directors' Fortnight at Cannes
Cannes sidebar helped vault Xavier Dolan, Denis Villeneuve to international attention
The latest movies from Canadian filmmakers Kim Nguyen and Nathan Morlando are headed to the Directors' Fortnight, the prominent official sidebar program of the Cannes Film Festival.
Organizers of the independent program unveiled its choices early Tuesday morning.
Montrealer Nguyen, an Oscar nominee for his acclaimed 2012 child soldier drama Rebelle (War Witch), was selected for his relationship drama Two Lovers and a Bear.
"It's just so cool," Nguyen told CBC News at a press conference in Montreal late Tuesday morning, adding that he had to keep the film's selection a secret for about two months.
"It's a little bit cliché, but I'm overwhelmed with happiness to be part of this heritage. Martin Scorsese was part of [the Directors' Fortnight], a lot of filmmakers that I admire were part of that festival," he said.
Nguyen said having a film selected to screen in Cannes leaves him feeling "grateful for having this livelihood."
Set in the North and mainly filmed in Iqaluit, Two Lovers and a Bear stars Orphan Black actress Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan, known for films such as Kill Your Darlings, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Life. The indie relationship drama, about two "tortured souls" who fall in love while on a personal quest, a lso counts Gordon Pinsent and John Ralston in its cast.
"I feel so privileged to have these amazing surprises, even after 20 years of making films. Since War Witch, I kind of feel like I've been reborn as a filmmaker," Nguyen, who wrote and directed the film, said in a statement.
"I feel like I've cleaned the slate, and that everything has yet to be done, with more connection to the present moment. But mostly, with less fear. It's with these new perspectives that I'm looking forward to celebrating the craft of filmmaking in Cannes. I'm also looking forward to watching a couple of sunrises at the end of the night!"
Meanwhile, Toronto's Morlando made the cut for his coming-of-age thriller Mean Dreams, which follows two teens escaping broken, abusive homes. The film centres on young actors Sophie Nélisse (The Book Thief) and Josh Wiggins (Hellion), with the adult cast including veterans Bill Paxton, Colm Feore and Kevin Durand.
Morlando made a splash with his feature film debut Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster, which won the prize for best Canadian first feature at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
Other titles selected for the program hail from France, Italy, India and Chile, including movies headlined by actors such as Bérénice Bejo, Gerard Depardieu, Gael Garcia Bernal and Nicolas Cage, who stars in the closing night entry Dog Eat Dog.
The Directors' Fortnight has been a program to watch for up-and-coming filmmakers, with programmers having selected films — like Whiplash and Mustang — that went on to receive Academy Awards consideration.
It was also the program where buzzworthy Canadian filmmakers such as Denis Villeneuve and Xavier Dolan initially made headlines internationally (for Polytechnique and J'ai tué ma mère, respectively).
Dolan's latest film, Juste la fin du monde (It's Only the End of the World), was announced as part of the official competition for the 2016 Cannes Film Festival last week.
The Cannes Film Festival runs May 11-22.