A Strange Place
Catherine Chagnon, Microclimat Films
Language: English
Based On: Original Screenplay
Project Type: Feature Film (Scripted)
Genre: Sci-fi Romance
Stage of Development:
Late development. Pending Telefilm Canada production.
Estimated Length (minutes): 100
Director: Jeffrey St. Jules
Director Bio:
Jeffrey St-Jules was born in Montreal and grew up in Fall River, Nova Scotia. He studied film and creative writing at Concordia University and is an alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s Director’s Lab. St. Jules is the first Canadian to have been selected for the Résidence of the Festival de Cannes in Paris where he developed his feature film debut, Bang Bang Baby (2014). Bang Bang Baby premiered at TIFF where it was awarded Best First Canadian Feature. Bang Bang Baby won the 2015 Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and the 2015 Claude Jutra Award for Best First Feature at the Canadian Screen Awards. His second feature Cinema of Sleep (2021) was nominated for an Outstanding Directorial Achievement Award at the Directors Guild of Canada and won Best Film and Best Actor (for lead role Dayo Ade) at the Whistler Film Festival. Cinema of Sleep was described by the jury as “a cinematic dive into the fractured, unconscious mind of a drowning refugee.” His third feature The Silent Planet (2024), starring Elias Koteas, premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival where it won the Silver Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature. St. Jules has been described as “Canada’s master of the surreal short form” by The Globe and Mail and “one of the most brazenly original voices to come out of Canada in the past 10 years” by TIFF. His much-lauded shorts include The Sadness of Johnson Joe Jangles (2004), which played over 40 festivals worldwide including TIFF, AFI Fest, and Frameline; The Tragic Story of Nling (2006), which was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and named the best short film of 2007 by Film Threat; and Let the Daylight into the Swamp (2012), an experimental 3D documentary that was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and won the 2013 Best of the Festival Award at the Yorkton Film Festival. All three short films had their premiere at TIFF.
Proposed or Confirmed Talent:
Théodore Pellerin (proposed); FKA twigs (proposed).
Total Budget: 6397395,49
Percent Confirmed: 31,72%
Currency: $ CAD
List names of confirmed partners:
A-Z Films (Distributuon in Canada), Tax Credits, Telefilm Canada (development)
What is this project seeking?
Financing, Sales Agent, Broadcaster, Co-production Partner
Logline:
A lonely motel worker and an alien gas life form unexpectedly find a sense of connection in a strange place.
Synopsis:
A lonely motel worker who dreams of the cosmos, helps an extraterrestrial who has taken the body of a wanted killer, to find his missing partner. On their journey from Labrador through Quebec, an unexpected intimacy forms between them, forcing them both to choose between their cosmic longings and the fragile beauty of being human.
Contact Information: catherine@microclimatfilms.com
https://www.instagram.com/microclimatfilms/
