Nadia, Butterfly
True North
As we’re introduced to Nadia (actual Canadian Olympic swimmer Katerine Savard), she’s vying for a podium finish in the medley relay medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics while also staring down retirement at the age of 24. A scene that would serve as the climax in a more standard sports dramas instead is positioned as a jumping off point in this sophomore feature from writer-director Pascal Plante (Fake Tattoos), who draws on his own experiences as a high-level swimmer to examine an individual operating at the peak of their powers while being plunged into a premature existential crisis.
Plante once again elicits commanding performances from non-professional actors, with Savard proving a captivating presence both in her natural habitat of the pool (the swimming sequences are both disarmingly intimate and exhilaratingly kinetic) and when adrift in makeshift television studios and hedonistic parties. As we watch Nadia clumsily start to author the post-Olympian chapter of her life, we witness Plante cement his status as one of our most exciting new storytellers.

Includes an interview with Director: Pascal Plante, Producer: Dominique Dussault

Pascal Plante
Katerine Savard, Ariane Mainville, Hilary Caldwell, Cailin McMurray, Pierre-Yves Cardinal
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Please note that VIFF 2020 online films can be viewed in British Columbia only.

Director
Pascal Plante is a Montreal-based filmmaker whose first narrative feature, a punk romance entitled Fake Tattoos, competed at the Berlinale in 2018. After his graduation from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Pascal co-founded the production company Nemesis Films, with which he directed numerous short films including BLAST BEAT (Slamdance 2019), Blue-Eyed Blonde (Best Canadian Short Film VIFF 2015), and Nonna (Slamdance 2017). He is also a podcaster for Point de vues, a podcast entirely dedicated to cinema.
Filmography
Fake Tattoos (2017)