Canadian Premiere
1665. Louis XIV has seen fit to send a gift to the New World: surplus women to bring succor and support to French settlers in what is now Quebec. Among them is Marie-Jeanne (Julie McIsaac), who immediately falls foul of the matronly Madame Savoie (Claire Johnstone) by making nice with a native Mohawk trader, Jean-Baptiste (Raes Calvert), and his naive young sister Kateri (Kaitlyn Yott).
A full-blown micro-budget musical, adapted from their own stage production by Urban Ink’s Corey Payette with co-writer McIsaac, Les Filles du Roi shuttles expeditiously between French, English and Mohawk; between song and speech; and between a handful of real world locations and theatrical artifice. It probably shouldn’t work but what carries it is Payette’s knack for crafting rousing and melancholy melodies, sterling singing across the entire cast, and a utopian vision of cross-cultural reciprocity to counterbalance history’s harsher narrative.
October 5 & 8: Q&A with director Corey Payette & crew
Presented by
Series Media Partner
Kaitlyn Yott, Julie McIsaac, Raes Calvert, Chelsea Rose, Sean Sonier
Canada
2023
Northern Lights
In English, French and Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) with English subtitles
Depictions of Racism, Sexually Suggestive Scene, Violence, Coarse Language
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Corey Payette, Julie MsIsaac, Melissa Tsang
Producer
Garrett VanDusen
Screenwriter
Corey Payette, Julie McIsaac
Cinematography
Ian Mrozewski, Parham Banafsheh
Editor
Christian Díaz Durán
Production Design
Anna Shearing
Original Music
Corey Payette
Director
Photo by Luke Fontana
Corey Payette
Corey Payette is an interdisciplinary storyteller, writer, composer, producer, director in Film & Theatre. Since 2014 he has been the Artistic Director of Urban Ink, one of Canada’s most ambitious theatre companies. Payette wrote the music, lyrics and directed the acclaimed musicals Children of God, Les Filles du Roi, and Starwalker. He is a member of the Mattagami First Nations, with French-Canadian and Irish ancestries. Les Filles du Roi is his first feature film.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar-wai's most acclaimed and popular film is a love story about two neighbours (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who are drawn together by the long absences of their respective spouses + a newly released short companion piece from 2001.
Paprika
A device capable of transmitting dreams falls into the wrong hands in this dazzling anime meta-movie from visionary filmmaker Satoshi Kon. The imagery here is never less than overwhelming; it's probably the greatest scifi movie of our times.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Céline Sciamma's queer costume drama -- about a painter covertly studying a young noblewoman who refuses to sit for her portrait -- was voted 30th Greatest Film Ever Made in a 2022 poll, the highest ranking film of the past decade.
