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
Montreal, ma belle
In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Mixing documentary and reenactment, this film powerfully evokes the desperate attempts of the Red Crescent to rescue a six year old child trapped in a car under Israeli military fire. Oscar nominee: Best International Film
One Battle After Another
PT Anderson's breathless satire is the best political action movie of 2025, a defiantly anti-MAGA rallying cry featuring a six pack of crackerjack performances. They'll still be talking about this one 50 years from now.
Turner & Constable
Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.