present Délivrez-moi (Forgive Me) A film by Denis Chouinard Script Denis Chouinard / Monique Proulx Produced by Réal Chabot Coop Vidéo

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1 present Délivrez-moi (Forgive Me) A film by Script / Monique Proulx Produced by Réal Chabot Coop Vidéo Distribution / TVA Films 1600, Boul. de Maisonneuve Est / Montréal (Québec) H2L 4P2 Tél / Fax

2 SYNOPSIS Having served ten years in prison for the suspicious death of her lover, Annie returns home to the small town where she grew up. There she renews contact with her daughter, Sophie, now a teenager, and the mother of the deceased, who cared for the child while her real mother was away. Annie must adapt to life on the outside and overcome the demons of her past. She gets a job in a factory, finds an apartment, and tries to regain control of her life. Sophie is of course itching with curiosity about this mother who was once accused of murder and is now shunned by everyone who knows her story. Sophie tries to reconnect, to breathe life back into a woman who seems to be drifting precariously. It s not easy. The memory of the gestures and the persistent calls of the dead are a terrible yoke. Forgive Me is a dialogue between this spasm of life and the comforting pull that death can have on people who see no reason to go on living. For Annie, the exorcism is unavoidable and she may not come out of it alive. But Sophie has all of the resourcefulness and feistiness that make 13-year-old girls not only irresistible but strong. 2

3 DIRECTOR S PRESENTATION Forgive Me (Délivrez-moi) is my third feature fiction film, following Stowaways (Clandestins, Don Quixote Prize, Locarno 1997; Golden Bayard for best film, Namur 1997, Silver Dolphin, best director, Troia 1998) and Tar Angel (L Ange de goudron, Ecumenical Prize, Panorama, Berlinale 2002) and formally perhaps my most ambitious film. Unlike the previous films, Délivrez-moi is anything but spectacular. It does not feature the hijacking of an airplane to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants, or a huge freighter buffeted by waves and secretly carrying a cargo of asylum-seekers in its hold. Instead, Délivrezmoi presents three women of three generations, whom are separated by everything, yet bound by a tragic event that rocked their lives ten years earlier. It is a story that could take place anywhere in the world, in faceless small towns where nothing ever happens. I chose an approach totally new to me, portraying a woman, Annie, who is not particularly intelligent, or subtle, or gifted. A prickly person whom no mother would want to have as her daughter-in-law. Opening with Annie s release from prison, the film gradually reveals what led her there. Over its course we come to know this woman and the strength that she harbours. With performances displaying the grace and faultless instincts of Céline Bonnier, Geneviève Bujold, Juliette Gosselin and Patrice Robitaille, Délivrez-moi is the portrait of a woman who comes back home and ends up shaking the foundations of everyone who crosses her path. 3

4 DENIS CHOUINARD Director Born in Montreal in Between 1985 and 1998, wrote, directed or co-directed six short films. His first feature film, Clandestins, co-directed with Nicolas Wadimoff, was selected for many festivals and won many prizes. His second feature, L Ange de goudron, was chosen as the opening film for the International Film Festival of Montreal in 2001 and took the prize for best Canadian feature film as well as the Telefilm Canada prize. The film also won the prestigious ecumenical jury prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in Later that year, Chouinard directed the documentary, Voir Gilles Groulx. Délivrez-moi is his third feature film. REAL CHABOT Producer Spring 2005, Réal Chabot founded the film production company, LES FILMS DU BOULEVARD. The company is presently developing feature film projects such as: Le Fils de Joseph by Simon Lavoie ; Chasse-Galerie by Mario Bolduc, Meilleurs Vœux by Patrick Demers, Project «S» (collective work), Le Prince de Miguasha by Carlos Ferrand and Little Helpers by Frédéric Ouellet and Stephane J. Bureau. Producer Réal Chabot has also collaborated with Coop Vidéo de Montréal for the last 6 years on such films as: dans les villes (Catherine Martin), Délivrez-moi (), starring Céline Bonnier and Geneviève Bujold, which hit theatres May 2006; Que Dieu bénisse l Amérique and Le Nèg (both by Robert Morin), La Méthode Morin, (Philippe Falardeau), making of for Que Dieu, Gaz Bar Blues (Louis Bélanger) and Mariages (Catherine Martin). Réal is also developing with Coop Vidéo the project The Timekeeper, based on Trevor Ferguson s best selling novel. Louis Bélanger (Post Mortem, Gaz Bar Blues) will be directing in the summer of Réal Chabot has been working hard in the film industry for the past 25 years. Throughout the years, he participated in many films (The Ultimate Weapon, L Île de Sable, Le Siège de l Âme, Matusalem, Highlander III), TV series (Big Bear, Les Orphelins de Duplessis, Innocence, The Boys of St-Vincent, Scoop IV), made for TV movies (Dernier cri, La Beauté des Femmes, Blanche, Le Jardin d Anna, Shadows of the past, L Homme de rêve) and commercials. 4

5 FORGIVE ME Crew List Director Producer Executive producer Associate producer Script D.O.P Production designer Costume designer Editing Sound Casting Distribution Réal Chabot Lorraine Dufour Stéphanie Juanéda Monique Proulx, Steve Asselin Patrice Bengle Sophie Lefebvre Michel Arcand Claude La Haye Nathalie Boutrie TVA Films Cast List Annie Irène Sophie Ghislain Marco Martine Milan Monsieur Déry Madame Bissonnette Céline Bonnier Geneviève Bujold Juliette Gosselin Patrice Robitaille Pierre-Luc Brillant Danielle Fichaud Grégory Lhady Pierre Collin Nicole Leblanc 5