The Audience: A packed, surprisingly large crowd was witness to the premiere of the film Revenir yesterday evening.  They braved the cold to watch the short under the stars, next door to the bus station on rue Racine, Chicoutimi.

The Challenge: Director Francis Leclerc presents his latest creation, the short Revenir, a few minutes before the start of the programme held yesterday evening in Chicoutimi.  Beside him you can see the actor Roy Dupuis, accompanied by several workers on the project which was commissioned by the  Saguenay Regard sur le court métrage Festival

An improvisational challenge with Roy Dupuis and Mayor Tremblay

Francis Leclerc delivers Return

Chicoutimi – without a doubt, the busiest drive-in in the whole of Canada yesterday was in Chicoutimi.

I have to say it was a gala event, or near enough.  Indeed, at dusk, the film buffs who assembled in front of the snow screen next to the Racine bus station watched the world premiere of the improvised film, conceived by director Francis Leclerc at the invitation of the Saguenay Regard sur le court métrage (short films) Festival.

He had had 48 hours in which to create the film from A to Z, from the drafting of the screenplay to the final edit.  The work in question, entitled “Revenir” (Return), had also to incorporate a number of constraints determined by members of the public on Thursday.  One of those was to show Jean Tremblay, mayor of Saguenay, as an extra.

He can be seen leaving a building while two characters played by Roy Dupuis and Sylvain Marcel are going inside.  They say hello to him.  “The scene takes place in a cheese factory, but we filmed it on Friday morning near the mayor’s office.  There was a bit of a wait, but it went well,” confided Francis Leclerc to Progrès-Dimanche.

Screened to at least 200 people at the start of a programme of shorts from the collective, 3REG Création, the improvised film tells the story of cheese maker Patrick (Sylvain Marcel) who, after four years, sees the unexpected return of his ex-wife, a Frenchwoman who has become a nun (Rosa Zacharie).

This happens on the birthday of his son, during whose party a kazoo can be heard, another of the many constraints imposed on the director.  He had also to incorporate the sentence, “What do you think, no teeth?”  It’s spoken during a hockey match which is interrupted by the guy responsible for scraping the rink. He is played by the director whose first onscreen appearance was greeted with laughter.  We know that Roy Dupuis agreed to take part in the project on condition that his friend appeared in front of the camera for the first time.  He shows promise, but he won’t be invited on The Actor’s Studio in a hurry.

It was cold during the screening, but unlike Friday the wind was light.  An indication that the film buffs had come prepared, the applause at the end of Leclerc’s film sounded peculiar.  The noise muffled by their gloves and mittens accentuated the feeling of strangeness generated by this sub-zero screening. 

During his brief time onscreen, the director revealed that he had imposed an additional constraint on himself, that of using the team sweater of the Chicoutimi Sanguenéens. As for his film, here’s how he describes it: “It’s like Kieslowski in his documentary period, but as if he’d had a word with David Lynch half an hour before.”

Having finished the editing two hours earlier, he saw the final version at the same time as everyone else.  At the end of the screening his first impression was positive, despite the lack of sleep that gave him the appearance of a French guest suffering from jet lag on the set of Tout le monde en parle.

Having started his career making improvised films in the space of three hours, Leclerc praised his colleagues, particularly the actors.  Despite the tight deadlines, they all put themselves out, doing up to five takes when it was necessary.  “I love the fact that the acting was so evenly balanced.  Really, it was a great team effort,” he said, delightedly.