The film Just like Sylvain Quebec director Monia Chokri received a warm welcome for her world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.
The feature film was screened in the middle of the day in the Debussy room of the Palais des Festivals and received an ovation that lasted several minutes, according to several in attendance.
Monia Chokri attended the screening along with several members of her film crew, including actors Magalie Lépine-Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. “Simple Comme Sylvain” was selected in the category “Indeterminate Consideration” of the prestigious festival.
“I’m very touched by the response the film has received,” Monia confided to Chokri over the phone a few minutes after the screening ended.
“It was really warm, gentle and with loud applause. I too was very emotional from the start of the day. I feel great gratitude.
“What I thought was really cool was that the people in the room were very responsive. We heard a lot of laughter, but also applause for certain lines. This means that the public really believes in the story.
This is the second time Monia Chokri has had the chance to present one of her films as a world premiere on the Croisette. His first feature film, My Brother’s Wife, opened the Un Certain Regard section four years ago and won a Jury Award.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY IMMINA FILMS
“Like a dream”
The two leads of Simple like Sylvain, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal, were still on cloud nine when Le Journal reached them on the phone on Thursday.
“It was an extremely moving moment,” said Magalie Lépine-Blondeau.
“It’s my third time in Cannes, but my experience this time is incomparable to what I’ve experienced the other times. Being here and starring in one of my best friend’s movies is something special. I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.”
Pierre-Yves Cardinal says he is very satisfied with his first experience at the Cannes Film Festival.
“It’s like a dream,” the actor said over the phone. There’s something surreal about being here. It is a great privilege to be in Cannes to screen this film that we believe in so much and to hear the audience’s reaction to every line. It’s a film with a lot of humor and we heard a lot of laughter during the screening. It is extraordinary to see that this exclusively Quebec story can be universal and appealing to the French public so much.
Simple comme Sylvain tells the story of a 40-year-old philosophy professor (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau) who has been in a relationship for ten years and who falls in love with a Laurentian entrepreneur (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) with whom she is at odds with her way of life.
The film will be released in Quebec on September 22nd.