Ariane Louis-Seize couldn’t have imagined a better starting point for the release of her first feature film, the black comedy Humanist vampire seeks consensual suicide. This Sunday, the young filmmaker from Quebec will experience great emotions when she takes the stage of the Sala Perla at the Venice Film Festival to present her film to Italian festival-goers.
Contacted a few hours before her departure to Venice earlier this week, Ariane Louis-Seize did not hide her excitement. The director has also decided to extend her stay in Venice for the duration of the Mostra in order to take full advantage of this first experience at the oldest film festival in the world.
“I’m extremely excited and happy,” she says on the phone. I feel so blessed to have my film featured at this amazing festival. It is extraordinary!”
PHOTO VIVIEN GAUMAND
In Venice, Humanist Vampire Seekings Consenting Suicidal was selected in the parallel Venice Days section, which has hosted several notable Quebec films in the past, including CRAZY and Café de Flore (by Jean-Marc Vallée), Incendies (by Denis Villeneuve) and Continental, a film without guns (by Stéphane Lafleur).
“It’s a very impressive list and it’s really flattering to see my name next to it,” says Ariane Louis-Seize. I’m excited! It’s also special because it was Stéphane Lafleur who edited my film. He is really happy for me and told me that I would really like it as a starting point for my film.”
Note that Delphine Girard, a Montreal-born Belgian filmmaker, will also present her new film “Quitter la nuit” in the “Venice Days” section in the coming days.
mix of genres
Filmed last fall in Montreal, Vampire Humaniste Seeking Suicide Consenting tells the unlikely encounter between a young vampire who cannot bite (Sara Montpetit) and a young man who has lived with death impulses since childhood (Félix-Antoine Benard). .
Sara Montpetit and Félix-Antoine Bénard will be in Venice on Sunday to attend the screening, as will Noémie O’Farrell and Sophie Cadieux, who also star in the film.
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Ariane Louis-Seize describes her first feature film as “a dark comedy mixed with some horror and coming of age.”
“It was a challenge sonically because I was playing with a lot of different codes and had to find the right mix,” she explains. But I’m very proud of the result and can’t wait to share it with the public.”
After screening in Venice, the film will have its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in mid-September. “Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal” hits theaters across Quebec on October 13th, “a Friday the 13th.” Ariane Louis-Seize laughs.