The film Gamma Rays by Quebec director Henry Bernadet opens on Friday. The dramatic comedy is a mix of fiction and documentary and shows young aspiring artists from Montreal’s Saint-Michel district as they shine in their baptism of fire in the cinema.
Abdel, Omar, Fatima, Toussaint, Naïma… so many characters that bring the film to life, a contemplative fresco of the Villeray and Saint-Michel districts, where fiction and reality go hand in hand.
The performances of the actors who appear on screen are sometimes so convincing that you would think they had a few years of training, but that is not the case. All young people are amateurs, it is their first experience. Most come from the Georges Vanier school, explains Henry Bernadet on the phone.
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The film follows three parallel narrative strands that span various locations in eastern Montreal. There is Abdel (Yassine Jabrane), whose life is rocked by the arrival of his extroverted and somewhat simple-minded cousin Omar (Hani Laroum), who stays with him for the summer.
There’s the fiery Fatima (Chaimaa Zinedine), who tries to break away from her bad company while maintaining her relationship with her best friend Naïma (Océane Garçon-Gravel). Then there is the introverted Toussaint (Chris Kanyembuga), who finds a washed-up bottle while fishing and makes contact with a mysterious woman from Laval.
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Fatima (Chaimaa Zinedine) and her friend Naïma (Oécane Garçon-Gravel)
Photo: Opale Films
Move to Villeray, near a pastel-colored castle
Henry Bernadet came up with the idea for Gamma Rays several years ago when he moved from a Quebec suburb to Villeray, close to a pastel-colored chateau on Boulevard Crémazie that until recently was known as Crémerie Châteaubriand. The character Abdel, who was renamed “Frozen Desserts Maestro” by his cousin, also works here in the summer.
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The old Crèmerie Châteaubriand building near Highway 40 could soon become the ghost of the Villeray neighborhood.
Photo: Facebook page of The evolution of Quebec’s built heritage and landscapes
After his first feature film West of Pluto (2009), which followed a group of teenagers from the suburbs of Quebec for 24 hours, the filmmaker wanted to move away from his personal experiences and turn to others.
The idea was to get to know these young people and cultures that I didn’t know. “I wanted to see her on screen and introduce people to a neighborhood that I also discovered,” explains the filmmaker.
From the classroom to the cinema
Henry Bernadet met most of the future stars of his film at the Georges Vanier School in the Villeray district. “It was a teacher who opened the doors of her theater class to me to give workshops in front of the camera,” explains the man who has always had a passion for directing actors.
For three years before I even shot anything, I met people, did a lot of workshops with young people and asked their opinion on a lot of things… There’s a kind of bond that happens after a certain amount of time. he explains.
Chaimaa Zinedine, who plays Fatima, was not in the same theater class as her acting partners, but wanted to join the team immediately when she heard about the project. A bit like Hani Laroum (the priceless Omar, cousin of Abdel), who joined the cast after responding to an ad published by Henry Bernadet.
He sent us a video and it’s really strange, he was exactly like the character I imagined. It seemed so, the filmmaker remembers.
When several lines and main lines of the film’s script were written before filming, the director wanted to give free rein to the imagination of the young actors. And most importantly, encourage them to act out the scenes in their own words. Sometimes I didn’t tell them everything that was going to happen to the other characters to make it a little surprising.
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Chris Kanyembuga as Toussaint
Photo: Opale Films
Although there is some drama, “Gamma Rays” is also a comforting film that places a high value on coexistence and the universality of our concerns. A bit like Toussaint, who slowly comes out of his shell as the story progresses, Henry Bernadet invites us to become interested in others and to better recognize ourselves there.
Gamma Rays will be presented on Friday at the Cinéma du Parc, the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin and the Cinéma Beaubien.