To mark the tenth anniversary of his award-winning film, “Mommy”, Xavier Dolan introduces “A Friendship on Film”, his unpublished photographic book. Memories and filming secrets come from the successful feature film. An illustrated story in 480 pages which traces the genesis of the film from the film of Shayne Laverdière, photographer and friend of the Quebec filmmaker.
Introduction for Xavier Dolan in 2009, when the young self-taught prodigy directed I killed my mother. A violent and poetic reflection on matricide, the film sets the tone of his cinema, animated by a breathtaking raw intelligence. Five years after his first feature film, Dolan resurrects the mother figure and introduced Mommy. Against the backdrop of financial difficulty, faced with the moods of her offspring and the bitterness of solitude, the mother is a bearer of hope. A drama carried by a triangular friendship rivaling in optimism which upsets the 67th Cannes Film Festival and obtains the Jury Prize.
The ultimate recognition, which opens the way to a new generation of ideas, encouraged by the young filmmaker during his acceptance speech. “There are no limits to our ambition apart from those we give ourselves and those that others give us. I think that everything is possible to those who dream, dare, work and never give up. And may this prize be the most radiant proof of that”. Today, Mommy at ten years old and an event photography book.
“Mommy”, the memorable adventure
The origin of a success in images. Before seducing Cannes and the Césars, then reaching more than a million admissions at the French box office, Mommy begins in a quiet neighborhood in Montreal. To immortalize the adventure of his fifth feature film from the very beginning of filming, Xavier Dolan called on his long-time friend, Shayne Laverdiereto be a still photographer. On his film: the filmmaker's square format cameras, the comforting silences between Anne Dorval et Anthony Olivier Pilonits remarkable actors, and many other off-camera moments. When the phenomenon Mommy gains in endurance, the photographer captures the adrenaline of the director and his talents in evening wear, in the back of a car heading to the Cannes Film Festival. Ten years later, these sacred moments are revived.
“A friendship on film”, the photographic book by Xavier Dolan and Shayne Laverdière is available from mk2 Publishing and Sons of Manual.
France
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