EXPLORE THE PROGRAM
10% off food and drinks for ticket holders (anytime from May 9th-12th) at Picaro Cocktails & Tacos and Cohen's Beer Republic
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THURSDAY, MAY 9th 2024
5:00pm | Roxy Theatre, Saskatoon
Opening Ceremony with Radio-Canada
Open to all | Paid Entry (includes opening film screening)
(Ticket includes Opening Ceremony, opening film and opening short film)
Join us in celebrating Festival CINERGIE's 19th Edition with its Opening Ceremony, featuring a red carpet, a 360 photobooth, a fun social with festival guests and local filmmakers, and opening speeches by the Festival Director and Radio-Canada.
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Winner, Amplified Voices
Canada's Top 10 Best Films
TIFF 2023
Winner, Public's Choice
CINEMANIA 2023
Followed by the opening screening:
Presented by Radio-Canada
6:00pm
Kanaval
Festival CINERGIE 2024 Opening Film
Henri Pardo | QC, Canada, Luxembourg | 2023 | 1h52 | French, Creole | ENG sub
Drama, Fantasy
CINERGIE Director's Favourite Movie of All Times.
Synopsis:
Kanaval is the story of the young boy Rico’s journey from a small port town on the coast of Haiti in 1975, during the town’s exuberant and fascinating celebrations of Kanaval — the Haitian version of Carnival — where legends and the masks and costumes of revellers come to life, blending together real and magical moments in the young boy's imagination, before a traumatic event forces him and his schoolteacher mother, Erzulie, to flee to Quebec.
Anyone belonging to a diaspora who has landed in Canada, or remembers feeling forgotten by the adults in their life, will connect to this beautiful film about making sense of this strange world and finding a new place to call home.
Festival CINERGIE wants to extend our solidarity to the people of Haiti through the crises they are currently facing at home.
Content advisory: triggering themes related to mental health, abuse, loss, trauma, bullying, and racism
HENRI PARDO - Director-Actor
Henri Pardo is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He is most noted as director of the documentary film Dear Jackie, which was a nominee for the Donald Brittain Award at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023. Born in Edmundston, New Brunswick to immigrant parents from Haiti, he moved with his family to Montreal, Quebec, in childhood. His first feature film Kanaval won the Amplified Voices award at TIFF 2023 and Public's Choice award at CINEMANIA 2023.
Mwana ya mayi
Opening Short Film
Vainqueur Adan | Congo | 2023 | 5 min | French, Lingala | ENG sub
Short, Fiction
Synopsis:
Mr. Adan is a young Congolese living in the city of Kinshasa, precisely in the Kingasani neighborhood, where he gave himself to sell water on his head but while wearing business attire and the bandits ended up snatching his water from him because he looked neat.
Festival CINERGIE places importance on highlighting narratives from young, Black filmmakers and other marginalized people. We want to extend our solidarity to Congo, Haiti, Palestine, and other places around the world facing crises from modern colonialism.
Indigenous & Community Access
CINERGIE offers a limited number of complimentary tickets per screening to anyone who is Indigenous, a Newcomer to Canada and/or who faces financial barriers. Reserve your Free Admission tickets by contacting info@cinergiesk.ca.
Each year, CINERGIE also provides complimentary tickets to a variety of organizations that work with such individuals, such as Saskatoon Open Door Society.
9:00pm
Special: Déjanté nocturne
CINERGIE's Premiere Short Films Program,
co-presented by Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival
2h05 | Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Dark Comedy, Suspense, Animation, Science Fiction | 18+
(Ticket includes Special: Déjanté nocturne Screening with 17 short films)
Nocturne
Alexandra Mignien | France | 2023 | 5 min
Horror, Thriller, Fantastic
A young artist is a victim of night terrors. But this time, it's more real than usual.
Audience Review: Very nice performance for a story that is not easy to interpret, reminiscent of sleep paralysis! Very nice shadow play at the end. It was greatly appreciated!
Echo
Charly Delporte | France | 2023 | 6 min 15 | French | ENG sub
Road-movie, Fantastic, Thriller
Gabrielle and Sliman are a young French family on their way to spend a weekend at Gabrielle's parents' house to celebrate France's victory. They are excited to relax and spend time together. However, their journey takes a strange turn when Sliman runs over someone on the road.
Minuits Frissons
Clotilde Colson, Alan Santi | Belgium | 2023 | 8 min 38 | French
| ENG sub
Comedy, Fantastic, Horror, 70s
1970. Every evening, Anne and Jean-Luc host the mysterious television program "Midnight Frights". The program features disturbing, frightening and bloody stories... but all with a touch of humor and light-heartedness. This evening, they tell us the story of Nicole, a groupie of the famous rock star Curtis Wilde.
Plainte
Ryan Boufrah | France | 2023 | 6 min 33 | French | ENG sub
Fiction, Suspense, Student Short, First-time Filmmaker
A woman goes to a police station to file a complaint.
Angle Mort
Alexandra Mignien | France | 2021 | 6 min 49 | French | ENG sub
Drama, Horror, Thriller
A young woman is haunted by the presence of a man who is standing permanently behind her, in her blind spot.
Audience Review: Wow... It's powerful, and the images are so neat and beautiful. Excellent.
Alter
Ismaïl Fassi Fihri | France | 2023 | 1 min 19 | Japanese
Animation, Science Fiction, Student Short
In a contemporary Japanese city, Yoko returns home. On her way, she gradually gets haunted by her past self, grasping more and more space...
Sabbath
Alexandra Mignien | France | 2022 | 13 min 45 | French | ENG sub
Drama, Fiction, Horror
In the Dark Ages, all the villagers are gathered near the cliff to witness the execution of six women accused of being witches. Between misogyny and false religious arguments, the victims may finally become the persecutors.
Content advisory: violence, blood
Lethal
Vincent Larcher | France | 2023 | 1 min 21
Animation, Science Fiction, Action, Student Short, First-time Filmmaker
A special agent enters inside a house to eliminate a chemist working bacteriological weapons.
Content advisory: violence
The Last Frame
Juliane Bidet | France | 2022 | 13 min 30 | French | ENG sub
Fiction, Action, War, Science Fiction, Student Short, First-time Filmmaker
Arthur is a young propaganda film editor for the army. He faces a cruel dilemma when his superior forces him to handle film involving his military father.
Content advisory: depictions of fictional war, violence
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Sentence
Clara Pastour | France | 2022 | 13 min 14 | French | ENG sub
Fiction, Horror, Suspense, Student Short, First-time Filmmaker
One night, a man wakes up on the floor of a car park. The place is deserted, he is injured and all his belongings have disappeared. Disorientated, the man immediately starts looking for a way out, sinking deeper and deeper into the trap that has been set for him...
Content advisory: blood, violence, triggering themes related to sexual assault
PIOU PIOU
Caroline Carimantran, Andréa le CLerc, Théo Crouzevialle, Max André | France | 2023 | 2 min 17 | French
Animation, Dark Comedy, Student Short, First-time Filmmaker
A bird, a little bit curious, is coming through the window of an apartment. He doesn’t know this environment and is discovering new things: dishes, a pack of chips, a TV… and also a robot.
Vanished
Sophie Chamoux, Michał Stenzel, Miguel de Brito | France | 2023 | 5 min 16 | French | ENG sub
Psychological Drama, Thriller
Lisa, unable to confront the sudden disappearance of her daughter and her probable guilt, lives and relives the moment of the tragedy again, imagining, in spite of herself, what could have happened.
Content advisory: triggering themes related to mental health, loss and trauma
MÔME
Anaïs Nativel, Juliette Scornet | France | 2023 | 8 min 33 | French | ENG sub
Psychological Drama, Thriller, Suspense, Student Short, First-time Filmmaker
A woman who has just given birth to a stillborn child finds herself plunged into total denial. Driven by madness, she kidnaps a child from the maternity ward. A chase begins.
Content advisory: triggering themes related to mental health, trauma and suicide
Bread
Augustin Sasarman | ON, Canada | 2023 | 4 min 07
Suspense, Comedy, Student Short
A young boy's day turns very strange when he drops a piece of his toast...
THE NICE GUY WHO WENT BAD BUT WHO USED TO BE NICE
Jauffrey Gallé | France | 2022 | 15 min 22 | French | ENG sub
Dark Comedy, Satirical, Student Short
Frederic Everyman is what people call a nice guy. Unemployed and penniless, he relies on benefits from his providential benefactors: the employees of the Center for Financial Assistance. But unfortunately, one sad day, a terrible disaster befalls Frederic's file: a computer bug!
Selected in 14 film festivals internationally to this day!
D13
Alexandra Mignien | France | 2023 | 2 min 40 | French | ENG sub
Drama, Fantastic, Thriller
Chloé is experiencing odd things. Her relatives are acting weirdly, strangers are watching her and following her in the street... Everything seems to be linked to this mysterious note, left this morning by the waiter of the café, on which it is written "D13".
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The House of The Raven
Isabelle Depelteau | QC, Canada | 2024 | 12 min 59 | French | ENG sub
Psychological Drama, Thriller, Suspense
Set in the Canadian Laurentian mountains, Quebec, in the middle of a winter storm, Sara (10 years old) and her mother Julie prepare to flee her abusive husband. Their plan gets complicated when stranded strangers come to the door seeking refuge from the cold.
Content advisory: triggering themes related to mental health, domestic abuse, and racism
ISABELLE DEPELTEAU - Director-Screenwriter-Editor
Award-winning documentary filmmaker invested in social justice and impact films. Her artistic approach favors symbology and suggestive imagery to build a thrilling dramatic arc. She has chosen fiction to treat the subject of domestic abuse, a theme close to her heart but hard to capture in documentary. The House of the Raven takes place near her hometown where this kind of story is unfortunately too close to reality.
Indigenous & Community Access
CINERGIE offers a limited number of complimentary tickets per screening to anyone who is Indigenous, a Newcomer to Canada and/or who faces financial barriers. Reserve your Free Admission tickets by contacting info@cinergiesk.ca.
Each year, CINERGIE also provides complimentary tickets to a variety of organizations that work with such individuals, such as Saskatoon Open Door Society.