Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
drama film, directed and co-written by
Joëlle Desjardins Paquette
Joëlle Desjardins Paquette is a Canadian film director and screenwriter from Quebec, who won the Borsos Competition award for Best Director of a Borsos Competition Film at the 2022 Whistler Film Festival for her 2022 film ''Rodeo (Rodéo)''. The ...
. The film stars
Maxime Le Flaguais
Maxime Le Flaguais is the stage name of Maxime Côté (born 1982), a Canadian actor known for his leading television role as Alexis Labranche in the 2016-21 drama series ''Les Pays d'en haut'' and his performance in the 2022 film ''Rodeo (Rodéo ...
as Serge, a truck driver who takes his young daughter Lily (
Lilou Roy-Lanouette
Lilou Roy-Lanouette (born 2010) is a Canadian child actress from Chambly, Quebec. She is most noted for her performance in the 2019 film '' Jouliks'', for which she received a Prix Iris nomination for Revelation of the Year at the 22nd Quebec Cin ...
) on a cross-Canada road trip to attend a truck rodeo in
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, against the context of a dispute with his ex-wife (
Whitney Lafleur
Whitney Lafleur is a Canadian actress from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
) over custody of her.André Duchesne "Maxime Le Flaguais en camionneur dans le film Rodéo" '' La Presse'', July 30, 2021.
The film went into production in August 2021. Although not directly based on their real lives, the film was inspired in part by Desjardins Paquette's father, a professional truck mechanic with
Kenworth
Kenworth Truck Company is an American truck manufacturer. Founded in 1923 as the successor to Gersix Motor Company, Kenworth specializes in production of heavy-duty ( Class 8) and medium-duty (Class 5–7) commercial vehicles. Headquartered in ...
's operations in Montreal.
The film premiered on November 8, 2022 at the Cinemania film festival. It later screened in the
Borsos Competition The Borsos Competition is the main awards program for Canadian feature films screening at the annual Whistler Film Festival. Introduced for the first time in 2004, the juried competition presents six awards annually to honour films, actors, screenpl ...
at the 2022
Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...
. Commercial release is slated for early 2023.
Awards
At Whistler, Desjardins Paquette won the award for Best Director of a Borsos Competition Film and Roy-Lanouette received an honourable mention for Best Performance in a Borsos Competition Film. It was also named the winner of the EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Feature Film by the
Alliance of Women Film Journalists
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006. It is based in New York City and is dedicated to supporting work by and about women in the film industry. The AWFJ is composed of 84 professional female ...
.
The film received two nominations at the
11th Canadian Screen Awards
11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables.
Name
"Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...
John Dunning Best First Feature Award
The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special Canadian film award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director. Under the earlier names Claude Jutra Award and Ca ...
. It was a
Prix Iris
The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.Best First Film at the
Le Journal de Montréal
''Le Journal de Montréal'' is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. ...