''Saved by the Belles'', also known by its

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

title ''Échappée belles'', is a 2003 feature film by

Ziad Touma Ziad Touma is a Lebanese Canadian film director, producer and screenwriter born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1974 and residing in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the founder of the film, television and digital media production company Couzin Films . ...

, his first long feature film. Touma is a Lebanese

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 ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

residing in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. Touma is the founder of ''

Couzin Films Couzin Films is a film, television and digital media production company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was established by Ziad Touma, a Lebanese Canadian film director, producer and screenwriter. Filmography *2003: '' Saved by the Belles' ...

'' film, television and digital media production company and it was released through the company.

Synopsis

The film's storyline has a young man rearing his head in Montreal's club milieu, claiming not to remember a thing about his past or who he is. Discovered by local drag diva Sheena Hershey (played by Brian Charbonneau, aka Brian C. Warren) and scenestress Scarlet VJ (played by Karen Simpson), this young amnesiac is soon dubbed "Sean" and taken under wing by the club-junkie duo. Hoping to jar his memory, they take him on a tour of Montreal's club scene, introducing him to various characters along the way; Touma's cast includes numerous authentic night life figures, among them drag fixtures Mado and Madame Simone. The press kit describes it this way: "Saved by the Belles" stars fags and hags, blonde bimbos, label whores, sugar daddies, club kids, biceps builders, leathers and feathers, funky junkies, freaks and geeks, sex addicts, chupa chicks, lube monsters, pimply pimps, weight watchers, nympho virgins, mingle singles, glowstick ravers, cheap strippers, wannabe actors, guestlist leftovers, glittery debutantes, kinky grannies, impotent hustlers, baggy-eyed scenesters, size queen cupids, self-taught porn stars, air miles jetsetters, showgirls, smoking players, bendable bisexuals and mama's toys.

Cast

*Brian Charbonneau ... Sheena Hershey (as Brian C. Waren) * Karen Simpson ... Scarlet *Steven Turpin ... Chris * Danny Gilmore ... Sean *Lydia Lockett ... Magda *Matt Williston ... Tobey *Ron Diamond ... Doug *Marcelle Lapierre ... Edith * Mado Lamotte ... Mado *Dennis O'Brien ... Dennis *Varda Etienne ... Varda *Terry Sigalas ... Terry *Louise Bastien ... Loulou *Robert Horble ... Chicken *Driss Berki ... Driss *Paul Pabello ... Paul *Alessandro Mangiarotti ... Alessandro *Bernadette Rusgal ... Bernadette *Nohémie Renaud ... Noémie *John Thomas Fraser ... Sean's Dad

Awards and nominations

A theatrically distributed feature film, Ziad Touma's ''Saved by the Belles'' won several awards in festivals around the world. The film went on to win the Best Feature Film award at Toronto's

Inside Out Film and Video Festival Inside may refer to: * Insider, a member of any group of people of limited number and generally restricted access Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 f ...

in 2003. In 2004, it was nominated for three Genie Awards for "Best Achievement in Cinematography", "Best Achievement in Art Direction" and "Best Achievement in Music - Original Song".

''Saved by the Belles'' website

"Belles" film led to the launching of a website by Ziad Touma, co-wrote and co-produced with Mouna Andraos and BlueSponge.Power Talk Creative directors presentation
/ref> The website won the "Boomerang Awards" for "Best Arts & Culture Website" and was nominated as "Best Extreme Entertainment Site" at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

SXSW Awards.

References

External links

Couzin Films Official website
*
Telefilm Canada page on ''Saved by the Belles''savedbythebelles.com website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saved By The Belles 2003 films Canadian LGBT-related films Films set in Montreal Quebec films 2003 LGBT-related films Canadian comedy-drama films LGBT-related comedy-drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films