''Mars & Avril'' (French: ''Mars et Avril'') is a 2012 Canadian science fiction film starring Jacques Languirand,

Caroline Dhavernas Caroline Dhavernas (; born May 15, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is best known in the United States for her collaborations with Bryan Fuller. She played Jaye Tyler in the Fox comedy-drama series '' Wonderfalls'', and Alana Bloom in the NBC ps ...

Paul Ahmarani Paul Ahmarani (born 1972) is a Canadian actor. Both his parents have a teaching background; one is from Cacouna, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec and the other from the Mediterranean coast. Ahmarani is known for his roles in the movies ''The Left-Hand ...

and

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair l ...

. The movie, based on the photo-novels of the same name published by Sid Lee & la Pastèque, is written, produced and directed by

Martin Villeneuve Martin Villeneuve () is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and art director. He was nominated at the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay, for '' Mars et Avril'', his feature film debut ...

.Denis Villeneuve's brother Martin imagines future Montreal with 'Mars et Avril'
article from '' Canadian Press'', 26 October 2011 The film was shot on a budget of C$2.3 million and featured numerous green screen effects.

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

comic book artist

François Schuiten François Schuiten (; born 26 April 1956) is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series '' Les Cités Obscures''. Biography François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "François Sc ...

is the production designer, former

ILM Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...

Senior Compositor Carlos Monzon worked as VFX supervisor, and

Benoît Charest Benoît Charest (; born in 1964) is a Canadian guitarist and film score composer from Quebec. He is best known for the soundtrack of the animated film ''The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville)'' (2003), for which he won a César ...

composed the original score.''Mars and April'' // ''Mars & Avril''
review from ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', 16 July 2012 The film was financed by Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Les Productions du 8e Art and the Harold Greenberg Fund, and is distributed in Canada by Alliance Vivafilm (now owned by

eOne Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...

) and in the United States by

Gaiam Gaia, Inc., formerly Gaiam, is an American alternative media video streaming service and online community focusing on fringe-science and yoga. Founded by Jirka Rysavy in 1988, its brands include Gaiam TV; the latter's name was changed to Gaia ...

. The official trailer was released in Quebec theatres and on Alliance Vivafilm's YouTube channel on 21 December 2011. The world premiere took place on 2 July 2012 at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

(the film was selected in the section "Another View" for its unique artistic approach in both form and content).Stunning Canadian sci-fi flick MARS ET AVRIL premiering at Karlovy Vary
article from Quiet Earth, 16 June 2012 Since then, the film has been screened in twenty other major cinema events around the globe and has received 10 nominations. Martin Villeneuve was nominated for "Best Adapted Screenplay" at the 2013

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

, and he also won an "Imaging the Future Award" at the Neuchâtel International Fantasy Film Festival in Switzerland. In addition, Villeneuve gave a TED Talk about his film at TED2013 in Long Beach,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, thereby becoming the first speaker to come out of Québec."Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film"
TED, 7 June 2013

Synopsis

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, in the near future, humanity is about to set foot on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. Jacob Obus ( Jacques Languirand), a charismatic musician, takes pride in slowing down time by playing instruments inspired by women's bodies, designed by his friend, Arthur (

). A love triangle develops when Jacob and Arthur both fall in love with Avril (

), a young photographer. Enter Eugène Spaak (

), inventor, cosmologist and Arthur's father, who unveils a new theory about man's desire to reach Mars and helps Jacob find the true meaning of life and love. Jacques Languirand

Cast

Production

Development

In 2005,

optioned the rights to

's ''Mars et Avril'' photo novels through his Quebec city-based motion picture company, Films Ex æquo (who had already produced '' The Far Side of the Moon'' in 2003), with the intent of adapting them into a science fiction feature film. While Villeneuve was to write the script, Lepage was attached to the project as producer and as an actor. A year later, Lepage shut down Films Ex æquo. Nevertheless, he strongly encouraged Villeneuve to produce and direct the film himself. Villeneuve took over the project, while Lepage remained involved as an actor and creative producer. In 2008, SODEC, Telefilm Canada, The Harold Greenberg Fund and Alliance Vivafilm decided to finance the production. Due to the film's significant amount of visual effects, an extensive year of pre-production was necessary. In pre-production, Schuiten made some sketches of the sets and, in post-production, he oversaw the visual coherence of the whole film while acting as art direction consultant. Since the film was to be shot almost entirely on green screen, in only 25 days and on a very tight budget of C$2.3 million, preparation was key to making it work. The 1200 shots were hand-drawn as

storyboards A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in th ...

and then edited with the dialogues in a detailed, two-hour-long animatic that mapped out every detail before shooting. Villeneuve went to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in May 2008 to work with Schuiten, then Schuiten came to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

twice to follow up: in September 2008 and December 2011. Throughout filming and post-production, the two men touch-based as often as they could through

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

.François Schuiten: The Watchmaker of Dreams
Martin Villeneuve's BULB page, 2 December 2013 A

brainstorming Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a grou ...

session between Villeneuve and Schuiten is available as the audio commentary on the DVD.''Mars et Avril'' DVD on Amazon Canada
19 March 2013

Design

In 2007, Villeneuve contacted famed Belgian comic book artist

, who accepted the position of production designer.Voyage à travers le Montréal de demain
article from '' La Presse'', 8 December 2011 Schuiten had already worked on such films as ''

Toto le Héros ''Toto the Hero'' (french: Toto le héros) is a 1991 Belgian film (co-produced with France and Germany) by Belgian film director and screenwriter Jaco Van Dormael. It won the Caméra d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, and the Cés ...

'', ''

The Golden Compass ''Northern Lights'' (titled ''The Golden Compass'' in North America and some other countries) is a young-adult fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, published in 1995 by Scholastic UK. Set in a parallel universe, it follows the journey of Lyra Be ...

'' and '' Mr. Nobody''. The filmmaker wanted the source of his inspiration to play a direct role in the creation of the film rather than try to mimic his style. For a scene taking place inside the Temple of Cosmologists, Schuiten agreed to have a 3D model made of the futuristic auditorium from ''Fever in Urbicand'', a volume in his '' Les Cités Obscures'' series. Villeneuve had this image in mind when writing the photo novel. For the shooting of this scene, extras were chosen who looked like the characters from Schuiten's graphic novel. Villeneuve could not afford to have the imaginary musical instruments used in the film built, so he went to

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

CEO

Guy Laliberté Guy Laliberté, (born 2 September 1959) is a Canadian billionaire businessman, and poker player. Along with Gilles Ste-Croix, he is the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil. In January 2018, Laliberté was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 11th wealthiest ...

and convinced him to buy them before they were even made. When Laliberté saw Villeneuve's TED Talk on 7 June 2013, he offered the filmmaker the "Gravophone" which is seen in the talk.Trivia & Fun facts about the film
BULB, 2 December 2013 Laliberté has thereby financed the creation of the instruments sculpted by artist Dominique Engel.

Casting

Most of the actors who appeared in the photo novels (most notably Jacques Languirand,

and

Stéphane Demers Stéphane Demers (born 1966) is a Canadian actor best known for having portrayed Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the television mini-series '' Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making''. He also appeared in the television series ''Trauma'', ...

) reprised their roles in the film, with the exception of

Marie-Josée Croze Marie-Josée Croze (; born February 23, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She also holds French citizenship, which she obtained in December 2012. Early life Croze was born in Montreal, Quebec, was adopted, and grew up in Longueuil with four other ch ...

(who portrayed the lead female character in the books), due to a schedule conflict.

, who along with Croze was a roommate of Villeneuve during his college years,Martin Villeneuve : l'ambition de la science-fiction
article from ''Le Nouvelliste'', 21 January 2012 was then hired to play the part of Avril.
article from ''The Gazette'', 5 October 2012 Her mother Michèle Deslauriers, provided the Montreal Teleportation Service's voice in the film (she is also the voice of the real life metro service).

Filming

Principal photography

The film was almost entirely shot on green screen, in 25 days, using the RED digital camera. Since

only had a few days available for filming, Villeneuve turned his character into a hologram and had another actor wearing a green hood stand in for his scenes during principal photography. An avant-garde 3D capturing technique was used to integrate him virtually into his scenes as a hologram. Six cameras were trained on Lepage's head while a mime, Jean Asselin, portrayed the body. The character became a

cosmologist Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

whose research into virtual technologies has extended to bold experiments on himself. His head is actually a

hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...

, with all of his ideas, memories and thoughts stored electronically. Additionally, in order to work around Lepage's extremely tight schedule, principal photography took place in

in two segments; the first was in September 2008, and the second in April 2009. This was radio host Jacques Languirand's first leading role in a feature film. Nearly 80 years old at the time, and being hard of hearing, he wore an ear-piece so that his wife, Nicole Dumais, could feed him his lines off set. When performing on the stage of the Liquid Pub with the band of old musicians played by Marcel Sabourin, André Montmorency and Gabriel Gascon, all cultural icons of Quebec like himself, they received a standing ovation from the 50 extras present during the shooting that lasted several minutes. The first assistant director had to stop the applause so as not fall behind schedule. The Martian backgrounds were taken by photographer Denis McCready in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...

using a panoramic film camera. The exact location is near

Trona Pinnacles The Trona Pinnacles are an unusual geological feature in the California Desert National Conservation Area. The landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires (porous rock formed as a deposit when springs interact with other bodies of water), som ...

where several sci-fi movies and TV series were filmed including ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'', ''The Gate II'', ''Lost in Space'' and ''Planet of the Apes''. The scene where Jacob and Arthur are leaving for Mars is inspired by one of Villeneuve's childhood memories: when he was 4 or 5 years old, his older brothers (including Denis Villeneuve) put him in a box and made him believe that he made a space travel on his way to Mars.

Editing

By the end of 2009, the editing of a first cut was assembled. In 2010, Martin Villeneuve searched for new investments in order to complete the 550 VFX shots involved in the film. In early 2011, Anne-Marie Gélinas and Benoît Beaulieu joined Villeneuve as producers. Telefilm Canada and Alliance Vivafilm both accepted to raise their initial investment, and so did Robert Lepage and Lynda Beaulieu though their new Quebec city-based motion picture company, Les Productions du 8e Art. At this point, Pierre Even and Marie-Claude Poulin from Item 7 also joined the team as executive producers.

Re-shoot

In March 2011, exactly two years after principal photography was completed, a re-shoot took place at Lepage's request. The scene in which Jacob and Avril make love was shot in Languirand's actual bedroom. The final cut of the film was completed during the summer of the same year. Montreal-based post-production company Vision Globale (under the supervision of former

Senior Compositor Carlos Monzon) then started the visual effects and sound design.

Music

was tasked with scoring the music. Charest's score was composed according to Johannes Kepler's cosmological theory, ''

Harmonices Mundi ''Harmonice Mundi (Harmonices mundi libri V)''The full title is ''Ioannis Keppleri Harmonices mundi libri V'' (''The Five Books of Johannes Kepler's The Harmony of the World''). (Latin: ''The Harmony of the World'', 1619) is a book by Johannes ...

'', in which the harmony of the universe is determined by the motion of celestial bodies, referenced in the film's opening voiced by

.''Mars et Avril'' – Opening Sequence
on Vimeo

Marketing and related works

The official trailer was released in Quebec theatres and on Alliance Vivafilm's YouTube channel on 21 December 2011. The official poster, designed by

, was revealed online on 11 March 2012, once the film was entirely completed.''Mars et Avril'' on Alta-Plana
/ref> The first in a series of production videos unveiling the film's creation was released online 16 August 2012. A 22-minute "Making of" was aired on ARTV in October 2012 in order to promote the release of the film, and is now available .

TED Talk

On 27 February 2013,

gave a TED Talk about ''Mars et Avril'' at TED2013,A sci-fi film with a $2 million budget: Martin Villeneuve at TED2013
article from the official TED Blog, 27 February 2013 thereby becoming the very first French Canadian speaker invited to this prestigious event that took place in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. Prior to his talk, the opening sequence of the film was shown, as well as a three minute overview of the steps leading from the green screen to the final images. Martin Villeneuve's talk, "How I made an impossible film," was released on TED.com on 7 June 2013, and a month later was added to TED's movie magic list, featuring famed directors such as James Cameron and

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...

. The talk has been viewed more than a million times across all platforms and subtitled in 30 languages. Since then, ''Mars et Avril'' has been referred to as the "Impossible Film".

Release

The world premiere took place on 2 July 2012 at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the

(the film was selected in the section "Another View" for its "unique" artistic approach in both form and content). In Canada, the film was first shown at the

Atlantic Film Festival FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival (known as The Atlantic International Film Festival until 2017) is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. FIN is the largest Canadian film festival ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

on 15 September 2012. ''Mars et Avril'' was given a theatrical release in Quebec on 12 October 2012.MARS ET AVRIL - En salles dès le 12 octobre prochain !
news release from Alliance Vivafilm, 23 August 2012Cinéma québécois - Floraison automnale
article from ''Le Devoir'', 25 August 2012

Festivals

* 27 September 2014: Festival du Film Canadien,

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

(closing gala) * 22 March 2014: FICG Festival Internacional de Cine,

Guadalajara, Mexico Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalajar ...

* 29 September 2013: Lund Fantastisk Film Festival, Lund, Sweden * 22 September 2013: UTOPIA — Tel-Aviv International Festival of Fantastic Film,

Tel-Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

* 22 September 2013: Festival de Cinéma de la Ville de Québec & Vitesse Lumière * 9 July 2013:

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) is a Swiss film festival dedicated to fantastic movies. It was created in 2000 and is now renowned internationally as one of the foremost film festivals in the world for genre cinema. Th ...

* 5 May 2013: Sci-Fi London Film Festival,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Sci-Fi London 2013 Review: MARS ET AVRIL Deserves Greater Attention
Screen Anarchy, 8 May 2013 * 14 April 2013: Imagine Film Festival,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

* 3 April 2013: Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, ("7th Orbit" 2013 international competition) * 23 February 2013: Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois,

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 * 11 February 2013: Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(opening film) * 6 December 2012: Monsters and Martians International Film Festival,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

(opening film) * 1 December 2012:

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 ...

(Section / Film Type: "Discoveries") * 21 October 2012:

Mumbai Film Festival The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the annual international film festival in Mumbai famously known as the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Actor, producer and author Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the Chairperson ...

, India * 11 October 2012:

Festival du Nouveau Cinéma The Festival du nouveau cinéma or FNC (English: ''Festival of New Cinema'') is an annual independent film festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring independent films from around the world. Over 160,000 people attend each year. One of ...

(opening film of the FOCUS section) * 5 October 2012:

Mill Valley Film Festival The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977. History In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...

(U.S. premiere) * 29 September 2012:

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. The Festival's ...

(closing gala) * 17 September 2012:

Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada,"Cinefest provides cultural landmark". ''Sudbury Star'', September 16, 1999. held over nine ...

* 15 September 2012:

in Halifax (Canadian premiere) * 2 July 2012: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, (World premiere; section "Another View")

Distribution

Domestic home media, streaming, and soundtrack

The DVD of the film as well as the digital version on iTunes were released in Canada through Alliance Vivafilm on 19 March 2013,''Mars et Avril'', Directed by Martin Villeneuve
DVD review from Exclaim.ca, 21 March 2013 along with

's original soundtrack and the trailer music composed by

Ramachandra Borcar Ramachandra Borcar is a Montreal-born musician and composer of mixed Indian and Danish background. He is also known under the monikers Ramasutra and DJ Ram. His extensive musical career includes work as a film composer, arranger, orchestrator, ...

. Following Charest's Félix win of Album of the Year on 22 October 2013 at the

ADISQ ADISQ (french: Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video; eng, Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries, link=yes) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the indep ...

Gala, a limited edition of 300 vinyl records were released by Simone Records as a nod to the retro-futuristic look of the film.Benoît Charest: How music can set you free
BULB, 2 December 2013

International distribution

In September 2013, ''Mars et Avril'' was sold to the U.S. and is now available on Amazon, on iTunes, on Google Play and on GaiamTV.Spend the weekend watching the impossible (and beautiful) ''Mars & Avril''
review from ''

io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

'', 6 December 2013 The film is also available on iTunes in the UK, and all across Francophone Europe, among other digital platforms.A futuristic tale of fantasy and desire
BULB, 2 December 2013

Reception

Commercial performance

In February 2016, it was announced that the crew members, for the first time ever in their career, had received a cheque for a film they made with a deferred pay. An art-house indie film that makes its money back is probably a first in Quebec. This is thanks to the work of the American distributor, but mainly to Martin Villeneuve's TED Talk which attracts many viewers to see the film online on platforms such as iTunes and Amazon.

Critical response

''Mars et Avril'' received generally positive reviews after its release in Quebec.Amours futuristes et émois métaphysiques
review from ''Le Devoir'', 13 October 2012
review from '' The Gazette'', 12 October 2012Une réussite visuelle
review from ''Le Journal de Montréal'', 10 October 2012 The film also received mostly positive reviews upon its release in the international festival circuit, starting with a world premiere in Karlovy Vary.''Mars and April''
review from '' Screen Daily'', 13 July 2012 Brendan Kelly from '' The Gazette'' gave it 4.5 stars out of 5 and called it "light-hearted and inspired!" He wrote: "There's a sly wit at work here — that's one of the reasons I so liked ''Mars et Avril''. It doesn't take itself too seriously while tackling some pretty weighty themes, like the nature of inspiration, the relationship between love and sensuality and the notion of how music can set you free. (…) An extraordinary universe that's remarkably inventive and impossible to forget." Mark Adams from '' Screen Daily'' was also quite enthusiastic, and described the settings as a "stunning futuristic Montreal, lovingly produced via the special effects, creating an unworldly and dreamy future city that fits perfectly with the graphic novel style." But Adams also noted that "the audience for the film will be relatively niche. This type of esoteric sci-fi — such as

Enki Bilal Enki Bilal (born Enes Bilal; born 7 October 1951) is a French comic book creator, comics artist and film director. Biography Early life Bilal was born in Belgrade, PR Serbia, Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from ...

's 2004 film ''Immortal (Ad Vitam)'' — works well in France and with fans of comics anthology ''

Metal Hurlant A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

'' and similar graphic novels, but rarely breaks out into the mainstream." In his review for ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'', Anton Bitel was ecstatic: "My favourite film of the festival (and one of the year!) was Martin Villeneuve’s ''Mars et Avril'', an oneiric ‘space opera’ of a kind that, had he had access to CGI, no doubt

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

would have made. So much in this film is vibrantly original and odd. How many future-set films exist that are in no way dystopian, that feature not a single moment of violence, and that have a 75-year-old virgin musician as their hero? (…) With its robot bartenders, dream machines, teleportation devices, missions to Mars and sleek steampunk sets, Villeneuve’s astonishing debut has all the furnishings of science fiction, yet in breaking down the barriers between science, art, philosophy and religion it becomes something much more than a mere genre piece. It’s a meta-cosmo-poem with musical accompaniment, photographic imagery and much male longing and loneliness – which makes it a pioneering exploration of the outer limits not just of Canadian filmmaking in particular (which has never before produced something so grandly rich and strange) and cinema in general, but also of the SF and fantasy genres themselves, here made to accommodate the broadest of human concerns." Online reviews also praised the film. Writing for ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'', Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg claimed that it "deserves greater attention", adding: "Oh, what a wonderful, rich, glorious treat of a film ''Mars et Avril'' is. A sci-fi steam-punk romance with a terrific score, it is a delight to the senses. Visually stunning, melodramatic in its storytelling, and unafraid to delve into deep philosophical musings." Esther Inglis-Arkell from sci-fi authority ''

'' gave it her two thumbs up: "''Mars et Avril'' is a movie that will surprise you. It has to, as every time it seems to go one way, it will twist off in a new direction. It will also give your eyes a good time (…) It looks beautiful and it looks different. This movie took seven years to make and inspired a TED talk about how to make an 'impossible' film. It's also one of the most beautiful, and immersive, science fiction worlds on film." Jay Seaver from ''efilmcritic.com'' called it a "thoroughly funky French-Canadian sci-fi!", and wrote: "All of this put together is a small, colorful delight – the funny bits come and go quickly enough to get their chuckles and not wear out their welcome, the whole thing is pretty, and the story that eventually gets told has some heft to it without ever losing sight of the film's goal of being entertaining."''Mars et Avril''
review from eFilmCritic.com, 11 February 2013 Upon the DVD release, Scott A. Gray from '' Exclaim!'' encouraged viewers to bring the film home and wrote: "With his bold, breath-taking big screen debut, Martin Villeneuve has proven himself a vital new voice for intelligent and emotional science fiction. Based on his graphic novels, ''Mars et Avril'' is a stunning accomplishment, not just for a first-time filmmaker, but for the genre, and especially for a project with such a modest budget. Its distinct visual grandeur is matched (and surpassed) only by the boundless creativity and thoughtfulness of the story – this is a piece of motion art absolutely brimming with ideas. (…) ''Mars et Avril'' is an absolute must-see for viewers more interested in engaging with thought-provoking concepts than passively watching generic linear action unfold."

Accolades

;Awards * 11 February 2013:

Sci-Fi Film Festival, United States – Honorable mention for "incredible post-production work". * 9 July 2013:

, Switzerland (international competition) – Imaging the Future Award. * 22 October 2013: Benoît Charest won the Félix in the category "Album of the year – original soundtrack" at the

Gala. ;Nominations * Canadian Screen Awards, 2013: ** Achievement in Music – Original Score (

) ** Achievement in Overall Sound (Pascal Beaudin, Daniel Bisson, Luc Boudrias, Olivier Calvert) ** Achievement in Visual Effects (Vision Globale) ** Best Adapted Screenplay (

) *

Jutra Awards 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.François Schuiten François Schuiten (; born 26 April 1956) is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series '' Les Cités Obscures''. Biography François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "François Sc ...

, Élisabeth Williams, Martin Tessier, Patrick Sioui) ** Best Sound (Pascal Beaudin, Luc Boudrias, Olivier Calvert) ** Best Costume Design (Mariane Carter) ** Best Hairstyling (Richard Hansen) ** Best Score (

) * 23 February 2013: Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois,

, Canada – In competition for the Gilles-Carle Award. * 9 July 2013:

, Switzerland (international competition) – Narcisse Award for Best Feature Film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mars and Avril Canadian science fiction films Films based on Canadian comics Live-action films based on comics Quebec films Films shot in Montreal Mars in film 2012 science fiction films 2012 films French-language Canadian films 2010s Canadian films