Annie St-Pierre’s live-action short film Like The Ones I Used To Know (Les Grandes Claques) focuses on a father who goes to his former in-laws’ house to collect his children on Christmas Eve. This moving film which focuses on the themes of family and the first budding of empathy couldn’t have had a more timely release, more than a year into the pandemic. The 80’s nostalgia, exquisite art direction and endearing characters hit you right the holidays past feels. This film, helmed by women in key positions, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and has shown in more than 50 international festivals where it won 15 Awards including the Oscar-qualifying Award at Heartland Film: Indy Shorts International Film Festival and Best Direction at SXSW. This film has been shortlisted for a 2022 Academy Award in the Live-Action Short Film category.
FWM: As an Apostle of independent cinema, you have collaborated as a scriptwriter, casting director, actress and producer with the Montreal film community. Who have you enjoyed working with the most?
Oh! What a scandalous question! Haha! Impossible to answer because I don’t have a favourite; in addition to being with creators that I admire and who inspire me, they are all friends who I love deeply. My collaborations are different with each of them. For example, I could say that I was more stressed on Matthew Rankin’s projects, not because of him, but because I was an actor and I was more vulnerable in this position than when I was casting for Monia Chokri or when I was scouting unusual places with Denis Côté.
FWM: What changes have you seen in the industry?
Well, without doing any social analysis, just from personal experience, I would say that first, a big change is that there are a lot more women directing movies. And with larger budgets. Ten years ago, most women still made low-budget documentaries or arthouse fiction films. Right now in Quebec, there are AT LEAST as many films directed by women as by men who receive financial support from institutions. And that has a huge impact on the stories being told, who the main characters are and who play them. Finally, there is a search for voices from diversity that spans all spheres of industry.
FWM: Your live-action short film Like the Ones I Used To Know (Les Grandes Claques) is on the short-list for the 2022 Academy Award. What impressed you about this story?
That films have their secret path and that it is a mistake to try to define what their international potential is or who their audience will be before they are released. I had the great chance to make the film that I wanted as I wanted it, without any prior expectations, and to be surprised and thrilled that it found that particular way.
FWM: Tell us about the production of Le plein potential (Your Higher Self), a feature documentary on the universe of life-coaches around the world.
With pleasure! Here’s the logline: Part sympathetic portrait and part exposé of the absurd, Your Higher Self is a fascinating observation of the world of coaching, a pervasive modern phenomenon that exemplifies a universal and unending quest: to be ourselves, but better.
We are still trying to find the best way to shoot during this pandemic, which has already stopped the production twice… But I’m perseverant and I think we’ll be able to finish to film before the summer.
FWM: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
I would say: Be curious. And bold. Stay focused on the process and don’t try to imagine the outcome too much. Have fun; art is essential, but it is not an exact science. If you learned something, it means you had to do it.
FWM: Share your upcoming projects
I’m working on Your Higher Self, my documentary, but due to the pandemic obligation to stop filming, I’ve had more time to write… and an overwhelming desire to control my next shoot a little more! Haha! I’m writing two feature-length fiction films; one by myself, another family comedy, about a 39-year-old woman and her mother facing a transitional moment in their lives at the same time; another scenario with François Bernier, a playwright from Montreal. I’m also a (almost) new mom to a 10 months old baby, so you know, it takes up little of my free time…
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