New school

Proje(c)t Y showcases highlights from
Montreal’s student film oeuvre

STOP-MOTION SLAUGHTER: Pogo et ses amis

by MALCOLM FRASER

Celebrating its lucky 13th year, Proje(c)t Y is an annual compilation of the best works coming out of the film programs at Concordia, UQÀM and Université de Montréal. (If anyone is wondering, the “Y” is apparently meant as a graphic representation of three branches, indicating the schools).

The three entries from UQÀM show the most technical proficiency and industry-ready chops of the bunch. Hugo Gauvreau’s Commando Cottage finds two teenage boys, co-workers at a factory, hatching an ill-advised plot to make some quick cash. It’s a risky move to cast young teenagers in any film, let alone a student work, but John-Marcel Tremblay and Antoine Côté-Potvin give strong performances, leaving the viewer curious to see more from them and their director.

Khoa Le’s Lan et Léa shows a teenage Vietnamese girl desperately trying to ignore her nagging mother as they wait in a crowded bus shelter in the rain. The generational and cultural clash is both tense and touching, and Le has a remarkable command of style and atmosphere. In Éric Chaussé’s Noémie, a little girl’s imagination gets the best of her, with a clever conceptual twist at the end.

While these films are practically ready for prime time, other selections have that unmistakable student-film touch—less refined than professional films, perhaps, but also with an energy and eccentricity you don’t generally see in the “real” film world. Nathan Boey’s The Untold Romance of PB+J is a piece of animated whimsy about a lonely piece of peanut-buttered toast. Fanny Boucher’s Le Froid d’hiver est une faculté qui oublie shows the strange encounter between a young dépanneur owner and an unexpected, possibly mystical visitor. In Michael Jacobs’ Art Is for Losers, a conceptual artist has his vernissage thwarted by the arrival of his estranged father. The result is both poignant and dryly funny, and has a boldly strange editing style.

Then there’s François Guay’s Pogo et ses amis, a perverse animated film casting historically famous serial killers in a children’s-TV-style stop-motion adventure. The old-school animation is impressive, but your appreciation of the deliberately tasteless story depends on your feelings about child murders being played for laughs. Altogether, the program is an encouraging sign that our city is still turning out original visions.

PROJE(C)T Y SHOWS AT THE CINÉMA
DU PARC THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 9 AT 7
P.M. AND SATURDAY, APRIL 10 AT 3 P.M.