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Il pleuvait des oiseaux (2019) - Original French Version with English Subtitles

It's the annual celebration of  National Canadian Film Day @canfilmday in April, featuring 50 Canadian Films that A.I. could never make !

REEL CANADA is excited to announce this year's edition of National Canadian Film Day (CanFilmDay) which has taken root as the largest annual celebration of Canadian culture. Launched in 2014, CanFilmDay has given hundreds of thousands of Canadians and others around the world, an opportunity to gather together to celebrate their stories and the incredible achievements of Canadian filmmakers. Every year, screenings take place on every conceivable platform and at every conceivable venue, including at the Alliance Française of Philadelphia.

Il pleuvait des oiseaux (d'après le roman de Jocelyne Saucier)

Director Louise Archambault 2019 - 126min - Drama

Quebec, Canada. Nowadays. Three elderly hermits live in the woods, cut off from the rest of the world. While wildfires threaten the region, their quiet life is about to be shaken by the arrival of two women… A luminous octogenarian unjustly institutionalized her whole life, and a young photographer charged with interviewing survivors of the region’s deadliest forest fire. After the death of the eldest hermit, the two women make an astonishing discovery: hundreds of painting echoing his tragic experience related to that devastating fire. A story of intertwined destinies, where love can happen at any age.

CAST 

 Andrée Lachapelle,Gilbert Sicotte, Rémy Girard,  Kenneth Walsh, Eve Landry Éric Robidoux, Louise Portal, Marie-Ginette Guay

LOUISE ARCHAMBAULT
Screenwriter and director, Louise Archambault, made her debut with the internationally acclaimed film Atomic Saké, winning many prizes such as the Jutra for Best Short Film. Her first feature film Familia gained many international sales and prizes such as Best Canadian First Feature Film at TIFF and received a Genie Award for a first film. In addition to directing episodes of the TV series La Galère (2013), Nouvelle Adresse (2014), broadcasted on Ici Radio-Canada, and is Life (2015), broadcasted on CBC, Louise launched her 2nd film Gabrielle at the Locarno International Film Festival (audience award). e film, selected to represent Canada at the Oscars and the Golden Globes in 2014, won many international prizes and was sold in more than 20 different territories. In 2014, Louise was named Personality of the Year by La Presse/Ici Radio-Canada, in the arts and entertainment category. Since 2016, Louise directed 3 seasons of the TV series Trop broadcasted on Ici Radio-Canada as well as 3 seasons of the TV series Catastrophe, broadcasted on Super Écran. e latter won the prestigious Best Script Format prize at the 2018 MIPCOM Gala in Cannes. In 2018, she directed And the Birds Rained Down, her 3rd Feature Film which is set to release in September

 TRAILER 

WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
‘When I first read Jocelyne Saucier’s novel And the Birds Rained Down, I was enchanted by its singular universe. Firstly, Jocelyne’s writing is very cinematographic. We see the hermits’ cabins hidden deep within the woods of Abitibi with its foggy, dark lakes. We smell the odor of the damp forest, of the lichen, and of the wooden stove. We are in the daily lives of the hermits, wrinkled and alert, with their many fulfilled lives, and we are captivated by Gertrude, this 80 year old newcomer who brings an astonishing breath of fresh air, even though her past rests in confined madness. Once I read the novel, these crude, ripe characters, with unusual paths, fully inhabited me and filled my heart and soul. It speaks of something great in such as simple way. And the Birds Rained Down depicts a unique, visual, sensorial and cinematographic universe with rich, atypical characters. It is an ode to life and to love, a universal subject, that opens insight on Others, on differences. This is why I wanted to make it a film filled with hope and grace. Throughout the script’s various themes, meaning that of the past (its weight), wandering and fleeing (the forest), redemption (by art); we always speak of love above all else. Lost love, new love, atypical love; every one of them vibrant with passion. As Marie-Desneige discovers love for the first time at 80 years old, Ted Boychuck dies at 82, always haunted by the love he did not know how to choose. Two main love stories that intertwine and reply to each other. And all of the other characters are implicated in one way or another. With And the Birds Rained Down, I wish to create a film that makes you want to enjoy life and to love. With these three hermits and a former institutionalized patient, we will never see the elderly the same way. And maybe, we will hope to grow old with the same vitality of heart as they have. This film is an ode to life and to love, with its flaws and its pain, with its surprises and its victories. It offers a look on differences, on singular, marginal beings, who show us that this same humanity hides within all of us. » - Louise Archambault

Event information

Day: Friday, April 17th, 2025
Time: 6:30 PM
Duration:  2 hours
Location: Alliance Française de Philadelphie, 1420 Walnut St, Suite 700, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Language: English, French
Fee: $10 for AF members / $15 non AF members

Drinks (Canadian Beer) and cheese/charcuterie board will be served 

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