Montréal, November 16, 2023 – The talented emerging filmmaker Luiza Cocora is the winner of the 10th edition of the Regard sur Montréal film residency.
With a grant valued at $75,000, this residency is designed to support culturally diverse, emerging professional artists working in film and video by providing them with the opportunity to more fully integrate into the Quebec media arts landscape.
This residency will enable the filmmaker to devote 11 months to the writing, direction, postproduction and presentation for her short documentary Voltige, which will also be screened at the Montréal International Documentary Festival (RIDM).
Voltige
With this film project, Luiza Cocora immerses us in the life of Anna, an eleven-year-old Ukrainian girl recently immigrated to Montréal after fleeing the war. Through Voltige, we follow the young gymnast as she goes about her daily life, doing her training, going to school and to her favourite spots in this foreign city. Between the ghosts of the past, the challenges of exile and her strong need to belong, the protagonist tries to figure out her new identity, which is formed to the rhythm of her integration into the Montréal community.
Luiza Cocora
As a filmmaker and actor, Luiza Cocora seeks to create works that reflect the multiple identities of Quebec society and give a voice to characters from different cultural backgrounds. Identity reconstruction and immigration are central themes in her artistic research.
In addition to being selected for the Regard sur Montréal residency, Luiza Cocora has produced two short films, Our Remaining Lives (2015) and If This Isn’t Love (2018), both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The artist’s writing project, Les rêves recyclés d’une fleur en plastique qui se croyait une vraie fleur, was also selected for the Amplifier program, a laboratory space dedicated to culturally diverse playwrights, providing them with the opportunity to develop a writing project for the stage that will result in a public performance. This program is an initiative of the Conseil des arts de Montréal and its partners.
The Regard sur Montréal Residency
This initiative pools the resources of three levels of government: the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), through its Independent Filmmaker Assistance Program (ACIC) and its partners, Films de l’Autre and RIDM.
About SODEC
SODEC’s mandate is to promote and support the development of cultural enterprises in Québec and abroad in the fields of film and television production, books, fine crafts, the art market, and music and variety. SODEC is also mandated to protect and enhance 32 heritage properties that reflect Québec’s identity.
About the NFB
The NFB is Canada’s public producer and distributor of award-winning documentaries, auteur animation, interactive stories and participatory experiences, working with talented creators across the country. The NFB is taking action to combat systemic racism and become a more open and diverse organization, while working to strengthen Indigenous-led production and gender equity in film and digital media. NFB productions have won more than 7,000 awards, including 12 Oscars. To access this unique content, visit NFB.ca.
About Les Films de l’Autre
Les Films de l’Autre is an NPO whose mission is to promote formal research and creative freedom in independent cinema. The organization occupies a unique place in the Quebec film landscape by bringing together filmmakers who act as both producers and directors of their works.
About RIDM
The Montréal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), the only festival in Quebec entirely dedicated to creative documentaries, provides the public with the opportunity to discover the best of cinema by bringing together great writers and emerging talent. RIDM also hosts a forum for industry professionals, a bilingual documentary marketplace that is unique in North America. Forum RIDM fosters the development of partnership by offering an intensive program of workshops, lectures and business meeting sessions that focus on training and discussion.
Source and information:
Conseil des arts de Montréal
Hugo Couturier
Director, Communications and Partnerships
514 280-3428
hugo.couturier@montreal.ca
