First Look, the work-in-progress section of Locarno Pro, is set to run from 8-10 August. Cineuropa takes a closer look at four of the six features in post-production due to be showcased during this year’s edition, which is dedicated to Canadian cinema. The industry initiative was organised by the Swiss festival in partnership with Telefilm Canada. The projects are all looking for potential European partners.

Veins – Raymond St-Jean (Canada)
In Saint-Étienne, a semi-abandoned Canadian village, a young woman unravels the mystery surrounding her father’s sudden death. As strange incidents multiply in her surroundings, what she discovers is even more sinister and horrifying than she could have ever imagined. This is the premise of St-Jean’s film, penned by Martin Girard and being staged by Nicolas Comeau, of 1976 Productions.

“We produce very few elevated genre features in Canada. Veins will be the first movie of its kind in Quebec, and we feel we’ve succeeded in creating a world that will speak to several audiences without creative compromises,” says Comeau. “We hope to meet sales agents at Locarno and find a solid partner to distribute the film internationally.”

The picture is budgeted at €3.5 million.

Lhasa by Sophie Leblond (© Metafilms Inc)

Lhasa – Sophie Leblond (Canada)
Covering everything from Lhasa de Sela’s nomadic childhood in Mexico to her artistic path in Montreal, this documentary, now in post-production, will follow her life and career, as a woman and as an artist, until her untimely death from cancer at age 37. With Lhasa’s narration serving as a guide, the film is an intimate collage of her writings, drawings and paintings, alongside the family’s archives, showcasing the places and people she loved.

“After three years of hard work, we’re finally coming to terms with the delicate step of the rough cut,” Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre, of Montreal-based firm Metafilms, tells Cineuropa. “At this stage, we're looking at including new partners and fresh minds to help us correctly position the film in the industry in order to maximise its impact.”

Filming took place in Canada, France, Mexico and Cuba. The team is seeking world sales agents, post-production funding and festivals. The picture is budgeted at €380,000.

Lunar Sway by Nick Butler (© Cloudy Pictures Inc)

Lunar Sway – Nick Butler (Canada)
Cliff is an eccentric young man living in the small desert town of Mooncrest, looking for love in all the wrong places. His life is shaken up by the unexpected arrival of his estranged birth mother, Marg, a steely misfit who reminds him of himself. But she brings with her a range of dangerous consequences, sending Cliff on a wild misadventure he never saw coming. This is the plot of Butler’s sophomore feature, produced by the director himself, Jennifer Wrede and Lucas Meeuse for Cloudy Pictures Inc.

“I'd had the basic premise for Lunar Sway in mind for a long time, but it took being in a situation of unrequited love a couple of years ago for the concept to resonate with me in new ways,” Butler tells us. “I got very inspired by the location: a strange, small desert town filled with eccentric misfits. Right now, we're very near the end of post-production, and are looking for sales agents and distributors and, of course, the perfect film festival to host our world premiere.”

The project is budgeted at €875,000.

Thanks to the Hard Work of the Elephants by Bryce Hodgson

Thanks to the Hard Work of the Elephants – Bryce Hodgson (Canada)
Based on a true story, this low-budget, experimental fiction movie is a queer-love fantasy flick that follows two teenage boys who escape an abusive youth lockdown centre while high on LSD. They steal the centre’s van and drive 400 km to a big-box store car park, determined to start an alternative youth commune in a nearby suburban forest.

“Thanks to the Hard Work of the Elephants is a punk-spirited, vérité-style love story. Blending raw emotional truth with stylised, chaotic imagery, the film explores trauma, love and the characters’ desperation to reclaim their stolen ability to hope and dream – all seen through their fractured teenage gaze,” reveals the writer-director. “It’s a movie that feels like the boys themselves made it, clawing their story into the frame. We’re looking for bold international sales agents, distributors and programmers that champion emotionally charged, genre-defying and boundary-pushing cinema from first-time filmmakers.”

CouKuma and Harrington Studio are producing.