July 13, 2021 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The National Film Board of Canada returns to Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival with the world premieres of two hilarious and highly entertaining films by award-winning Quebec graphic novelists: Chroniques du Centre-Sud (Centre-Sud Chronicles), by Richard Suicide, and Le syndrome de la tortue (The Turtle Syndrome), by Samuel Cantin. The films will be screened in competition, in the Fantastiques Week-ends du Cinéma Québécois program, on Friday, August 6, at 9 p.m., at the Cinéma du Musée. Both directors and members of the creative teams will be present. Another screening will be held at Place de la Paix, and both films will also be available online throughout Canada. The Fantasia festival runs from August 5 to 25, 2021.

The films are part of the second edition of the NFB-produced Comic Strip Chronicles, a collection of shorts that celebrates the strong affinity between comic books and animation. The two graphic novelists turned filmmakers—Samuel Cantin (Whitehorse) and Richard Suicide (Chroniques du Centre-Sud)—have adapted their works for film, with the invaluable help of master animator Claude Cloutier.

Quick Facts

Chroniques du Centre-Sud (Centre-Sud Chronicles) by Richard Suicide (4 min)
Produced at the NFB by Marc Bertrand
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/chronicles-2021

• In Montreal’s Centre-Sud borough, an author finds inspiration by observing his ingenious neighbour, Piton. This animated short offers a wildly funny portrait of a district in the midst of a full-blown transformation, and is voiced in English by Harry Standjofski.
• Richard Beaulieu (a.k.a. Richard Suicide) has been a major figure in the Quebec underground graphic novel scene since the 1990s. He first became known for his work in the weeklies Ici and The Montreal Mirror, and for his many fanzines and contributions to collective projects. He then went on to create My Life as a Foot, Gonades cosmiques and Chroniques du Centre-Sud, which won the Prix Marc-Olivier Lavertu (2014) and the Bédélys Québec award for comic book of the year (2015).

Le syndrome de la tortue (The Turtle Syndrome) by Samuel Cantin (4 min)
Produced at the NFB by Marc Bertrand
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/chronicles-2021

• What could the illness afflicting Henri Castagnette be? Overwhelmed by anxiety, the young man puts his fate in the hands of the exuberant Dr. Von Strudel. This frenzied and hilarious medical tale is voiced in English by Marcel Jeannin and Wyatt Bowen.
• Comic book artist and screenwriter Samuel Cantin studied film and literature before creating the graphic novels Phobie des moments seuls (2011) and Vil et misérable (2013). The first volume of his dark romantic comedy, Whitehorse, came out in 2015 and won the Bédélys award for best comic published in Quebec. Volume 2 was released in 2017 and published as a collected edition in Cantin also wrote the screenplays for the web series Sylvain le Magnifique and the short film Monsieur Cachemire.

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Associated Links

Fantasia International Film Festival
Cinéma du Musée

French version here | Version française ici.