September 17, 2020 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Starting Sunday, September 27, the full version of Félix Rose’s feature documentary Les Rose (The Rose Family, Babel Films/NFB) can be viewed online free of charge in Canada on NFB.ca. The film is also currently playing in more than 25 cinemas across Quebec. Its world premiere was on August 14 as opening film for the Percéides – Festival international de cinéma et d’art de Percé, where it won the award for best documentary. Viewers have flocked to see The Rose Family since it opened across the province on August 21: as of September 14, the total box office, compiled by Cinéac, was $169,891. The doc’s success is all the more remarkable considering the ongoing social distancing measures that prevent theatres from filling to capacity. With the 50th anniversary of the October Crisis fast approaching, the film is a chance to revisit key events in modern Quebec history and gain some social perspective on the unprecedented crisis, seen through the lens of the Rose family.
In October 1970, members of the Front de libération du Québec kidnapped government minister Pierre Laporte. Fifty years later, Félix Rose sets out to understand what could have led his father Paul and his uncle Jacques to commit the acts that ultimately ended in the tragic death of their hostage. The Rose Family puts the October Crisis in its proper social context and restores the workers’ struggle to its central place in the FLQ narrative by retracing the family’s history, starting with a grandfather working at Redpath Sugar, then moving from Saint-Henri to the shacks of Ville Jacques-Cartier, from the Canadian National shop floor to the citizens’ committees of the late 1960s. The filmmaker draws on the talents of a number of acclaimed Quebec artists, including director of photography Eric Piccoli and editor Michel Giroux (The Memory of Angels and The Devil’s Share), as well as musicians Philippe Brach and La Controverse.
Les Rose (The Rose Family) (127 min 58 s) was produced by Babel Films (Philippe-A. Allard, Marco Frascarelli, Eric Piccoli and Félix Rose) and the NFB (Colette Loumède and Nathalie Cloutier). Visit this page for screening locations and times: facebook.com/LesRoseLeFilm.
About the filmmaker
Félix Rose developed his political and social consciousness at a young age, and he is passionate about history. While still in his teens, he discovered direct cinema and the work of Pierre Perrault. After studying film and television, he joined Babel Films, where he started as an editor and screenwriter for the web series Temps mort (2010–2012). He then turned to directing, making the documentary Avec la gauche (2014), which follows a candidate for the Québec Solidaire party on the campaign trail. In 2017, with co-director Eric Piccoli, he made Yes, a film about a Quebec artist who travels to meet the people of Scotland on the eve of their independence referendum. The Rose Family is his most recent film.
– 30 –
Related Products
Electronic Press Kit available in French only | Images, trailers, synopses: The Rose Family
Associated Links
Babel Films
French version here | Version en français ici.