ANNA KIRI

CURRENTLY IN POST-PRODUCTION

Anna, a young delinquent, lives on the fringes of society with her brother Vincent and their friends Cindy and Mirko. Since the violent death of their parents, they have become her only family. The group survives on petty crimes, spending their days aimlessly wandering. Anna's emotional world revolves around Vincent, her one true love. Despite this bond, Anna yearns for recognition. In secret, she keeps a journal, the draft of her first novel.

During a robbery involving Micky, a local gangster, Anna loses her journal, which is found by a literature teacher. He tracks Anna down and offers her the chance to leave the streets and pursue her literary work under his mentorship. Anna is tempted to accept, much to Vincent's dismay, as he doesn't want to see her leave.

One night, in retaliation for the robbery, Micky violently attacks Anna's family. Abandoned, Anna flees her life of crime and seizes the opportunity to integrate into the academic and artistic spheres. However, the transition is brutal: she struggles to find her footing and forge a new identity, missing her brother terribly. Lost and haunted by her past, Anna must find Vincent and take control of her destiny for the first time.

Directed by · Francis Bordeleau
Written by · Alex James, Valérie Chevalier, Francis Bordeleau
Production · Françis Bordeleau, Stéphane St-Hilaire, Ian Quenneville, Paul Cadieux

Distribution · Catherine Brunet, Charlotte Aubin, Maxime de Cotret, Jade Hassouné, Rosalie Bonenfant, Caroline Néron, Benoît McGinnis, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Manuel Tadros, Karl Graboshas, Fayolle Jean, Guillaume Rodrigue, Émile Ouellette, Nicolas Michon, Jeanne Roux-Côté, Marc-André Brisebois, Marguerite Laurence, Emerik Ivanov, Miguel Dugal, Laurence Latreille, Laurie Babin, Sébastien Dulck et Gaël Comtois

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

Anna Kiri confronts the duality of « who » we are versus « who » we choose to be. The story is a metamorphosis: Anna, a fiercely rebellious young delinquent, is given the chance to finally become someone. She receives a bittersweet gift—an entry into the artistic world she has always dreamed of, which quickly reveals itself to be less glamorous than she imagined.

Throughout her journey, Anna learns that fleeting recognition is merely an illusion. She realizes, through family abandonment, that true recognition comes from genuine emotions, such as the love of those close to us—family. With this film, I don't aim to impart a lesson or moral but to share my perspective on the cost of pursuing wild ambitions and the repercussions of personal vanity. I want to highlight themes of self-acceptance and family, showing how the quest for recognition can lead to self-destruction and the breakdown of vital relationships. While we may believe that recognition and glory will bring joy and happiness, this pursuit is essentially an identity quest, where reconciliation with self-love is often the key to true happiness and a real sense of existence.

My goal was to present Montreal in a poetic and imaginary way, aligning the story with a style rarely seen in Quebec cinema: a boldly subversive realism, reminiscent of Jean-Claude Lauzon or Greg Araki’s films. I aimed to create a surreal and fictional city reflecting Anna's intimate and personal perspective rather than merely depicting the characters' lives in familiar settings.

For inspiration, I drew from visual worlds such as Jean-Claude Lauzon's "Un zoo la nuit" and Martina Hoogland Ivanow's short film "Speedway," as well as the 1980s punk culture. With my director of photography, we crafted a stylized, poetic, and visually rich mise-en-scène, using wide shots and unusual camera angles to immerse the audience in the film's emotional atmosphere.

The visual style of Anna Kiri features a dark color palette and contrasting lighting to highlight the story's and city's darker aspects, creating a viscerally unsettling atmosphere. Despite this, bursts of vivid, surreal colors punctuate the scenes. I chose a minimalist and abstract aesthetic, emphasizing texture, light, and color, to create cityscapes often composed of vast empty spaces, with simple lines and geometric shapes that convey depth and immensity. The colors, vibrant yet desaturated, evoke a poetic, punk, restless, and timeless atmosphere.

My vision for this film follows a cinematic trend representing reality poetically, through a punk and metaphorical mise-en-scène. It involves creating harmony between reality and fiction, blending concrete elements of the real world with the symbolic elements of poetry. This approach highlights marginalized or atypical characters to explore universal themes such as family, self-discovery, and human relationships.

Francis Bordeleau is a Montreal filmmaker, born in 1992. In 2016, he directed his first short film, Iceland, which premiered at the Short Film Corner in Cannes. Later that year, he wrote and directed Carnasse, an ambitious short film for which he won the Gold Audience Award at the 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival. A recipient of TIFF's Irving Avrich Award in 2018, his first feature film, Wolfe, which he wrote and directed, was released in October of the same year in Canadian cinemas, distributed by TVA Films. In 2021, he directed the music video for Neoreality by pianist Steve Barakatt. This work has been viewed over 500,000 times and featured in numerous major concerts across Europe and Asia. The same year, he directed VLAD, the summer 22 collection runway show for Montreal designer MRKTN. In the winter of 2023, he began filming his second feature film, Anna Kiri Superstar, distributed by Filmoption International.

FILMOGRAPHy

• Iceland, short film, 2016

• Carnasse, short film, 2016

• Wolfe, feature film, fiction, 2018

• Anna Kiri, feature film, fiction, 2025

SÉLECTIONS & PRIX

• Official selection, Cannes Short Film Corner, 2016 X Iceland

• Audience Award - Gold, Fantasia International Film Festival, 2016 X Carnasse

• TIFF - Irving Avrich Fund Recipient, 2018

Stéphane St-Hilaire has held numerous positions in cinema and advertising over the past 15 years. As the chief director on five feature films by Xavier Dolan and on several American productions, Stéphane St-Hilaire heads Melancholia Films and ensures collaboration with artisans who wish to create unique and accessible works, aiming to reach a passionate audience seeking innovation.

Ian Quenneville completed his studies in production (film and television) at the Institut National de l'Image et du Son (INIS) in 1999. In 2009 and 2018, he participated in executive and management programs at HEC Montréal. In 2019, he was part of the C15 cohort at the École d'Entrepreneurship de Beauce (EEB), where he successfully completed the Elite Training for Executives and Managers.

Over his 20-year career, Ian Quenneville has produced more than 100 unique documentaries, series, and documentary feature films, winning several awards and nominations. He has also produced fiction feature films such as Le Ring' (2006), Le Garagiste (2015), and Salope ou le sucre naturel de la peau (2018). He co-founded and co-leads the branded content agency and television production company TOAST. The company has produced over 3000 short content pieces, unique documentaries, series, magazines, reality shows, fiction, and series.

Paul Cadieux, a leading Canadian film and TV producer, boasts a Genie Award for Best Motion Picture and two Oscar Nominations for Les Triplettes de Belleville. Over three decades, he's managed major projects from children’s animation to documentaries in English and French. Through Megafun Productions and Filmoption, he ensures quality and commercial viability to his projects. Notable works include award-winning documentaries like P.S. Jerusalem and Emmy Award Winner Advocate, and big budget fiction such as Dusk for a Hitman. With a focus on quality and market needs, Cadieux combines creative passion with production expertise.

PODUCTION Melancholia Film
IN ASSOCIATION WITH Avanti-Toast and Filmoption Productions

DISTRIBUTION Catherine Brunet, Charlotte Aubin, Maxime de Cotret, Jade Hassouné, Rosalie Bonenfant, Caroline Néron, Benoît McGinnis, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Manuel Tadros, Karl Graboshas, Fayolle Jean, Guillaume Rodrigue, Émile Ouellette, Nicolas Michon, Jeanne Roux-Côté, Marc-André Brisebois, Marguerite Laurence, Emerik Ivanov, Miguel Dugal, Laurence Latreille, Laurie Babin, Sébastien Dulck et Gaël Comtois

DIRECTED BY Francis Bordeleau
WRITTEN BY Alex James, Valérie Chevalier, Francis Bordeleau
CINEMATOGRAPHER Miguel Henriques
COMPOSER William Gaboury
EDITOR Dave Lapanne
ART DIRECTION Alex James
COSTUMES MARKANTOINE LYNCH-BOISVERT