L'Oiseau Mort

L'Oiseau Mort airs on CBC Sunday July 25, 2010 at midnight!

2010-06-07T08:24:00.001-07:00

That's right: L'Oiseau Mort will be on the Canadian national airwaves on Sunday July 25th as part of the CBC's ongoing series "Canadian Reflections." It airs that Sunday at midnight, so stay up late and celebrate.

Oiseau's International Premiere at the Strasbourg International Film Festival

2008-08-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

L'Oiseau Mort has been officially selected by the Strasbourg International Film Festival, marking Oiseau's international premiere (outside of North America).

Located in one of the most bloodily contested regions of Europe, the Strasbourg International Film Festival (September 12-20) is Alsace's biggest celebration of cinema and the filmmakers who will be leaders in tomorrow's world of filmmaking. Devoted to showcasing creative, edgy, out-of-the-box and marverick filmmakers, the SIFF champions bold works that show a clear, unique voice and vision ready to be seen by a global audience.

Oiseau will also be screening that same week in Austin, Texas at the Non-Violence International Film Festival.

Oiseau at Moondance and San Diego

2008-06-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

L'Oiseau Mort was recently named a semi-finalist at Moondance and will screen in Boulder, Colorado on the Labour Day weekend 2008. Oiseau was also recently made an Official Selection of the San Diego International Children's Film Festival and will screen at 3:30 p.m. Saturday Aug. 9 at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park, San Diego.

It's been a while since I've posted any news about L'Oiseau Mort's status on the festival circuit. After submitting to a round of international film festivals, Oiseau is now in the second phase of festival submissions to some specialized festivals. Check back here for more news at the end of the summer.

L'Oiseau Mort at the CFC's Worldwide Short Film Festival

2007-04-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

L'Oiseau Mort has been accepted into the Canadian Film Centre's 2007 Worldwide Short Film Festival, one of the world's most prominent short film showcases and an Academy Award qualifying festival. (The Danish Poet, last year's Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Short Film, qualified for the Oscars by winning a "best of" category at the WSFF.) Oiseau is one of around 170 short films selected from the 3100 submissions and will screen in Toronto during the festival, sometime between June 12th and June 17th.

Started by Academy Award-nominee Norman Jewison, the Canadian Film Centre has been developing Canadian talent for film and television for 18 years.

Congratulations to the cast and crew!

L'Oiseau Mort at the Kick Start Screening May 10th!

2007-04-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

L'Oiseau Mort will be screening in full HD on Thursday May 10th at the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver at 7:30PM (Arbutus and 16th) as a part of a showcase of the 2006 Kick Start films.

It will screen with The Visitor (Dir: Dan West, Prod: Sian McArthur), The Sparkle Lite Motel (Dir: Corey Kinney Prod: Mel Weisbaum), Glimpse (Dir: Kryshan Randell, Prod: Lauren Grant), and The Weight of Light (Dir: Jericca Cleland-Hura, Prod: Bill Lyle).

The Kick Start program, administered by the Director's Guild of Canada BC Chapter and supported by DGC BC and BC Film, awards $20,000 to five projects per year. The program, which supports filmmakers looking to launch their directing careers, offers all kinds of other support and is recognized and supported in the industry by service and equipment houses like Post Modern Sound, Finale Editworks, Sharpe Sound, and Rainmaker.

L'Oiseau Mort would like to acknowledge the support of the following agencies, companies, service and equipment houses: DGC BC, BC Film, BC Arts Council, UBCP, The Animal Department, Fillmore Riley LLP, Multimedia Risk, William F. White, Panavision, Kodak, Dolby, Royal Bank of Canada, Offset Rentals, and Action Enterprises Ltd.

Oiseau Wraps Up the VIFF

2006-10-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

With its world premiere on Wednesday October 11th at 9:30PM and its festival swansong on the afternoon of Friday the 13th, L'Oiseau Mort annointed itself a hit.

Oiseau screened before a sold-out audience at both showings as a part of the Eccentric Orbits program of short films. The response was palpable: gasps, laughs, and introspective silence during the intensely emotional scenes.

Paul Christie, the producer, and writer/director Spencer Maybee were on hand at both screenings for a Q&A session afterward.

"I'm really proud of all the work that everyone put into Oiseau," says Maybee. "Every single person from Ian, our DoP, who put in extensive thought and research to develop the look of the film, to Joanne, our powerhouse 1st AD; from our incredibly diligent and gifted cast, to each and every crew member including Paul's friends who dropped in to help wrap out the location. Everyone did their part extremely well and the final product is testament to that."

Maybee and Christie were both thrilled to see the final picture on the big screen. "You go to the expense of shooting on 35mm and finishing to HD, and when all you've seen through the post process is a down-res'd version on a small computer screen, it's a real relief to see how great it looks on the big screen."

Oiseau is now doing the festival circuit. Check back here for updates on upcoming festival screenings.

L'Oiseau Mort at the VIFF!

2006-09-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

L'Oiseau Mort is an official selection for the 25th annual Vancouver International Film Festival. It will screen at the Pacific Cinematheque as a part of Eccentric Orbits program of short films on:

Wednesday October 11th at 9:30PM
Friday October 13th at 3:30PM

For more info and to purchase tickets click here and look for Eccentric Orbits.

Contact

2006-09-02T02:15:00.000-07:00

Email info@loiseaumort.com with any questions.

Check out the PitchPage interview with Paul and Spencer about the making of L'Oiseau Mort.

L'Oiseau Mort Synopses

2006-09-02T00:52:00.000-07:00

95-Word Synopsis
The 11-year old tomboy Oliver is like a ghost to her classmates. They don’t see her and they don’t care. The feeling is mutual. But when an unlikely event occurs, the class bully, Eddie, shifts his attention from his usual victim, the class weakling, Petey. Eddie’s abuses trigger Oliver’s hidden grief, setting off a chain of events that lands her across the principal’s desk, forcing her to acknowledge her grief. When Petey confesses his affection for Oliver, she rejects him outright, but finds herself unable to stand idly by while Petey is persecuted. (93 words)

80-Word Synopsis
To her grade six classmates, Oliver is invisible and she likes it that way. But when an unlikely incident draws the attention of Eddie, the class bully, Oliver is forced into the world from which she has withdrawn. Her veneer of intellectual invulnerability crumbles and she is compelled to acknowledge her grief for her late mother, discovering a newfound empathy for Eddie’s usual victim, a helpless geek named Petey. Oliver comes to Petey’s aid, confronting Eddie in a less than typical fashion. (82 words)

60-Word Synopsis
To her classmates, Oliver is invisible and she likes it that way. But when an unlikely incident draws the attention of the class bully, Oliver is forced into the world from which she has withdrawn. Her veneer of intellectual invulnerability crumbles and she is compelled to acknowledge her grief for her late mother, discovering a newfound empathy for a helpless geek. (61 words)

40-Word Synopsis
Oliver is a tomboy who is not dealing with her grief for her lost mother. When an unlikely event triggers a chain reaction, Oliver is compelled to acknowledge her grief and discovers a newfound empathy for the class weakling. (39 words)

Tag Line
Some people just don’t belong.

Director Bio

2006-09-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

Seen here giving direction to leading lady, Hailey Wiebe (Oliver).

Born and raised in Toronto, Spencer Maybee graduated from UVic with a BFA in Writing and Film Studies and began working in film in the beautiful city of Winnipeg. He studied filmmaking at the International Workshops in Rockport, Maine, and the Canadian Screen Training Centre’s Summer Institute of Film Training. Spencer’s first film I Really, Really Like You, was nominated for a Blizzard Award for Jeff Sutton’s lead performance. L’Oiseau Mort is his first 35mm film.

Director's Commentary

2006-09-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

L’Oiseau Mort may be socially relevant on the obvious levels – bullying and human grieving – but it is driven by character and relationships and these take extreme precedence over any social commentary. L’Oiseau Mort is not a PSA.

You could say L’Oiseau Mort is a short film about vulnerability and acceptance and you wouldn't be wrong.

But more than this, L’Oiseau Mort is a short film about Oliver, an 11 year-old girl whose reality is so distinct from that of her classmates that she might as well exist on another plane. She is an outsider, with all the banes with which the role typically comes, but also with the freedom that comes with not being one of the pack.

When we embrace our own vulnerability, rather than fear revealing it, we take ownership of it and become free from the fear of it being used against us; we can empathize with others who are vulnerable and help them to dissolve their fear, and, to go to the logical extreme, help to free them from those that exploit their vulnerabilities.

While this is true, there is another truth about liberation that is scary: being free means being free from the group, free from the comfort of the roles we play within a society, a family, a workplace, a school.

L'Oiseau Mort is a short film about what happens when a young girl has the courage to truly break free.

My First Meeting with Paul

2006-09-02T00:46:00.000-07:00

When I first passed an early draft of the script to my good friend and producer Paul, he read it over and looked at me soberly. "Spence, you know what they say about kids and animals, right?" I nodded. "And you want to do a stunt in here, too?" I nodded again. "With a bird?" I didn't know what to tell him. "Yes," I said. Paul looked back at the page with a crease in his brow. The server came and took our plates away. Then the server came and left the bill. I paid the bill and the server came back with the change. The crease was still in Paul's brow. After a deep sigh, Paul finally looked up from the script, a ridiculous grin spreading across his face. "Okay," he said. "Let's do it."