Film Festivals

Top 20 Alternative Picks for Cannes 2013: Sébastien Pilote’s The Dismantling

Published on May 15, 2013

The Dismantling – Sébastien Pilote

Section: Critics’ Week

Buzz: Wholly unassuming, as most Québécois films tend to be outside of Quebec, Sébastien Pilote made perhaps the best Canadian film of 2011 with his strong debut The Salesman. A small chorus responded to it, in the shape of a Grand Jury Prize at the Bombay International Film Festival and a spot on that year’s Canada’s Top Ten (probably the only film that year to earn a collective “Huh!?” upon its announcement).

The Gist: Gaby raises lambs on his farm, the Gagnon & Sons farm. Except that he doesn’t have a son. He has two daughters he has raised like princesses and who live far away, in the big city. One day, his older daughter asks him for a loan to save her from losing her home. Gaby, whose sense of paternal duty exceeds all reason, chooses to sell off his farm.

Related Topics:2013 Cannes Film Festival, Sébastien Pilote, The Dismantling

Blake Williams

Blake Williams is an avant-garde filmmaker born in Houston, currently living and working in Toronto. He recently entered the PhD program at University of Toronto's Cinema Studies Institute, and has screened his video work at TIFF (2011 & '12), Tribeca (2013), Images Festival (2012), Jihlava (2012), and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Blake has contributed to IONCINEMA.com's coverage for film festivals such as Cannes, TIFF, and Hot Docs. Top Films From Contemporary Film Auteurs: Almodóvar (Talk to Her), Coen Bros. (Fargo), Dardennes (Rosetta), Haneke (Code Unknown), Hsiao-Hsien (Flight of the Red Balloon), Kar-wai (Happy Together), Kiarostami (Where is the Friend's Home?), Lynch (INLAND EMPIRE), Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), Van Sant (Last Days), Von Trier (The Idiots)