Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #116. Souterrain – Sophie Dupuis

Published on December 31, 2019

Souterrain

Quebec’s Sophie Dupuis will have sophomore feature Souterrain ready for 2020, produced by Etienne Hansez from Montreal’s Bravo Charlie and backed by SODEC, Telefilm Canada and the Harold Greenberg Fund. Returning to her native Val d’Or, Dupuis reunites with her 2018 Chien de Garde (Family First) star Théodore Pellerin (poised to have a breakout year stateside with Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always and My Salinger Year) with a cast consisting of Joakim Robillard, James Hyndman, Guillaume Cyr, Catherine Trudeau, Mickael Gouin, Chantal Fontaine, Bruno Marcil, Jean L’Italien, Lauren Hartley, Jean-Francois Boudreau, Maxime Genois, Charles-Aubey Houde and Sebastien Leblanc. Dupuis’ 2018 debut was Canada’s submission for the Best Foreign Language nomination.

Gist: Maxime (Robillard) is a miner who wants to make up for his troubled past. When an explosion happens in the mine, he goes underground to save his friends and colleagues.

Release Date/Prediction: Dupuis completed principal photography in July, 2019. If we don’t see Dupuis pop up in Critics’ Week at Cannes or in Locarno, we anticipate a TIFF Platform slot for Dupuis.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.