Levelk | Level K

Facts

Original Title

Jules au pays d’Asha

Genre

Family, Drama

Production Year

2023

Country of Origin

Canada

Language Spoken

French, Anishinaabemowin, English

Length

89 mins

Festivals
BUFF

Director

Sophie Farkas Bolla
Scriptwriter
Sophie Farkas Bolla, Sarah Lalonde

Cast

Alex Dupras, Gabie Jourdain, Marilyse Bourke, Kevin Papatie, Emmanuel Schwartz

Production Company
Luminous beasts, Terre Innue, Coop Video Montreal

Producers
Hany Ouichou, Kim O’Bomsawin

Local Release date
July 21st 2023

On a cold winter's day in 1940, Jules and his family move to live with his uncle, mayor of a settler’s village in northern Quebec. He is banned from school because of his rare skin disease. From that moment on, his greatest wish is to be cured. When his dog Spark runs away into the wild forest, Jules has no choice but to look for him. On his way, he meets Asha, a mysterious young indigenous girl. Together, they venture to the other side of the forest, where nature reveals itself full of life and secrets.

Sophie Farkas Bolla

Director

Sophie Farkas Bolla is a Montreal-based filmmaker who divides her time between writing, directing and editing. Granddaughter of a Hungarian political refugee who reinvented himself as a real estate developer in Northern Canada, Sophie grew up playing in the woods. This period of her life defined by imagination and nature had a profound impact on her. As afilmmaker, she likes to revisit that time by telling stories driven by young people. She has directed several short films that have traveled to children’s film festivals around the world. In 2023, she will release her first feature film, Adventures in the Land of Asha. When Sophie is not working on her own films, she is also an accomplished editor. She has received multiple Canadian Screen Award and Prix Iris nominations for her work. Films she has edited include the award winning Angry Inuk (2016), Roads in February (2018) and Beans (2020).

Producers

After studying philosophy and cinema, Hany Ouichou cofounded the Art & Essai production company with Mathieu Denis in 2012. He produced more than 20 shorts and 5 feature films including Mutants (TIFF’s Best Canadian Short Film), I’ll End Up in Jail (Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand), Prank (Venice, Toronto), Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, TIFF’s Best Canadian Film Award), and Bungalow (Tallinn). In 2016, he was the recipient of the Emerging Producer Award handed out at the Toronto International Film Festival for “his unique creative vision and impressive talents”. In January 2020, he was named artistic director of the Montreal Video Coop.

From the Abenaki Nation, Kim O’Bomsawin is an award-winning scriptwriter, director and producer. She completed a Master’s degree in sociology before embarking on her documentary filmmaking career. Informing the public on First Peoples issues motivates her approach. The Red Line was her first film (2014). Since then, she wrote and directed feature documentary Quiet Killing which won the “Donald Brittain Award for Best Political and Social Documentary” (Canadian Screen Awards, 2018). With Terre Innue, O’Bomsawin made the documentary Teweikan Revived, which won a Gemini Award in 2019. She continued with the documentary Call Me Human which won several awards. O’Bomsawin also directed Telling Our Story and often gives lectures in schools and institutions on Indigenous cinema and issues that affect First Peoples.

Cast

Alex Dupras

Jules

Alex started acting at the age of 5. He began in advertisement before moving to television where he landed numerous roles on various television shows. Most recently, he interpreted Louis Gauvreau in Lyne Charlebois’s latest film, Dis-moi pourquoi ces choses sont si belles and, of course, Jules in Adventures in the Land of Asha directed by Sophie Farkas Bolla.

Kevin Papatie

Niimi

Kevin Papatie is an indigenous Canadian filmmaker that comes from Kitcisakik, an Anicinape community located 90 km south of Val-D’or. Thanks to Wapikoni Mobile, he developed a passion for filmmaking that led him to mobilize for his Territory and his culture. He has directed several award winning films, including The Amendment (2007) which has traveled to many festivals around the world. Adventures in the Land of Asha is his first film as an actor.

Gaby Jourdain

Asha

Fiery, endearing, emotional, sensitive, Gaby loves to sing and knows how to get what she wants. When she heard that a film director was coming to Maliotenam, the Innu community where she lives, in search of the lead part for a film, she immediately signed up to audition and… she got the part! Adventures in the Land of Asha is her debut film as an actress.