COMPANY PROFILE
ITEM 7 produced many outstanding and internationally acclaimed films such as writer-director Kim Nguyen’s Oscar-nominated WAR WITCH (REBELLE) (category of Best foreign language film). The film won the Silver Bear award for Best Actress and received a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, and was awarded 10 Canadian Screen Awards and 8 Quebec Jutra Awards. CAFÉ DE FLORE (3 Canadian Screen Awards and 3 Jutra Awards), by late director Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y., BIG LITTLE LIES, WILD) starring Vanessa Paradis premiered at the Giornate degli Autori in Venice followed by a Special Presentation at TIFF. BROOKLYN has received 3 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and was directed by John Crowley as a co-production with UK and Ireland.
Other landmark productions by Item 7 include BEST SELLERS, a film by Lina Roessler starring Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza in co-production with Montreal’s Wishing Tree and UK, THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT by Kim Nguyen starring Jesse Eisenberg (THE SOCIAL NETWORK, CAFÉ SOCIETY), Alexander Skarsgård (THE NORTHMAN, BIG LITTLE LIES) and Salma Hayek (FRIDA), the Canadian hit comedy BON COP BAD COP 2 starring Patrick Huard and Colm Feore directed by Alain DesRochers, BIRTHMARKED by Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais starring Toni Collette (KNIVES OUT, HEREDITARY) and Matthew Goode (THE IMITATION GAME, WATCHMEN) and THE COLONY by Jeff Renfroe with Laurence Fishburne (THE MATRIX). Item 7 has also an extensive experience in international co-productions with, amongst others, BROOKLYN, A KID in co-production with France from established director Philippe Lioret and CYANIDE by Swiss director Séverine Cornamusaz.
ITEM 7 credits also include MARIA CHAPDELAINE written and directed by Sébastien Pilote which premiered at TIFF 2021 and garnered 16 nominations at the 2022 Quebec Cinema Gala, EYE ON JULIET by Academy Award nominated director Kim Nguyen that premiered at Giornate degli Autori in Venice. MIRACULUM by Podz with Xavier Dolan and Anne Dorval and THE MASTERS OF SUSPENSE (LES MAÎTRES DU SUSPENSE) by Stephane Lapointe with Antoine Bertrand, Michel Côté and Robin Aubert complete the roster.
Presented at the 2022 Cannes XR and Marché du film, MARCO & POLO GO ROUND by Benjamin Steiger Levine is Item 7’s first foray in virtual reality. The VR experience and 2D film were selected in many prestigious festivals, such as the Tribeca Film Festival, New Images, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Annecy Animated Film Festival. The VR experience was awarded - Best Creative XR - Crystal Owl Awards at Stereopsia EUROPE 2021, - VR Golden Fireball Award at Kaohsiung XR Dreamland 2021, - Most Innovative 6DOF 360VR at FNC Explore 2021 and - Best VR Short Film Award and GIFFMX 2021 - Mejor Narrativa Visual de Realidad Virtual.
Shooting in 2022 are BALESTRA by Nicole Dorsey starring Cush Jumbo, James Badge Dale and Manny Jacinto, HAPPIER DAYS (LES JOURS HEUREUX) by Chloé Robichaud with Sophie Desmarais and Sylvain Marcel and PETIT JÉSUS a co-production with France’s Chapka Films, first feature film by director Julien Rigoulot with Antoine Bertrand.
Pierre Even
COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
MARIA CHAPDELAINE 2020
(In co-production with Belgium’s Belga Productions)
Format: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Director: Sébastien Pilote (known for The Auction & The Salesman)
Screenplay: Sébastien Pilote
Cast: Sara Montpetit, Sébastien Ricard, Hélène Florent, Antoine Olivier Pilon et Gilbert Sicotte
MARIA CHAPDELAINE, a young woman lives with her family on a land on the banks of the Péribonka River in rural Québec in the 1910s. True pioneers, the Chapdelaine family works tirelessly to push back the forest boundaries. Where the harshness of everyday life meets the delicacy of a life warm family, Maria, strong and full of hope, finds herself in dilemmas of size. François Paradis, free and wild lumberjack, promises Maria to come back in the spring to marry her while Lorenzo Surprenant offers her a easy life in a city in the United States and Eutrope Gagnon, a valiant and modest farmer, took a lot of colonization near the Chapdelaine. Between territory, family and love, Maria, pushed into the adult world, will suddenly have to choose her future.
THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT 2019
Format: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Director: Kim Nguyen
Screenplay: Kim Nguyen
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Salma Hayek
In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a fibre-optic cable straight between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to breaking point on their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Salma Hayek) a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and beat them at their own game. No matter what the cost, Vincent and Anton are determined to cut through America, only to find redemption at the end of their line, not through money, but through family and reconnecting to the land.
Toronto IFF – Special Presentations (2018); London FF (2018); Busan IFF (2018); IFF Rotterdam (2019); Göteborg FF (2019)
EYE ON JULIET 2018
Format: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Director: Kim Nguyen
Screenplay: Kim Nguyen
Cast: Joe Cole, Brent Skagford, Lina El Arabi
From the Academy Award Nominated Director Kim Nguyen, EYE ON JULIET tells the story of an unlikely encounter between Gordon (Joe Cole), a hexapod operator, and Ayusha (Lina El Arabi), a young woman from the Middle East. Gordon, guardian of a pipeline in this desert region, becomes fascinated by Ayusha, while piloting his robotic spider from the other side of the world, in America. Ayusha is promised to an older man she doesn’t love. Despite the distance, their mutual fear and their imperfect interaction, he will do everything in his power to help her escape her fate. Filmed on location in Morocco, Paris and Canada
Int’l sales: Tajj Films Distribution (USA) and Playtime (ROW)
Venice Days – Giornate degli Autori (2017) FEDEORA PRIZES BEST FILM; Toronto IFF – Special Presentations (2017);
Warsaw FF (2017); IFF of India Goa (2017); Palm Springs IFF (2018)
BIRTHMARKED 2018
(In co-production with Ireland’s Parallel Films.)
Format: Feature film
Genre: Comedy
Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais
Screenplay: Marc Tulin, Emanuel Hoss Desmarais
Cast: Matthew Goode, Toni Collette, Fionula O’Flannagan, Suzanne Clément
Birthmarked is set in 1977 where two respected scientists, BEN MORIN and his wife CATHERINE O’NEAL , quit their jobs at the university to conduct an experiment they think will revolutionize our understanding of human identity. The project aims to raise three children contrarily to their genetic predispositions to prove the ultimate power of nurture over nature. They want to prove that everyone has the same potential to become anything. MAYA, a newborn girl adopted from two feebleminded parents, is raised to be smart, while MAURICE, a newborn boy adopted from two anger-prone parents, is raised to be a pacifist. Finally, their own biological son LUKE, who comes from a long lineage of scientific brains, is raised to become a revered artist. The experiment will reveal little scientific truth, but rather lead Ben and Catherine to discover the true value of family
Int’l sales: Aqute Media