The Quebec film Noémie dit oui is released on 250 screens in France

MISE À DAY

One year after its release in Quebec, the film Noémie says yes,by director Geneviève Albert, sets out to conquer French audiences by hitting theaters on Wednesday on 250 screens across France. A release of exceptional magnitude for the first feature film by a young Quebec filmmaker still unknown in France.

Geneviève Albert would not have believed her if someone had told her there a few months ago, Noémie dit oui would be launched on 250 screens in France. Apart from certain films by Denys Arcand or Xavier Dolan and popular comedies like Starbuck and La grande séduction, few Quebec feature films have had such major releases in France. By way of comparison, Starbuck was shown in the same number of theaters in 2012.

Joined on Tuesday morning in France, where she is promoting her film, Geneviève Albert admits that she was surprised when she learned of the ambitious marketing plan drawn up by her French distributor, Wayna Pitch.

“For an unknown director and a film starring unknown actors, c still a long shot! she says at the end of the line. But Jonathan Musset [the boss of Wayna Pitch] believes in the film so much that he defended it tooth and nail. Our distributor has given everything to ensure that the film has as much visibility as possible. We even had the right, two weeks ago, to a big preview at the UGC Les Halles in Paris, the busiest cinema in the world. I consider myself really lucky to have been able to experience this.”

Taboo subject

Over the past few weeks, Geneviève Albert has presented Noémie dit ouiin preview in twenty cities in France. By going to meet the French public, the Quebec filmmaker felt a great interest for her film, but also for the subject she tackles there, namely juvenile prostitution. Noémie dit oui stars young actress Kelly Depeault as a 15-year-old teenager trapped in the vicious circle of prostitution. 

“Apparently, in France, it is a subject which is a little more taboo than with us, she observed. One of the comments people made to me most often after the screenings is: “Your film is a slap in the face!” I've also heard a lot about Kelly Depeault's exceptional acting.”

The first reviews of Noémie dit oui published so far in the French press have been rather laudatory. . The newspaper Télérama emphasizes that the strength of the feature film “rests on a staging worthy of the best independent American films, but especially owes a lot to the debutant Kelly Depeault, a vibrant talent and delicate to follow”.  

Le Journal du Dimanche describes the work of Geneviève Albert as “a strong and necessary first film” which “does not spare the viewer with its very realistic but never complacent or erotic”.

Released in Quebec in April 2022, Noémie dit oui has already been presented in twenty festivals around the world and won a dozen price.