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Ste. Anne

Forum 2021
© Rhayne Vermette
The fireside get-together is in full swing when news arrives: Renée has returned. She moves back to the rural family home which her brother Modeste now shares with his wife Elenore. The two of them have been bringing up Renée’s young daughter Athene as if she were their own. Athene tries to grasp the new situation, even as her mother’s feet are already starting to itch. Renée owns an empty lot in Sainte Anne, Manitoba, the one on the photo she shows to Athene, where a house is waiting to be built. But this is hardly the whole story, if you can even talk of a story for much of the time, it’s more a set of impressions, fragments, of the Treaty 1 territory, of daily life in the Métis Nation, to which Renée’s family belong, as do the director’s family who play them, she herself in the role of Renée. A dog in the snow, giggling nuns, hands on laden tables, shadows against corrugated plastic, the sound of the train and the image of the empty lot, again and again: in the flickering celluloid, colours fluctuate, motion slackens, hopes and dreams bleed into reality and past and present merge. Unlike what Athene says at the beginning, you needn’t be scared of the places your visions find.
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by Rhayne Vermette
with Isabelle d'Eschambault, Jack Theis, Valerie Marion, Dolorès Gosselin, Roger Vermette, Andrina Turenne, Denise Tougas, Yvette Deveau, Paulette Cooksey, Rhéanne Vermette Canada 2021 French 80’ Colour

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Isabelle d'Eschambault
  • Jack Theis
  • Valerie Marion
  • Dolorès Gosselin
  • Roger Vermette
  • Andrina Turenne
  • Denise Tougas
  • Yvette Deveau
  • Paulette Cooksey
  • Rhéanne Vermette

Crew

Written and Directed by Rhayne Vermette
Cinematography Kristiane Church, Amanda Kindzierski, Lindsay McIntyre, Erin Weisgerber, Rhayne Vermette
Editing Rhayne Vermette
Music Bret Parentau
Sound Design Andy Rudolph
Sound Charlene Moore
Production Design Janelle Tougas
Costumes Wanda Farian
Make-Up Chrystal Gray
Casting Savannah Luff
Assistant Director Amanda Kindzierski
Production Manager Rhayne Vermette, Savannah Luff
Producer Rhayne Vermette
Executive Producer Rhayne Vermette

Produced by

Exovedate Productions

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Rhayne Vermette

© Chrystal Gray

Born in 1982 in Notre Dame de Lourdes, Manitoba, Canada. She studied architecture and literature and works as an artist and filmmaker. Ste. Anne is her feature-length debut following several experimental shorts, mostly shot on analogue 16mm film.

Filmography

2012 Tricks are for Kiddo; 5 min. · Tudor Village: A One Shot Deal; 5 min. 2013 Black Rectangle; 2 min. 2014 Rob What; 20 min. 2016 Les Châssis de Lourdes; 18 min. 2017 Domus; 15 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021