YOUTUBE
Duval says the drama about a Canadian woman who travels to Vietnam to visit the birthplace of her adopted daughter touched on his own family’s story.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Ritman sat down with director Jean-Philippe Duval to discuss his film
14 Days, 12 Nights in a
THR Presents Q&A powered by Vision Media.
During the half-hour chat, Duval described why the film Canada’s entry for the 2021 Academy Awards international feature film category touched on subjects that were closer to home than anything he had worked on previously.
14 Days, 12 Nights follows Isabelle (Anne Dorval), a grief-stricken Canadian woman who journeys to Vietnam to visit the birthplace of her adopted daughter following a terrible accident. Touching on themes such as culture, mourning, friendship and forgiveness, the story sees Isabelle eventually meet her daughter’s birth mother, Thuy Nguyen (Leanna Chea), in Hanoi, and the two embark on a road trip to some of the country�
“Now my guide was not the dialogue, my guide was the character-driven emotions,” the director said.
As a veteran documentary filmmaker, Duval also said he brought a lot of documentary techniques to shooting a fictional story.
Duval said he felt a deep personal connection to the film’s script, written by Marie Vien, the adoptive mother of two girls, one from China and one from Vietnam. In fact, he was hooked after reading a one-page description of the story.
“I would say I am first a father, of two young boys, and also my sister adopted a little boy from China 15 years ago,” Duval said. “I was very engaged in that story, and I was very touched by this quest of Isabelle. There were a lot of levels and layers in that story.”
Article content
Try refreshing your browser, or
The original idea and the script are by Marie Vien, to whom we also owe La Passion d’Augustine.
Duval made his name writing and directing Dédé, travers les brumes, about the life and work of singer André Fortin of Les Colocs. He was also behind the production of the successful Radio-Canada series Unité 9.
Duval said in a statement that he saw in the film “a unique opportunity to bring the values of peace and reconciliation to the widest possible audience.”
A short list of 10 finalists from among the films submitted will be unveiled Feb. 9. Five of them will be officially nominated in mid-March.