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Press Kit
A CARGO to Africa
SHORT SYNOPSIS
Two destinies intersect.
Norbert has worked for twenty years in Africa. Either out of idealism or
because he was forced to flee his country of origin. When he returns, it’s
despite himself and without papers. Now Norbert has only one goal: to be
deported back to Africa where he lived and worked. Above all, not to be
stuck in Canada, where he feels useless… And in danger.
Norbert plans to stow away on a cargo ship headed for Africa. But he
must get rid of Trotsky, his pet monkey. He has no choice but to abandon
the small primate in a park... and hope that someone will pick him up. But
an annoying kid spoils his plan by witnessing it and quickly bringing back
the monkey. “Why are you dumping your pet? You’re disgusting!”
What starts as a confrontation evolves slowly to a true companionship.
The man and the boy serve as each other’s bridge over troubled waters.
A CARGO to Africa
Technical data
English title:
A CARGO to Africa
French title:
Un CARGO pour l’Afrique
Working titles :
SOGOKURU, ex SONT OU TES
ÉLÉPHANTS?, ex TOCADE & FUGUE
Country :
Canada
Shooting format :
HD
Distribution format :
35mm
Color :
Color
Sound :
Dolby Digital
Shooting location :
Province of Quebec, Canada
Length :
90 minutes
Shooting language :
French
Version :
English (subtitled and/or dubbed)
Genre:
Dramatic comedy
Ratio:
1:1.85
Production year:
2009
Release date:
September 2009-06-09
Audience:
Family (adults and children aged 9-10 and
up)
A CARGO to Africa
CAST
Norbert
Christophe
Greesall
Durand
Beautiful death
S.P.G.A.Q. director
Smuggler
Véronique B.
African dancer # 1
African dancer # 2
Lucien
Angry man
Tattooed strongarm
King’s boss
Zoo guard
Party organizer
Girl on telephone
Punk girl
Punk boy
Policewoman
Policeman
TV cameraman
Christophe’s mother
Party cameraman
Burn
Biker
Mechanic 1
Mechanic 2
PIERRE LEBEAU
JULIEN ADAM
LOUISE RICHER
ALEXIS MARTIN
TETCHENA BELLANGE
GARY BOUDREAULT
RUSSELL YUEN
MARIE ANGE BARBANCOURT
CLAUDINE MALARD
ROSALIND SMITH
CARL ALACCHI
CLAUDE DESPAROIS
JEAN-GUY BOUCHARD
MANUEL ARANGUIZ
GASTON CARON
STEPHEN FAULKNER
SONIA DE ROME
GENEVIÈVE FONTAINE
GUILLAUME HOULE
ÉLISE PETITJEAN
CLAUDE AUBIN
ALAIN JULFAYAN
CHANTAL AIROLDI
JEAN-NICOLAS DORION
FRANK GAUTHIER
MIKE SCHERER
STÉPHANE LEFEBVRE
LOUIS PAQUETTE
ALEX CADIEUX
Stunt double of Norbert
Double of Christophe
MIKE CHUTE
DANY BOUCHARD
A CARGO to Africa
MAIN CREDITS
Director & Screenwriter
Roger Cantin
Producers
Rock Demers
Chantal Lafleur
Associate Producer
Roger Cantin
Production Manager
Sylvie de Grandpré
1st Assistant Director and Casting
Nathalie Goulet
Script
Virginie Jaffredo
Unit Manager
Ginette Hoyse
Director of Photography
Philippe Lavalette
1st Camera Assistant
Martin Gravel
Art Director
Mario Hervieux
Set Propsman
Elise Nadeau
Sound Recordist
Dominique Chartrand
Boom Operator
Pierre Bertrand
Gaffer
Clermont Lapointe
Grip
Amélie Douville
Costumes
Francesca Chamberland
Make-up
Christiane Fattori
Hairdresser
Linda Gordon
Stunts Coordinator
Mike Chute
Set Photographer
Jean Demers
Editor
Roger Cantin
Sound Designer
Guillaume Boursier
Robert Labrosse
Music Composer
Ned Bouhalassa
Songs (lyrics and music)
Oumar Ndiaye
Postproduction Manager
Pierre Thériault
Laboratory
Vision Globale
Publicist
Judith Dubeau
IXION Communications
©All rights reserved
Productions La Fête (Tocade) Inc.
2009
A CARGO to Africa
LIST OF INVESTORS / BROADCASTERS / DISTRIBUTORS
Produced by
PRODUCTIONS LA FÊTE (TOCADE) INC.
With the financial participation of
SODEC
Société de développement des entreprises culturelles - Québec
Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit
and with the collaboration of
An Astral Media Network
An Astral Media Network
In collaboration with
Distribution in Canada
K-Films Amérique
World sales
Delphis Films
A CARGO to Africa
SYNOPSIS
Norbert (Pierre Lebeau) has devoted his life to humanitarian work in Africa.
Evacuated after a war, he now reluctantly finds himself back in his native country,
Canada, without documents. “Good,” he thinks, “deport me. I want to return to
Africa. Here’s once that someone is willing to do what you want; do us both a
favour!” It’s in Africa that Norbert feels useful. But the bureaucrats don’t quite see it
like that. They probe his past: in his younger days he was involved in labour
violence, he was a political agitator, etc.
Christophe is ten. He is living the most painful experience of his young life. Despite
his efforts at being a good boy, the best boy in the world, his mother has died of
cancer. That was a few months ago and Christophe can’t get over it. He refuses to
accept this injustice, this defeat. He feels alone, misunderstood. Taking advantage
of the fact that his father is frequently away because of work, Christophe runs
away.
Norbert would like to settle his problem before the immigration officials make it
worse. He contacts a human smuggler. If the man can bring people in, he can
surely smuggle someone out. He makes an appointment. But Norbert must get rid
of a companion: Trotsky, his small capuchin monkey. Norbert’s landlord doesn’t
want animals in his building and a pet would be a problem on the cargo ship
taking Norbert: the customs dogs might detect the small primate.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Norbert is left with no choice: he abandons
Trotsky in the park, hoping that someone will find and adopt the animal. But young
Christophe witnesses it all. He delivers Trotsky back to Norbert along with a tongue
lashing. He’s keeping an eye on the older man and will ensure that he doesn’t try
anything funny again!
This is how Christophe’s adventure with Norbert begins. He stymies Norbert’s
scheme with the smuggler and begins to control the older man in other ways as
well. What exactly does he want? That Norbert find a family to adopt Trotsky and
that he reunite him with his mother.
The two protagonists embark on a voyage during which they will grow to
appreciate each other. Norbert gets a surprise when he learns where Christophe’s
mother “resides” when the boy takes him to visit a village cemetery. There, Norbert
must explain to Christophe why life is worth living even when loved ones are gone.
Using himself as an example, he will transmit to Christophe an ideal of life and allow
his young companion to accept the death of his mother.
A CARGO to Africa
ROGER CANTIN,
Screenwriter and director
Screenwriter, director and novelist Roger Cantin began his career making over thirty
short films, work that earned him numerous awards including two consecutive first prizes
at the Canadian Student Film Festival. Among his works: La Moto (1969), Pixilation (1980),
Pêcheur d’eau douce (1982) and L’objet (1984), (Gémeaux prize for best short).
He launched his professional career co-writing The Dog Who Stopped the War (1984),
inspired by his childhood games, film that over two decades later remains a favourite
among Quebec moviegoers.
For television, Roger Cantin directed Le Grand Zèle (1992), a telefilm that earned four
Gemini nominations in 1993. the four Rock & Belles Oreilles « Série B » films(1995) and the
children’s series Back to Sherwood (1998). More recently he directed such bio-films as Le
Tueur, a portrait of the repentant Donald Lavoie, who has been linked to over 100
murders, Le dernier des Géants, a moving and revealing portrait of The Great Antonio, a
portrait of Guy A. Lepage, etc.
In addition to The Dog Who Stopped the War, many of his films have been aimed at
family audiences and have had great success with viewers at home and abroad. These
include The Hidden Fortress (2001), Matusalem, Le Dernier des Beauchesne (Matusalem
II, 1997) and Simon les nuages (1990). Among other films he has written and directed:
L’assassin jouait du trombone (1991), Le Grand Zèle (1992), La Vengeance de la femme
en noir (1997). His films have earned numerous honours and have been seen in countries
of all five continents.
Roger Cantin has also made several non-fiction films, including On a été élevé dans
l’eau salée, a feature-length documentary, Gaspésie, a series of five shorts, and Les
Candidats, a feature documentary. Cantin has also published six novels for young
readers, adapted from his screenplays.
More recently, Roger Cantin returned to short films, directing a Luke Bélanger
production, Hero by Nature, that (Montreal) La Presse editorialist called “a poignant
short by Roger Cantin that castigates white racism in regard to native peoples“. In 2006,
Hero by Nature won best short awards in Spain (Cartagena), Italy (Morbegno), France
(Stains) and the U.S. (the Thunderbird Film Festival in Utah, and the Houston International
Film Festival).
In 2008-09, he wrote, directed and edited A CARGO to Africa.
June 2009
A CARGO to Africa
PIERRE LEBEAU,
In the role of Norbert
A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada in 1975, Pierre Lebeau has
divided his career between acting and writing. In the theatre, he has
participated in some fifty productions, including Homer’s Odyssey, Tennessee
Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and Roland Lepage’s Le temps d’une vie,
which represented Quebec in Avignon. In the early 1980s, he began writing
comedy and continued in the genre for five years. He worked on many comedy
series in Quebec television even while acting in several dramatic series himself,
among them Fortier, Urgence and Tag. On the big screen, viewers saw him in
Matroni et Moi, Les Boys and Le Siège de l’Âme. In 2002 he played the role of
Séraphin Poudrier in Un homme et son péché directed by Charles Binamé, a film
that became one of the all-time hits of Quebec cinema. Since 2002 his talent has
been on display in Père et fils, Nez rouge, L’incomparable mademoiselle C,
Nouvelle-France, Bon Cop Bad Cop and La rage de l’Ange, to name some of his
features. On the small screen, he played in such series as Chambre no. 13, and
Les Boys. In 2008, he is back on films sets in Sous le vent de Neptune, Truffe and A
CARGO to Africa, to be released in September 2009.
June 2009
A CARGO to Africa
MUSIC OF THE FILM
NED BOUHALASSA,
Composer
Ned Bouhalassa (born Le Mans, France, 25 August 1962) is a composer of
electroacoustic music, film scores, and television scores. Bouhalassa is a
Canadian citizen, and has been residing in Montreal since 1967.
A student of composer Francis Dhomont, and professor Kevin Austin, he has
been composing electroacoustic music since 1987. Regularly programmed at
Montreal's Elektra and Réseaux festivals, his concert music has also been heard
around the world. Since the late 1990s, he has been exploring hybridization by
combining electronic beats with electroacoustic soundscapes. Lately, he has
been interested in collaborating with video artists and writing works for surroundsound systems.
Bouhalassa received first prize in the electroacoustic category of the 1990
SOCAN Young Composer's Competition, third prize in the 1993 Luigi Russolo
International Competition, and was a finalist in the 1995 Noroit-Léonce Petitot
Acousmatic Competition.
In 1993, he began composing television soundtracks, and has been writing music
for image full-time since 1997. His music has been heard in international television
series such as Dogs With Jobs, 15/Love, and Back To Sherwood, as well as in
independent feature films including Jack & Ella, Evil Words, These Girls, starring
David Boreanaz, and Le Goût des jeunes filles.
OUMAR NDIAYE,
Songs (music and lyrics)
Dakar is not only the destination of a world famous ralley, it is also the hotspot for
westafrican music. A harbour city that has spread a lot of musical inspiration all
over the globe for decades, and still has a wide and vital music-scene. One of
its artist is OUMAR NDIAYE, raised on the nearby island “Ile de Goree”, and now
living in Senegais capital.
His career started with the first African boy-group, the “Golden Boys of Dakar” in
1987. In 1995, OUMAR NDIAYE released his album Hoslu which already featured
the American singer Elizabeth Shipley. This initiated his major breakthrough in
Senegal. Today he is a regular part of the monthly charts and radio playlists.
A filmscore for Tableau-Ferraille (1998) and two follow up albums Mann
Sénégalais (2001) and Youz-ba (2005) did establish him a well-known musician,
not only in his country.
He toured through Europe and plays gigs at most of the big festvals in Senegal.
In his concerts, he manages to mesmerize his audience with his different musical
styles and his charismatic stageshow. His musical repertoire is quite diverse and
brings up a good mixture of African rhythems as well as melancholic
guitarepieces, just like an African singer-songwriter. His favourite style is the
Mbalax, a very popular music-style in Senegal, which just started to be popular in
Europe as well. And with his very special voice, OUMAR NDIAYE is an
outstanding talent in this musical genre. Indeed, he adds a special taste to it!
A CARGO to Africa
ROCK DEMERS,
Producer
The founder and president of Productions La Fête and the creator of the TALES FOR ALL, Rock
Demers has been involved in all facets of film. At the beginning of the 1950s, he co founded the
film magazine Images and launched several film clubs. In 1958, after studying in education, he
traveled throughout Europe and Asia for two years. Upon his return to Canada, he joined the
team that had recently founded the Montreal International Film Festival. He was directorgeneral of the festival from 1962 to 1967. He was one of the founders of the Cinémathèque
Québécoise in 1963 and founded Faroun Films in 1965.
In 1968, Demers began devoting himself to Faroun Films, a distributor of films for young audiences
that was expanding its operations to dozens of countries. He broadened its activities to art and
auteur films. Soon, he went from distributor to producer, completing production on a film for
children that he had acquired for distribution, entitled “The Christmas Martian” (Bernard Gosselin,
1970).
During the 1970s, Faroun was also the port of entry for the majority of foreign films entering
Canada from Japan (Kobayashi), Australia (Peter Weir), Germany (Fassbinder, Wenders),
Switzerland (Tanner, Goretta and Soutter), France (Malle, Eustache), Italy (Taviani), Eastern
Europe (Zanussi, Pojar, Zeman), Africa (Djibril Diop) and Latin America (Rocha), among others.
He has been president of the Association of Film Distributors, a professor of film at the Université
du Québec à Montréal and president of the board of directors of the Association of Film and
Television Producers of Quebec (APFTQ) at various points in time in the past decade, and served
on the juries of numerous international film festivals.
In 1980, he founded Productions La Fête, with the initial goal of producing an anthology of nine
films intended for children and families: TALES FOR ALL. The first in the Collection, THE DOG WHO
STOPPED THE WAR, was released in 1984. Thanks to the extraordinary critical and box office
success of the first films, the anthology now comprises 22 films (which won some 200 national and
international awards in less than 20 years)
In 1987, he received the Prix Albert-Tessier from the Québec Government, the highest decoration
awarded in the field of cinema. In 1988, the Canadian Academy of Film and Television gave
him a special Genie Award for his exceptional contributions to the Canadian film industry. In
1992, the Canadian Government named him to the Order of Canada and he was named
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the then French Culture Minister, Jack Lang, during the
Festival of Quebec cinema at Blois. In 1993, the Montreal World Film Festival paid him homage.
In 1998, he received the Canadian Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. In June 2001, he
was the first Canadian to receive the Life Achievement Award from Banff International Television
Festival and in February 2003, he received the « Life Time Achievement JUTRA Award » granted
by all related audio-visual professional associations from Québec.
More recently, in February 2008, Mr. Demers was promoted to “The Order of Canada “, our
country’s highest civilian honour. It acknowledges the exceptional contribution of Mr. Demers to
the nation.
June 2009
A CARGO to Africa
CHANTAL LAFLEUR,
Producer
Chantal Lafleur is a twenty-year veteran of the Quebec and Canadian
film industry, and has acquired a proficiency in many of its facets. She has
worked in production and distribution as well.
In 1999, she joined La Fête as producer, responsible for development,
financing productions, and commercial distribution of the upcoming Tales
for All.
She had her first experience as a producer with The Hidden Fortress,
written and directed by Roger Cantin, which enjoyed great success in
Quebec during the summer of 2001. She followed that immediately with
Regina, a co-production with Iceland, and then went to Austria to coproduce Summer with the Ghosts. She co-produced Daniel and the
Superdogs with England and since its release in February 2005, the film has
been awarded in numerous international film festivals, including the
Gryphon d’Or for Best Film in Giffoni (Italy).
In 2004, Chantal founded AVENIDA Productions to develop and produce
cinematographic projects and television series for children and family
while continuing to produce at Productions La Fête.
In 2007-08 Chantal produced CinéMission, a twenty six half hour television
series (magazine style) to initiate the 8-12 years old to the different trades
of cinema. The series was broadcasted on Canadian network TFO.
2009 is an exhilarating year for Chantal Lafleur. Her projects cover
television (film and series), feature and multimedia. Fantastic story,
incredible adventure, educational subjects and ludicrous comedy are
projects she plans to put on the screen in the next few years : non violent
projects to entertain and move children and their family.
June 2009
CORPORATE PROFILE
Founded by veteran producer Rock Demers in 1980, Productions La Fête initially
set out to produce a nine-film anthology of family movies. The extraordinary
success of the early films, produced under the umbrella title of “Tales for All”, led
to the expansion of the original production to twelve, and subsequently to fifteen
titles…but that would not be the end! The 16th film, Dancing on the Moon, was
released in 1998. My Little Devil in 2000, The Hidden Fortress in 2001, the musical
comedy Regina ! in 2002, followed in 2004 by Summer with the Ghosts and Daniel
and the Superdogs in 2005. A SHIP to Africa is now in post production and will be
released worldwide fall of 2009.
Several titles in the Tales for All have gone on to become family classics, including
The Dog Who Stopped the War and Tadpole and the Whale, (both winners of the
Golden Reel Award for the highest Canadian box office gross in their first year in
release) Similarly, there has been wide acclaim for titles such as Tommy Tricker and
the Stamp Traveller and Bach and Broccoli, which was cited for excellence in
children’s entertainment by UNESCO in 1994. The film Vincent and Me, shown on
American television in 1992, won an Emmy Award for best film for young people.
Since 1988, several international film festivals have organized retrospectives of the
Tales for All, earning Productions La Fête more than 200 awards throughout the
world. Besides the abovementioned films, the Tales for All collection includes :
Peanut Butter Solution, The Young Magician, Great Land of Small, Summer of the
Colt, Bye Bye Red Riding Hood, The Case of the Witch who wasn’t, Reach for the
Sky, The Clean Machine, Flying Sneaker, and The return of Tommy Tricker.
Out of 22 Tales for All, 14 have been co-produced with different Western/Eastern
European, Asian and Latin American production companies.
Thanks to its great success, La Fête began diversifying into television with the highprofile documentary Why Havel? (hosted by Milos Forman and directed by
Vojtech Jasny) and Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Memoirs, a five-and-a-half hour series
winner of a Gemini Award for best documentary series in 1994.
To keep on going successfully, La Fête, through merchandising, has published
novelizations of all its titles in its family film collection selling a total of over 500,000
copies in Canada only and continuing to sell year after year.
La Fête has expanded its already enviable network of contacts and alliances with
a variety of entertainment companies around the world, producing for Showtime
The Song Spinner (1996) and Whiskers (1997), Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the
City (1997), co-produced with UK Channel 4 and Showtime, Barnum with Hallmark
and Nuremberg (1999-2000), with Alliance Atlantis and released on the Turner
network.
La Fête also produced Gold, a ten-hour prime time television series, starring Marina
Orsini, Vampire High, a twenty-six-half hour comedy for teenagers, Undying Love, a
ninety-minute television documentary, Madame Brouette, a feature film winner of
a “Silver Bear for best music” at the Berlin Film Festival (2003), Moving Sands, a
remarkable documentary on Sable Island by Philippe Baylaucq, Black Coffee, a
three-hour documentary mini-series on coffee history, My Brand New Life, a playful
thirteen-thirty-minute television series for youth and Being Dorothy, a special
television docu-fiction.
To date, La Fête has produced 30 feature films, some 50 hours of documentaries, 6
big budget prime time TV drama series or mini-series for worldwide television, and
a twenty-six-half hour animation series Turtle Island.
In 2007-2008, La Fête produced Mission: MOVIES, a 26 half hour television series to
initiate the 8-12 years old to the different trades of cinema to be followed in 20092010 by another 26 half hour series titled Mission: MUSIC this time to initiate to the
different trades of music showbiz.
From now on, La Fête will concentrate its activities on what has become its
trademark: the production of high-quality non-violent films and television programs
for children and family.
June 2009