The CINEMANIA Film Festival and ENTRACT FILMS are delighted to announce that the feature film PARADIS (original title PARADISE), written by Will Navia and Jérémy Comte, and directed by Jérémy Comte, will open the 32nd edition of CINEMANIA on Wednesday, November 4 at the Monument National, in the presence of the film team and numerous artistic and industry personalities. Presented as a world premiere at the Berlinale last winter, PARADIS, shot in Quebec and Ghana, is the first feature film by Jérémy Comte who, with his short film Fauve, won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Best Short Film Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival, in addition to being nominated for the Oscars®.
A mysterious burning boat links the story of two families: one in a Ghanaian village, the other in a small town in Quebec.
PARADIS stars Joey Boivin-Desmeules and Daniel Atsu Hukporti in the title roles of Tony and Kojo, as well as Evelyne de la Chenelière who plays Chantal, Tony’s mother. Olivier Gossot (Amour Apocalypse) is the director of photography, Sylvain Lemaitre (Le Successeur) the artistic direction, Valentin Hadjadj (Close) the original music, and Sandy Notariani (The Father) the sound design.
« It is with great gratitude that I present my first feature film at the opening of CINEMANIA, the most important French-speaking film festival in the Americas, and that I find it in the same breath in national competition. This confidence of the team, in a festival recognized for the quality and the rigor of its selection, means enormously to me. This film, I am carrying it with several precious collaborators, including Will Niava, Ghanaian and Canadian filmmaker, who co-wrote the screenplay with me for several years. Coming home and finally sharing this work with the Montreal public, the very ones who saw me grow as a filmmaker, touches me deeply.” – Jérémy Comte, director of the film. “Jérémy Comte fascinates through his exploration of solitude, emotional distress and the lack of communication that run through our contemporary societies. By bringing Quebec and Ghana into dialogue, his film invents a transatlantic vision of great poetry. His back and forth between Africa and North America creates a form of magic, at once sensitive, political and striking, that we rarely see in the cinema.” – Guilhem Caillard, general and artistic director, CINEMANIA Film Festival. “It is a privilege to present PARADIS at the opening of CINEMANIA, the most important French-speaking film festival in America, recognized for the quality of its programming,” underlines Tim Ringuette, producer and distributor of the film. “After its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, the entire team is delighted to present the film here and to kick off the CINEMANIA festivities, which promises to be a promising edition.”
A co-production between Canada and France, PARADIS is produced by Tim Ringuette (Entract Films), Anne-Marie Gélinas (EMAFilms) and Fabien Westerhoff (Constellation Productions), PARADIS is distributed by Entract Films and will be released soon.
The 32nd edition of the CINEMANIA French-speaking Film Festival will take place in Montreal from November 4 to 15, 2026.