MAISON 4:3 and the Cooperative Association of Audio-Visual Productions (ACPAV) are pleased to announce that the film UN HOMME LIBRE directed by Frédérick Pelletier (Diego Star), will be released in Quebec from February 5, 2027. Presented as a world premiere this evening, at the 45th Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue in Rouyn Noranda, in the presence of the team, the film highlights stars Antoine-Olivier Pilon in the lead role, Alexandre Goyette and Camille Felton.
Mathieu, a young worker, arrives in Fort McMurray with his tools and the desire to make some money – the down payment to buy a house with Jessica, his girlfriend who stayed in Quebec. There, he is awaited by Craig, an exiled Quebec entrepreneur who puts him up at a high price with Steve and Dave, two other of his guys. Multiplying the hard days laying foundations, Mathieu gravitates closer and closer to the manna of the tar sands. A skillful worker, he becomes Craig’s right-hand man, who promises him the possibility of being his partner. But when the money finally seems within reach, Mathieu is injured on a construction site and is forced to return to Quebec to convalesce. The reunion with Jessica is cut short. Worn out, obsessed with the West and its promises, Mathieu leaves there again, but Craig flees him and his colleagues have dispersed. In debt, without work or housing, everything changes for this man who thought he was free and sees his dream of success collapse.
Frédérick Pelletier studied film production at Concordia University then at the University of Montreal, while regularly attending the Cinémathèque québécoise. Filmmaker and critic, he has written and directed several award-winning short films, as well as Diego Star (2013), his first feature film noted in numerous international festivals and awarded the Special Jury Prize and the Best Actor Prize to Issaka Sawadogo at the FNC. He is currently finishing editing the documentary Michel Brault, linstinct de vue.
Co-scripted by Frédérick Pelletier and Simon Lavoie, UN HOMME LIBRE is produced by François Bonneau for ACPAV, with the financial participation of SODEC, TÉLÉFILM CANADA, Société RADIO-CANADA and DIFUZE. The film is distributed in Canada by Maison 4:3 and will be released on February 5, 2027.