J'ai tué ma mère

20-year-old prodigy filmmaker draws from his troubled past

Raw talent like this is rare—Xavier Dolan wrote, produced, directed and starred in this tale of teen rebellion while still a teenager

“I haven’t paid my Rogers cable bill,” says Denis Villeneuve after getting the $10,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award

It’s not every day that I get to quote myself, but as President of the Toronto Film Critics Association, I want to pass on the news that the TFCA has voted to award its inaugural Jay Scott Prize for emerging talent to Quebec’s Xavier Dolan, the wunderkind writer, director, producer and star of J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother).  The prize, which comes with a $5,000 cheque, is named for the legendary Globe and Mail writer who became Canada’s most influential film critic before his death in 1993. Rather than re-write a press release that I helped craft earlier today, I’ll reproduce it the gist of here, complete with my own quote:

Barely out of adolescence, Quebec wunderkind Xavier Dolan dazzles Cannes with his feature debut