International sales house H264 has sold Rodrigue Jean’s “Labrador – Autopsy of Silence” to TLA Releasing for the U.S. and the U.K. The deal follows the film’s world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, where it won three awards, including best international narrative feature.
At Tribeca, the film also received the awards for best cinematography, presented to Mathieu Laverdière, and best performance in an international narrative feature, awarded to Christopher Angatookalook.
The film is produced by Patricia Bergeron, Cédric Bourdeau and Rodrigue Jean at Transmar Films.
In the film, a cargo ship embarks on its final voyage of the year to resupply Inuit communities in the far north of Canada. During a storm off the coast of Labrador, the ship’s cook is found murdered in his cabin. With no way to identify the culprit among the 20 crew members, suspicion falls on Alupa, an Inuit mechanic and close friend of the victim.
“Against the vast and haunting landscapes of Labrador, the film subverts familiar narrative conventions to explore questions of race, class and sexual identity, revealing a story of remarkable emotional and thematic depth,” H264 said.
H264 will release the film theatrically in Canada during winter 2027.
In 1989, Jean directed his first short film, “La Déroute,” followed by the documentary “La Voix des rivières” and the short film “La Mémoire de l’eau.” Two dramatic feature films came soon after: “Full Blast” in 1999 and “Yellowknife” in 2001. Next came the documentaries “Living on the Edge” in 2006 and “Men for Sale” in 2008. “Lost Song,” his third feature film, won the best Canadian feature film award at Toronto in 2008.
He then spent several years directing documentaries with the film collective Groupe Épopée. In 2014, “Love in the Time of Civil War” premiered at Toronto. In 2020, he directed “The Acrobat,” his fifth feature film. In 2022, he co-directed “2012/Through the Heart,” marking the 10th anniversary of the major 2012 student strike in Quebec.
