Ariane Louis-Seize

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Ariane Louis-Seize is a Canadian film director and screenwriter from Quebec. [1] [2] She is best known for her debut feature film Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant), which was released in 2023 and debuted at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. [3] Louis-Seize's films are characterized by their explorations of girlhood and coming of age through the use of monsters and eerie forces. [4] [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Louis-Seize is from Gatineau, Quebec. [2] She attended the Institut national de l'image et du son (l'INIS), a film school in Montreal, Quebec, which she graduated from in 2013. [6] She currently works out of Montreal, Quebec. [7]

Career

Short films

Louis-Seize's debut short film, Wild Skin (La Peau sauvage), which was released in 2016, follows a woman's erotic experience after discovering a python snake in her apartment. [8] The film was a nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards and a Prix Iris nominee for Best Short Film at the 19th Quebec Cinema Awards. [9] In the same year, she was one of the writers of the screenplay for Of Ink and Blood (D'Encre et de sang), which follows a man who, after witnessing a deadly accident, steals the victim's manuscript, claiming it as his own. [10] [11]

Her second short film, Little Waves (Les petites vagues), which was released in 2018, also received acclaim. [12] The film follows a young girl's sexual awakening one summer, and was named in the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Canada's Top Ten list in 2018. [12] Louis-Seize also released the short film Rituels in 2018. [5]

Her third short film, The Depths (Les profondeurs), premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. [13] It was subsequently screened at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film. [14] This film chronicled a woman's journey scuba diving in a lake while grieving her mother's death. [15]

She followed this up in 2020 with Shooting Star (Comme une comète), which explores the relationship between a teenage girl and her mother's boyfriend. [16] It was screened at the Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival, where it won the Prix Télébec, and at the Whistler Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Canadian ShortWork. [17] The film received a Prix Iris nomination for Best Live Action Short Film at the 23rd Quebec Cinema Awards in 2021. [18]

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Her debut feature film, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant), entered production in 2022, and premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023. [19] [3] The film follows a 68-year-old 'teenage' vampire named Sasha who is unable to kill humans to sustain herself, and searches for a consenting suicidal person to quench her thirst and make her family proud. [20] [21] The film stars Sara Montpetit as Sasha, the vampire, and Félix-Antoine Bénard as Paul, the suicidal victim. [20] It was screened at a number of festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival. [1] [3] [4] [7]

Influences and style

Influences

Ariane Louis-Seize has cited Ana Lily Amirpour, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers, Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion, Roy Andersson, and Marielle Heller as influences for her films. [5] [4] A journalist from Ciné Bulles has noted her work is reminiscent of Wes Anderson and painter Edvard Munch. [5]

She was described by a reviewer from Screen International as having been influenced by European arthouse films. [20] She has cited the films Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), and The Hunger (1983) as particular cinematic influences. [5] [21] She is also influenced by German expressionist cinema. [5]

To prepare for Humanist Vampire, Louis-Seize watched a variety of vampire films, beginning with Nosferatu (1922). [5] A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) by Ana Lily Amirpour has been cited as the primary influence for Humanist Vampire. [5]

Themes and style

Louis-Seize's work is known for exploring themes of girlhood, sexual awakening, and coming-of-age through the use of supernatural forces and eerie settings, which act as metaphors for the journeys of her characters. [4] [5] She plays with contradictions and dualities, finding a middle ground between desire and disgust, or comedy and horror. [4] She is also known to play with themes of isolation, as well as desire for connection and normalcy. [7] [4] Her films have been described as atmospheric in their use of colour. [20] She employs neon blues and greens, and darker jewel tones, like blood reds, which contribute to the gothic quality of her films. [20]

Collaborators

Frequent Collaborators with Ariane Louis-Seize
CollaboratorRole Wild Skin Little Waves The Depths Shooting Star Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Art et EssaiProduction CompanyYesYesYes
Shawn PalvinCinematographerYesYesYesYesYes
Stéphane LafleurEditorYesYes
Pierre-Phillipe CôteComposerYesYesYes
Jeanne-Marie PoulainProducerYesYesYesYes

Upcoming projects

As of 2023, Louis-Seize was in the process of co-writing a French-language drama film based on the Japanese trend Jōhatsu, a practice in which people leave their homes, jobs, and lives without a trace, leaving no clues as to where they are going. [4] [22] [7] The film is intended to be comedic as well as tragic. [7] Much about the film still remains under wraps. [7] Louis-Seize is also rumoured to be working on an English-language film, but details remain classified. [7]

Accolades

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

The film received a positive reaction, with Louis-Seize winning the award for Best Director at the Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days in English), an independent subsection of the Venice International Film Festival. [7] She also won accolades at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, the Directors Guild of Canada, Festival du nouveau cinéma, and the Windsor International Film Festival . [23] [24] [25] She won the RBC Emerging Artist Award at the Calgary International Film Festival, in which she received a $10,000 prize. [26] In 2024, she was named the winner of the Toronto Film Critics Association's Jay Scott Prize. [24] She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards, along with co-writer Christine Doyon. [27] She also won the Prix Iris for Best Screenplay at the 26th Quebec Cinema Awards. [28]

Other accolades

In 2024, she served as a jury member for the Prix Cheval Noir award ceremony at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival. [29]

Filmography

YearOriginal TitleEnglish TitleCredits
2016La Peau SauvageWild SkinWriter, director
2016D'Encre et de sangOf Ink and BloodCo-writer
2018Les petites vaguesLittle WavesWriter, director
2018Rituels--Writer, director
2019Les profondeursThe DepthsWriter, director
2020Comme une cométeShooting StarWriter, director
2023Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentantHumanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal PersonCo-writer, director

References

  1. 1 2 "Le court métrage « Les petites vagues » d'Ariane Louis-Seize, au TIFF". ici.radio-canada.ca (in French). Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  2. 1 2 ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Arts- (2024-12-09). "La soirée des vampires d'Ariane Louis-Seize au Gala Québec Cinéma". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  3. 1 2 3 Press, The Canadian (2023-07-27). "Vampire dramedy, tribute to late Jean-Marc Vallée set for Venice film sidebar". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Ariane Louis-Seize is sinking her fangs into fall's fest circuit with a wild vampiric dark comedy | CBC Arts". CBC. Archived from the original on 2025-05-11. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mirandette, Marie Claude (September 1, 2023). "Ariane Louis-Seize, Réalisatrice de Vampire Humaniste Cherche Suicidaire Consentant". Ciné-Bulles. 41 (4): 4–8.
  6. ↑ "Ariane Louis-Seize | Membre réseau | INIS". Inis [FR] (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Petkova, Savina (2023-11-14). "Ariane Louis-Seize on Her Venice Winner 'Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person' and the Thirst for Human Connection". Variety. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  8. ↑ Kohn, Eric (2017-07-16). "How Fantasia Film Festival Has Fostered a New Generation of Genre Filmmakers". IndieWire. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  9. ↑ Boutros, Magdaline (2017-04-05). "Gala Québec cinéma: Juste la fin du monde et Two Lovers and a Bear en tête". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  10. ↑ Boulanger, Luc (2016-12-05). "D'encre et de sang: la vie est un roman". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  11. ↑ "D'encre et de sang – Film de Alexis Fortier Gauthier, Maxim Rheault et Francis Fortin". Films du Québec (in French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  12. 1 2 Wilner, Norman (2018-12-05). "TIFF's Canada's Top Ten list skews a lot younger this year - NOW Magazine". NOW Toronto. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  13. ↑ QMI, Agence (2019-08-01). "Le Québec rayonnera au TIFF". TVA Nouvelles. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  14. ↑ "Check out this year's Cinéfest award winners". October 3, 2019.
  15. ↑ Bouchard, Frédéric (2019-09-07). "TIFF : « Les profondeurs », l'expérience sensorielle et immersive d'Ariane Louis-Seize". Qui fait Quoi / Lien MULTIMÉDIA (in French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  16. ↑ Parker, Andrew (2020-09-13). "A Look at Short Cuts Programme 04 | TIFF 2020". The GATE. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  17. ↑ "Le Festival du cinéma réussi malgré la pandémie et l'évacuation de la salle | OHdio | Radio-Canada". ici.radio-canada.ca (in French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  18. ↑ Vandeuren, Jean-François (2021-04-26). "La déesse des mouches à feu part en tête des nominations du Gala Québec Cinéma 2021". Showbizz.net (in French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  19. ↑ Lavallée, Eric (2022-10-25). "Bloodsuckers: Sara Montpetit Toplines Ariane Louis-Seize's "Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant"". IONCINEMA.com. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Baughan, Nikki. "'Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person': Venice Review". Screen. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  21. 1 2 "Ariane Louis-Seize on Humanist Vampire and Taking a Bite Out of Taboos". Toronto Film Critics Association. 2024-02-26. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  22. ↑ "The companies that help people vanish". www.bbc.com. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  23. ↑ "[FNC 2023] Chloé Leriche et Ariane Louis-Seize récompensées". Films du Québec (in French). Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  24. 1 2 Balaga, Marta (2023-09-08). "'Radical and Courageous' Dark Comedy 'Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,' 'Through the Night' Pick Up Venice Days Awards". Variety. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  25. ↑ Thiessen, Connie (2023-10-23). "'Women Talking' leads winners at 22nd annual DGC Awards". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  26. ↑ Toombs, Aryn (2023-09-26). "Winners of 2023 CIFF competitions unveiled". LiveWire Calgary. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  27. ↑ Thiessen, Connie (2024-05-31). "Canadian Screen Awards winners: Cinematic Arts". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  28. ↑ "[Couverture en direct] 26e Gala Québec Cinéma : revivez notre couverture en direct". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). 2024-12-09. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  29. ↑ "Fantasia Festival | JURY AWARDS FOR THE 28TH EDITION OF FANTASIA". fantasiafestival.com. Retrieved 2025-10-06.

Ariane Louis-Seize at IMDb

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