Blue Sky Jo (French: La petite et le vieux, lit. "The Little Girl and the Old Man") is a Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Patrice Sauvé and released in 2024.[1] Adapted from Marie-Renée Lavoie's 2010 novel La petite et le vieux, the film stars Juliette Bharucha as Hélène, a young girl in the blue-collar Limoilou neighbourhood of Quebec City who befriends her elderly neighbour Roger (Gildor Roy).[2]

Blue Sky Jo
FrenchLa petite et le vieux
Directed byPatrice Sauvé
Written bySébastien Girard
Based onLa petite et le vieux by Marie-Renée Lavoie
Produced bySonia Despars
Marc Biron
StarringJuliette Bharucha
Gildor Roy
Vincent-Guillaume Otis
Marilyn Castonguay
CinematographyFrançois Gamache
Edited byClaude Palardy
Music byViviane Audet
Robin-Joël Cool
Alexis Martin
Production
company
Parallaxes
Distributed byTVA Films
Release date
  • August 16, 2024 (2024-08-16) (Locarno)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

The cast also includes Vincent-Guillaume Otis and Marilyn Castonguay as Hélène's parents, as well as Gabrielle B. Thuot, Mia Drolet, Élia St-Pierre, Denis Houle, Jack Robitaille, Amélie Bernard, Marie Michaud, Marie Bernier, Marie-Hélène Gendreau, Linda Laplante, Pierre-Yves Charbonneau, Sacha Lapointe, Amélie Pelletier, Jean-Philippe Côté, Ariane Bellavance-Fafard, Luc Bélanger-Morissette, Karl-Patrice Dupuis, Pierre-Luc Fontaine, Marguerite Bouchard, Andréanne Fortin and Charles Roberge in supporting roles.[3]

Production

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The film began production in September 2023, in Quebec City.[4]

Distribution

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The film premiered on August 16, 2024, at the 77th Locarno Film Festival.[5]

It had its Canadian premiere as the opening film of the 2024 Quebec City Film Festival,[6] and screened at the 2024 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival,[7] before opening commercially on October 4.

Awards

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It won the award for French-Language Feature Film at Cinéfest.[8]

References

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