The Rock Demers Award, a prestigious children’s film award on the North-American continent, was launched last year with the purpose to encourage and inspire, by recognising individuals and institutions that have distinguished themselves through their contribution to children’s cinema. At the Montreal Int’l Children’s Film Festival (FIFEM), the award was handed out to Canadian distributor Chantale Pagé.
Co-founder of Trigone Animation and recipient of the Elle Quebec ‘Women of the Year’ Award in 2003, Chantale Pagé has accumulated over 25 years of experience in film distribution before founding her own company in 2014. Today, MAISON 4:3 offers a rich catalogue of films with a strong editorial line. The desire to offer family films to Quebec children will reach a high point in 2023 with the release of the Quebec films KATAK, THE BRAVE BELUGA, DOUNIA AND THE PRINCESS OF ALEPPO (photo), ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF ASHA and LA LÉGENDE DU PAPILLON. Chantale Pagé is also co-producer of the documentaries THE EARTH FROM THE HEART and THE OCEAN FROM THE HEART, which will be released in 2023.
Members of the award committee were Jo-Anne Blouin (FIFEM), Xiaojuan Zhou (Attraction Distribution), Catherine Bourbeillon (Radio-Canada), Nancy Florence Savard (director; winner of the Rock-Demers 2022 Prize) and Matthieu Roy-Decarie (editor).