Mars and April

Mars et Avril (aka Mars & Avril or Mars and April, — "Mars" here referring to planet Mars, and "Avril/April" to the lead female character) is a Canadian science fiction film starring Jacques Languirand, Caroline Dhavernas, Paul Ahmarani and Robert Lepage. The feature film, based on the graphic novels of the same name published by Sid Lee & la Pastèque, is written, produced and directed by Martin Villeneuve. Shot on a very tight budget and with abundant use of green screen, Villeneuve's feature film debut has a significant amount of visual effects. Belgian comic book artist François Schuiten (Les Cités Obscures) is the production designer, former ILM Senior Compositor Carlos Monzon (Avatar, Transformers, Star Trek) worked as VFX supervisor, and Oscar-nominated Benoît Charest (Les Triplettes de Belleville) composed the original score. The film was financed by Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Les Productions du 8e Art and the Harold Greenberg Fund, and is distributed in Canada by Alliance Vivafilm and in the United States by Gaiam. The official trailer on YouTube was released in Quebec theatres and on Alliance Vivafilm's YouTube channel on December 21, 2011. The World premiere took place on July 2, 2012, at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic (the film was selected in the section “Another View” for its unique artistic approach in both form and content). Since then, the film has been screened in many other major cinema events around the globe (see the FESTIVALS section below).