MARIO

One of Quebec's most notable filmmakers, Jean Beaudin was born in Montreal in 1939. He joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1964, directing educational films until he made his feature film debut with "Stop" in 1970. He was associate director of the official film of the XXI Olympiad in 1976 and the following year Beaudin scored his first international success with "J.A. Martin, Photographe," which won prestigious awards in Cannes, the U.S. and Canada. Following the acclaimed MARIO, Beaudin is currently filming "Le Matou," based on the best-selling novel. MARIO is an intense drama set in the ruggedly beautiful Magdalen Islands of northern Quebec. The outpost's desolate environment provides a metaphorical backdrop for the bleak inner world to which 10-year-old Mario has retreated. Mario (Xavier Norman Petermann) communicates without words, but only with his ragged toy coyote and his beloved, older brother, Simon, in whose care he has been left by their shopkeeping parents most of the time. Simon (Francis Reddy) is a sensitive teen-ager who creates a wondrous, imaginary world of heroes for his brother where they dream of being Arab horsemen winning battles. But the dream is neglected when Simon meets his first love and Mario becomes even more withdrawn. To save Mario from a hopeless future, Simon turns their last fantasy to reality; together they win their last, glorious battle in a soul-stirring climax that provides an emotional catharsis, transforming tragedy to joy.