The 12 Tasks of Imelda () is a Canadian comedy-drama feature film, written, produced and directed by Martin Villeneuve, and released in 2022.Jean Siag, "Les 12 travaux d'Imelda: Étonnante comédie", La Presse, October 28, 2022.Olivier Du Ruisseau, "Les 12 travaux d'Imelda: les souvenirs de la famille Villeneuve", Le Devoir, October 28, 2022. Based on the last twelve years of Villeneuve's paternal grandmother Mélenda "Imelda" Turcotte-Villeneuve's life, the film stars the filmmaker as Imelda, an elderly widow on a quest to settle unresolved scores as she approaches age 100.Jean Siag, "J'aime ma grand-mère", La Presse, October 21, 2022.
The film expands on a series of short films Villeneuve previously made starring the character.Helen Faradji, "Les 12 travaux d'Imelda: en famille!", Ici Radio-Canada Télé, October 25, 2022. Three chapters in the series — Imelda (2014), Imelda 2: le notaire (2020) and Imelda 3: Simone (2020) — were released as standalone short films, constituting the "Imelda Trilogy";"Martin Villeneuve incarne sa grand-mère dans Les 12 travaux d'Imelda", Radio Canada, October 14, 2022. several further short films featuring the character have been made and were integrated to the feature film.
The cast includes Robert Lepage, Ginette Reno, Michel Barrette, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Antoine Bertrand, Yves Jacques, Lynda Beaulieu and Marc-François Blondin. Since the Canadian funding agencies SODEC and Telefilm Canada declined to finance this feature film, all of the cast and crew, who had already taken part in the short films, agreed to work on it as unpaid volunteers.Constance Cazzaniga, "Martin Villeneuve, boudé pour le financement, salué en festival", Métro, December 10, 2022.Cédric Bélanger, "Un film tourné bénévolement", Le Journal de Québec, September 9, 2022.
The film premiered on September 9, 2022, at the Quebec City Film Festival,Geneviève Bouchard, "Les 12 travaux d'Imelda: Ode à une mémé malcommode", Le Soleil, December 9, 2022.Josée Bourassa, "Les 12 travaux d'Imelda: un personnage à la fois détestable, irrésistible et attachant", Radio Canada, October 27, 2022. before going into commercial release in 29 theaters across Quebec on October 28 of the same year.
It was also screened at the 2022 Whistler Film Festival,Alyssa Noel, "Whistler Film Festival announces film lineup", Pique Newsmagazine, November 2, 2022. where Arthur Tarnowski won the award for Best Editing in a Borsos Competition film.Pat Mullen, "River, Coyote Top Whistler Film Festival Awards Winners", Point of View, December 4, 2022. In 2023, Martin Villeneuve won the Best Actor award at the Festival du Film Canadien de Dieppe in France in March for his role of Imelda, and won the Best Director award at the Canada China International Film Festival in August.
In 2023, The 12 Tasks of Imelda was released on DVD as well as on several online platforms."Les 12 travaux d'Imelda / The 12 Tasks of Imelda (with English subtitles)", Vimeo, May 12, 2023."Les 12 travaux d'Imelda — Un film de Martin Villeneuve", Maison 4:3, May 12, 2023.
References
External links
The 12 Tasks of Imelda on Vimeo On Demand The 12 Tasks of Imelda on Maison 4:3 Imelda on BULB