Montreal director going to Cannes with short film

Montreal filmmakerFranois Jarosthought he'd received arejection emailuntil he saw the word "Flicitations."

His short filmOh What a Wonderful Feelinghad been selected for theSemaine de la critique at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Now he's awed thatthe festival picked his unfinished 14-minute short about a young woman at a truck stop at night.

He calls it a "strange coming of age": Ayoung woman goes fromchildhood to adulthood in a single night, from "prey to predator."

'Parallel world'

Jaros says he's always been fascinated by the "sort of parallel world"of truck stops.

"Things happen there we're not aware of," Jaros said,"lonely men, big dangerous trucks."

Jarosthinks he got into the Semaine de la critique because his film pushes the storytelling:The plot plays out off screen.

"I wanted to suggest a story, to guide the audience instead of pushing them along," he said.

Jarosis already an award-winning filmmaker with two Quebec Screen Awards for Toutes des connes,a 5-minute story about a breakup, and Maurice, aportrait of a dying man.

His films have also been screened at Sundance and Telluride Festivals.

Jaros grew up filming commercials for hisfather's advertising business.After graduating fromCEGEP Brbeuf in Montreal, he applied to Concordia University'sfilm school but didn't get in.

"It felt bad at first, but maybein retrospect it was a good thing," he said. "I was proactive. I went on and did films instead of studying them."

Place of discovery

The Semaine de la critique has the reputation of being a place of discovery. Filmmakers such as DenysArcand,Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Wong Kar-waiandGuillermo del Toro all got their start at that Cannes event.

Oh What a Wonderful Feeling is produced by Fanny Laure-Malo who has been to Cannes twice before with a short and a feature, Sarahprfrela courseby Chlo Robichaud.

So Laure-Maloknows about Cannes' madness, and she's hopeful that this early recognition of the short will auger well for Jaros.

"I've been pushing him to see his own fears and feelings would resonate with the public, and I'm so happy to there is such a bigresonance so early in the process," Laure-Malo said.