Vétérane

Camelia, an escort with a troubled past, is newly employed at an erotic massage parlour in eastern Montreal. Met coldly by her competitive new colleagues, she struggles to establish a clientele while maintaining her dignity. Vétérane is a tense social drama on the competitive nature of the Montreal prostitution scene.

This video contains mature, or explicit, or sexually suggestive content. It may not be appropriate for all viewers.

Un film de / A film by : Pier-Philippe Chevigny
Produit par / Produced by : Geneviève Gosselin-G
Maison de Production / Production Company : DAVAI
Distribué par / Distributed by : H264 Distribution

CAST
Sandrine Bisson – Danny Gilmore – Isabelle Guérard – Léa Roy – Ariane Castellanos – Jade-Mariuka Robitaille – Sasha Migliarese – Emile Schneider

CREW
Line Producer : François Bonneau
1st A.D. : Liliane Crevier
Cinematographer: Gabriel Brault-Tardif
Production design: Frédéric Devost
Costumes: Eugénie Clermont
Makeup: Josianne Morin-B.
Sound: Tobias Haynes
Sound design: Simon Gervais
Sound mix: Serge Boivin
Color: Charles-Étienne Pascal

My film projects all start in a similar way : with research on social issues that interest me. In this case, it was finding out about Montreal’s erotic massage parlour scene. Although it’s a topic lesser known to the general public, estimates say there are close to 200 such parlours hidden in plain sight. I’ve started doing active research, meeting parlour owners, “masseuses” and clients for interviews. The bulk of what was said to me during that research served as material for the script, which eventually focused on ageism and the competitive nature of the industry. I wrote the character of Camelia with Sandrine Bisson in mind, an amazingly talented Quebec actress whose performance in the film is absolutely brilliant.
The film was shot on the lightweight Arri Alexa Mini. Save for a few exceptions, every scene is shot in a single take with long over-the-shoulder travellings and we knew we needed something lightweight to navigate those tight corridors. Shooting those scenes were the biggest challenges, as everything needed to be tightly choreographed. We rehearsed for several days with the actors and the DP to make sure it all went according to plan.