''My Internship in Canada'' (, lit. "Guibord Goes to War") is a Canadian

political satire Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned. Political satir ...

film written and directed by

Philippe Falardeau Philippe Falardeau (; born February 1, 1968, in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Early life Falardeau was born and raised in Hull, Quebec. He later studied political science at the University of Ottawa, before trave ...

. The film premiered in 2015 at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

."‘Monsieur Lazhar’s’’ Philippe Falardeau, Films Distribution Re-team for ‘My Internship in Canada’"
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', January 30, 2015. The film was nominated for four

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

, and won three awards at the 18th Quebec Cinema Awards. It was also part of the

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema". ''Welland Tribune'', November 23, ...

screening series of the

2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and N ...

Plot

The film stars

Patrick Huard Patrick Huard (born January 2, 1969) is a Canadian actor, writer and comedian from Quebec. Career Huard broke into the Quebec show business scene in 1989 as a comedian, actor and television personality, with success as a stand-up comedian in the ...

as Steve Guibord, an independent, moderate Member of Parliament for the northern Quebec electoral district of Prescott–Makadewa–Rapides-aux-Outardes, who unexpectedly finds himself in the position of becoming the tie-breaking voter on whether Canada will go to

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. Embarking on a tour of his constituency to evaluate public opinion, various lobby groups and Canada's Prime Minister spin the debate further and further out of control. Guibord's confusion and eventual national tour is documented by Souverain ( Irdens Exantus), his Haitian immigrant

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

, who often calls his mother (and an increasing audience of passers-by) with updates on the situation.

Cast

as Steve Guibord * Irdens Exantus as Souverain Pascal * Suzanne Clément as Suzanne * Clémence Dufresne-Deslières as Lune * Sonia Cordeau as Stéphanie Caron-Lavallée *

Paul Doucet Paul Doucet (born 1970) is a Canadian actor known for his portrayal of Jean Duceppe in '' Jean Duceppe''. Early life Doucet was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970. He studied drama at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Career His mo ...

as the

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

* Jules Philip as Maire * Dangelo Néard as Optimiste * Robin Aubert as Rodrigue * Ellen David as Allison *

Micheline Lanctôt Micheline Lanctôt (born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian actress, film director, screenwriter, and musician. Biography Lanctôt was born in Frelighsburg, Quebec. Her post-secondary education was in music, fine arts, and theatre at ''Collège Jés ...

as Mairesse * Alexis Martin as Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada *

Paul Ahmarani Paul Ahmarani (born 1972) is a Canadian actor. Ahmarani is known for his roles in the movies '' The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge'' (''La Moitié gauche du frigo'') and '' How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause'' (''Comment ma mère accou ...

as Professor Amin

Production

The film was shot from 24 September to 10 November 2014 in

Val-d'Or Val-d'Or ( , , ; meaning "Golden Valley" or "Valley of Gold") is a city in Quebec, Canada with a population of 32,752 inhabitants according to the 2021 Canadian census. The city is located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region near La Vérendrye ...

, the

Abitibi-Témiscamingue Abitibi-Témiscamingue () is an administrative region located in western Québec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of and its population was 147,082 people as of the 2021 cens ...

region,

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

Accolades

The film had its North American premiere at the

, where it received an honourable mention from the Canadian film jury. It was released in the province of Quebec on 2 October 2015, on seven screens, with a wide release in the province on 9 October 2015. In December, the film was announced as part of TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten screening series of the ten best Canadian films of the year. In January 2016, it won the Canada's Top Ten Film Festival People's Choice Award, voted on by audiences in Toronto. The film garnered four

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nominations at the

4th Canadian Screen Awards The 4th Canadian Screen Awards was held on March 13, 2016, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2015. Nominations were announced on January 19, 2016. Throughout the week before the main ceremony, aw ...

in 2016, including

Best Picture The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

, Best Supporting Actor (Irdens Exantus),

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...

(Philippe Falardeau) and Best Sound (

Bernard Gariépy Strobl Bernard Gariépy Strobl is a Canadian re-recording sound mixer, best known internationally as the supervising re-recording mixer of '' Arrival'' (2016), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Sound (shared with Claude La Haye and Sylvain Bel ...

, Daniel Bisson, Claude La Haye and Benoît Leduc). For the 18th Quebec Cinema Awards (formerly known as the Prix Jutra), it won Best Supporting Actor (Exantus), Best Original Score and Best Editing. It was shortlisted for the

Prix collégial du cinéma québécois The Prix collégial du cinéma québécois is an annual Canadian film award, presented to a film from Quebec judged as the best of the year by a jury of students in film studies programs at the province's CEGEPs.Léa Carrier"Je m’appelle humain re ...

in 2016. In 2023, Barry Hertz of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' named the film as one of the 23 best Canadian comedy films ever made.Barry Hertz
"The 23 best Canadian comedies ever made"
''

'', June 28, 2023.

References

External links

* (Quebec) * (international) * {{Philippe Falardeau 2015 films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Philippe Falardeau Canadian political satire films Films shot in Quebec Films set in Quebec Films shot in Haiti Films set in Haiti Films shot in Ottawa French-language Canadian films 2010s Canadian films Cultural depictions of prime ministers of Canada 2015 comedy films