Year: 1996
Language: French
Format: 35mm Black & White
Runtime: 100 min
Director: Denis Villeneuve, André Turpin, Manon Briand, Arto Paragamian, Marie-Julie Dallaire, Jennifer Alleyn
Producer: Roger Frappier
Executive Producer: Roger Frappier
Writer: Denis Villeneuve, André Turpin, Arto Paragamian, Marie-Julie Dallaire, Jennifer Alleyn
Cinematographer: André Turpin
Editor: Richard Comeau
Sound: Louis Gignac, Dominique Chartrand, Sylvain Bellemare
Music: Michel Smith
Cast: David La Haye, André Forcier, Audrey Benoît, Sébastien Joannette, Marie-France Lambert, Alexis Martin, Marc Jeanty, Igor Ovadis, Marie-Hélène Montpetit, Pascale Contamine
Production Company: Max Films Productions Inc.

Cosmos is the brainchild of veteran producer Roger Frappier, who enlisted the talents of six rising young Quebec filmmakers for this compilation film. Each was asked to write and direct a segment that somehow featured Cosmos (Igor Ovadis), a scruffy-looking, good-natured cabbie with a clear-eyed philosophical bent. Frappier merged their diverse views into a single vision of modern urban life, punctuated by a judicious mixture of existentialism and absurdity.

In Boost, Manon Briand offers a story about the power of friendship. Yannie (Marie-HélPne Montpetit) shows up on the doorstep of her friend Joël (Pascale Contamine) in a convertible with plans of joyrides and fun. But Joël is awaiting his HIV test results and Yannie attempts to show her support, whatever the results.

André Turpin’s comedy of circumstance, Jules et Fanny, throws together two ex-lovers in a unique situation. Fanny (Marie-France Lambert) has had breast implants and Jules (Alexis Martin), eager to get a glimpse, hopes that she will bare all. Meanwhile, a murderer keeps the women of the city living in fear in L’Individu, Marie-Julie Dallaire’s portrait of a stalker.

In Le Technétium, nightmares of another kind traumatize Morille (David La Haye), a young filmmaker on a caffeine buzz who is interviewed on a high-tech show from hell called "Le Technetium." Director Denis Villeneuve offers a hilarious and frightening glimpse of cutting-edge culture, complete with make-overs. On a less harrowing note, Jennifer Alleyn’s Aurore et Crépuscule delves into the realm of May-December attractions.

Finally, with Cosmos et Agriculture, Arto Paragamian follows the travails of Cosmos when his taxi is stolen by two bank robbers, who use it to pull off a heist. Following the stolen vehicle in a fellow cabbie’s car, Cosmos has to put up with both his friend Javier’s (Marc Jeanty) driving and his theories on agriculture.

A film about the absurdities of everyday life, Cosmos isnot so much six short films as it is one film with multiple storylines which interlace seamlessly. The styles, interests and rhythms of the six filmmakers blend together exceptionally well, producing a cohesive whole that is often comic, often tragic – and, at times, both. A hit at film festivals around the world, Cosmos screened in the Director’s Fortnight at the Festival de Cannes and was awarded the prestigious CICAE award, the programme’s top honour. It received two Genie Award nominations and was selected as Canada’s foreign-language submission for the Academy Awards®.