Experiencing Interruptions?

Dérive / The Far Shore

Navigating the treacherous social tides of high school after the unexpected death of her father, Marine is cut adrift by Océane, her older sister who’s caught in the thrall of an older man. Meanwhile, their mother struggles to keep her head above water and doesn’t see the danger that her children are in. Dérive is a deeply empathetic portrait of these women’s odyssey from frailty to resilience.

  • David Uloth
    Director
    La Voce, La Lili à Gilles, The First Day of My Life, The Pick-Up
  • Chloé Cinq-Mars
    Writer
    La Voce, La Lili à Gilles
  • Galilé Marion-Gauvin
    Producer
    Les Démons, Genèse
  • David Uloth
    Producer
    La Voce, La Lili à Gilles, The First Day of My Life, The Shine
  • Chloé Cinq-Mars
    Producer
    La Voce, La Lili à Gilles, The First Day of My Life
  • Mélissa Désomeaux-Poulin
    Key Cast
    "Catherine Beauregard"
    Incendies, Gabrielle, Ruptures
  • Réal Bossé
    Key Cast
    "André Beauregard"
    19/2
  • Maèva Tremblay
    Key Cast
    "Marine Beauregard"
  • Éléonore Loiselle
    Key Cast
    "Océane Beauregard"
  • Emmanuel Schwartz
    Key Cast
    "Félix"
    Laurentie, Hochelaga
  • Émilie Bierre
    Key Cast
    "Amélie"
    Katamini, Une colonie, Jenny
  • Philippe Roy
    Director of Photography
    Diego Star
  • Olivier Laberge
    Art Director
    La Voce, Gerontophilia
  • Chloé Cinq-Mars
    Casting Director
    La Voce, La Lili à Gilles
  • Gilles Corbeil
    Sound recordist
    Maëlstrom
  • Mimi Allard
    Sound Designer
    Arrival
  • Jean-François Bergeron
    Editors
    Bon Cop Bad Cop 1 & 2
  • David Uloth
    Editors
    La Voce, La Lili à Gilles, The First Day of My Life
  • Ramachandra Borcar
    Music Composer
    Roche papier ciseaux
  • Mathieu Tremblay
    Visual Effects Supervisor
    La Voce
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Dérive
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 44 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 8, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    900,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    French
  • Shooting Format:
    Arri Alexa RAW 3.2K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:1.85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cartagena International Film Festival
    Cartagena
    Colombia
    March 8, 2019
    International Premiere
  • Gala of Quebec Cinema (Quebec's Oscars Awards)
    Montreal
    Canada
    June 14, 2019
    Nominated - Best Supporting Actress in a feature film (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin), Best Casting (Chloé Cinq-Mars)
  • Festival des 5 Continents
    Geneva
    Switzerland
    May 21, 2019
    European premiere
  • Festival OFF COURTS
    Trouville
    France
    September 8, 2019
  • Cinéfest Sudbury International Festival
    Sudbury
    Canada
    September 22, 2019
  • Mostra de São Paulo International Film Festival
    Sao Paulo
    Brazil
    October 25, 2019
    International Perspective section
  • Cinémental Festival des films francophones au Manitoba

    Canada
    November 2, 2019
  • Windsor International Film Festival
    Windsor
    Canada
    November 4, 2019
  • Cineuropa International Film Festival

    Spain
    November 7, 2019
  • Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival

    Germany
    November 14, 2019
    International Competition
  • Screening at Canadian Embassy in Tokyo
    Tokyo
    Japan
    November 21, 2019
  • Cinéfranco Festival

    Canada
    November 23, 2019
  • Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival

    United States
    January 22, 2020
  • Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma
    Montreal
    Canada
    February 27, 2020
  • Islantilla Cinéforum Festival Internacional de Cine Bajo La Luna

    Spain
    December 15, 2020
    NOMINATED - Audience Award & Jury Prize, Best Feature Film, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Art direction, Original Music
  • Semana de Cine de Lugo
    Lugo
    Spain
    November 27, 2020
    Audience Award - Best Film
Distribution Information
  • UDI - Urban Distribution International
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
  • Axia Films
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - David Uloth

David Uloth loves telling comedic and dramatic human stories. A prolific filmmaker, his thirteen short films have wowed audiences at over four hundred international film festivals and have been broadcast on television around the world. They have also won seventy-two prizes (eg. Screewriting award from the 2004 Berlinale “Talent Movie of the Week Competition”, Audience Award and Jury Prize from the Montréal World Film Festival (2007 & 2015), Grand Jury Prize and Best Direction Award from the 2016 Sapporo Short Film Festival in Japan, etc.). Dérive is his first feature film as director.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Being married to Dérive’s screenwriter, Chloé Cinq-Mars, meant that I was able to help develop the characters and their stories over the 10 years it took her to write the screenplay. During that time I fell deeply in love with Marine, Océane and Catherine. What touches me about Chloé’s screenplay is the humanity found within each character, even the bad ones like Amélie and Félix. All of the characters have weaknesses and fears, hopes and dreams, and I feel a great compassion for each of them.

The story is set long after the immediate shock of André’s death has passed. Now that a year has gone by, the family and friends of Marine, Océane and Catherine expect them to move on with their lives. Dérive explores this dangerous period where each woman struggles to find their way without their father and husband. Unfortunately, some pitfalls cannot be avoided.

As someone who also lost a parent at a young age, I formed a very visceral connection to the Beauregard family due to their loss. But what also hit me was how much hope and resilience they have. None of them give in to despair. All of them strive to make a better life for themselves. Despite being unable to pay her bills and land a job, Catherine never gives up trying to provide for her daughters while simultaneously hiding the secret cause of André’s death from them. Marine tries to escape the bullying she experiences at her new school by returning to fantasies of the security and happiness she felt when her father was still alive. And Océane tries to find happiness and maturity in the arms of an older man. By the film’s end they have all grown much wiser and closer together.

Dérive explores difficult themes of bullying and sexual assault and how those things are directly tied to the women’s loss of André. Dérive shows how these traumatic moments affect what kind of women they will become. My primary goal as director was help the audience get inside of the women’s’ heads (especially Marine’s) and to really understand, in as compassionate a way as possible, the complex and ambiguous emotions that they are feeling. That’s why I placed such an emphasis on the quality of acting of my three lead actresses. I was inspired in my approach by the character-driven, sensitively poetic masterpieces, Trois couleurs: Bleu ( dir. by Krzysztof Kieślowski), The Ice Storm (dir. by Ang Lee) and Manchester By The Sea (dir. by Kenneth Lonergan).

Today more than at any time in my life, as right-wing nationalism is on the rise and where fear of others trumps empathy for others, I think we need films centered around empathy, compassion and resilience. Dérive is one such film. It is the culmination of years of love and hard work and could not have been made without the generosity and spirit of everyone who worked on it.

I hope that it touches you as profoundly as it does me.