BILLY

A film by Lawrence Côté-Collins
Dedicated to the victims

Documentary

2024

105 min

French with English subtitles

With Lawrence Côté-Collins, Billy Poulin
Voice: Alexandre L'Heureux

LOGLINE

Filmmaker Lawrence Côté-Collins reconnects in prison with her schizophrenic abuser, whose most serious crisis resulted in two deaths, to try to understand and forgive through an intimate correspondence that reveals the flaws of a mental illness that was never treated.

SYNOPSIS

Filmmaker Lawrence Côté-Collins encounters her abuser in prison. She wants to understand, forgive, and support a man suffering. Billy is schizophrenic, and his most severe episode resulted in two deaths. Their prison friendship, forged through letters, sheds light on the truth about this mental illness, which was neither diagnosed nor treated. Together, they share their stories and rebuild their lives through intimate correspondence and previously unseen video footage.

Technical information

Duration: 105 minutes

Language: French with English subtitles

Filming: 4k - color

Ratio: scope | Sound: 5.1

DCP - ProRes - H264

Country: Canada (Quebec)

Festivals and awards

Grand Jury Prize – 5th edition of the Terraviva Film Festival – Italy 2024

Student Jury Prize – 5th edition of the Terraviva Film Festival – Italy 2024

Student Jury Prize – 27th edition of RIDM – Canada 2024

Special Jury Prize – 50th edition SIFF – Seattle International Film Festival – USA 2025

12th Dieppe Canadian Film Festival – France 2025

Visions du Réel - Nyon International Film Festival - World Premiere - April 2024

RIDM – Montreal International Documentary Festival – North American Premiere – November 2024

LIFF - Leeds International Film Festival - British Premiere - November 2024

Memorimage – Reus Film Festival - Spanish Premiere - November 2024

Molodist – Kyiv International Film Festival – Ukrainian Premiere – November 2024

Front Doc Aosta international film festival – Italy – November 2024

Terraviva Film Festival – Italy – November 2024

DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival – Finnish Premiere – February 2025

International Biennial of Women and Cinema - Woman and Film - Spain – February 2025

Ann Arbor Film Festival - US Premiere – March 2025

Dieppe Canadian Film Festival - French Premiere - March 2025

Outaouais Film Festival – Canada – April 2025

FFAVM - Val-Morin Independent Film Festival - Regional Premiere - May 2025

Seattle International Film Festival – USA – May 2025

UnArchive Found Footage Fest – Italy – May 2025

Director

Lawrence Côté-Collins

Biography

Lawrence is a transparent artist. An authentic queer woman. Unfiltered. Taboo-free. She has an atypical career in film and television. She has directed over forty short films and three feature films: Écartée (2016), Bungalow (2022), and Billy (2024). Several of her films have been selected for and won awards at festivals around the world. She co-authored, with Billy à vie, her first book as curator.

Filmography

BILLY, documentary feature, 2024

BUNGALOW, fiction feature, 2022

ÉCARTÉE, docu-fiction feature, 2016

UN EXEMPLE DE SUCCÈS, fiction short, 2012

SCORE, fiction short, 2011

GEISHA QUÉBEC, fiction short, 2011

FUCK THAT, experimental short, 2010

CRUDITÉS, fiction short, 2009

PAS DE PAIN PAS DE GAIN, fiction short, 2009

SUMMERDOME, fiction short, 2009

Producer

Vuk Stojanovic

Biography

Vuk Stojanovic is a producer, filmmaker, director of photography and actor. He has contributed to several feature films, including Sur la lune de nickel by François Jacob (Visions du Réel, Hot Docs), Les rayons gamma by Henry Bernadet (New Directors, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Cinemania) and Écartée by Lawrence Côté-Collins (Fantasia). Vuk is also artistic director of the Festival de films d'auteur de Val-Morin.

Filmography

LES RAYONS GAMMAS, fiction feature, 2023

A MOON OF NICKEL AND ICE, documentary feature, 2017

L'ODEUR APRÈS LA PLUIE, fiction short, 2016

SCORE, fiction short, 2011