PACIFIC BELL

Pacific Bell

A film by Sandrine Béchade

Fiction

2022

22 min

Spanish with English or French subtitles

With Gadiel Luka Leza, Eric Vega

LOGLINE

Two brothers attempt the perilous crossing of a strange desert, but just when they think they will not make it out alive, a telephone booth appears.

SYNOPSIS

Accompanied by his older brother Carlos, young Adam attempts the perilous crossing of the desert between Mexico and the United States. Deprived of the smuggler who was supposed to help them reach Long Beach where their mother awaits them, the two boys risk everything. Just as the desert is about to swallow them whole, a phone booth appears like a mirage. “Pacific Bell” is a fable about two migrant children left to fend for themselves, told through the boundless imagination of young Adam, for whom the desert resembles the seabed, and the ringing of the phone echoes in the vastness, like a siren's song.

Technical information

Duration: 22 minutes

Language: Spanish with English or French subtitles

DCP - ProRes - H264

Filming: ARRI ALEXA Mini – 2k

Country of action: Mexican & US Border

Filming location: United States (Mojave Desert)

Festivals and awards

19th PRENDS ÇA COURT Gala - Montreal, Canada / March 2, 2023 - Outpost Mtl Awards

41st Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma *Blue Carpet short film evening selection* - Montreal, Canada / March 3, 2023

27th LA SHORTS International Film Festival - Digital Edition - Los Angeles, USA / July 23, 2023 - International Premiere

27th FANTASIA International Film Festival - The Fantastic Weekends of Quebec Cinema - Montreal, Canada / August 4, 2023 - MELS Award for Best Film, Bronze

24th OFF-COURTS Trouville - Trouville-sur-mer, France / September 8, 2023

24th CALGARY International Film Festival - Calgary, Canada / September 21, 2023

4th ALADERRI International Film Festival - Chicago, USA / September 23, 2023

21st TIRANA International Film Festival - Tirana, Albania / September 26, 2023

19th CINEMA ON THE BAYOU Film Festival - Louisiana, USA / January 27, 2024 - Jury Prize for Narrative Short Film

24th Kingston Canadian Film Festival - Ontario, Canada / March 2-3, 2024 - Finalist for Best Canadian Short Film

3rd Val-Morin Independent Film Festival - Val-Morin, Canada / May 3, 2024 - Télé-Québec Laurentian Filmmaker Award

8th Festival THE FILMMAKERS ON FACE - Montreal, Canada / September 28, 2024

7th PLURIELLES Festival - Compiège, France / October 12, 2024 - Best Short Film Award

20th FICPA Pasto International Film Festival - San Juan de Pasto, Colombia / October 18, 2024

50th FILMETS Badalona Film Festival - Badalona, Spain / October 22, 2024

Director

Sandrine Béchade

Biography

Telling stories about others has become a passion explored in Sandrine's films, which alternate between documentary (Mon oncle Patof, 2021) and fiction. She is interested in themes such as coming of age, inner life, and taboos, and she enjoys blending realism and fantasy. In 2018, she directed the short fiction film about the friendship of two quirky teenagers, Ange & Ovni, starring Hélène Florent, Marcel Sabourin, and Charles Lafortune. The film won awards at international and national festivals. Pacific Bell is her third short fiction film (winner of the MELS Bronze Award for Best Film at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal). Co-written with author Julie Hétu, it poetically addresses the issue of child migration. In addition to writing and directing, Sandrine is currently directing two documentary films that will be released in theaters in 2025 and she is writing the screenplay with Julie Hétu for her first feature film, Patof Blou, about the life of the actor who played the popular Quebec character of the 70s, Patof.

Filmography

Les Chrysalides | documentary feature | in production (2026)

Le Petit Brulé | documentary feature | in production (2026)

Liliane Colpron, un pas d'avance | TV documentary - 60 min (2022)

Mon oncle Patof | TV documentary - 60 min (2021)

Biche & Louve (Doe & She-wolf) | fiction short - 8 min (2020)

Ange & Ovni (Angel & Alien) | fiction short - 20 min (2018)

Lise Watier, une vie à entreprendre | TV documentary - 2 x 60 min (2015)

Producer

Serge Desrosiers

Biography

Co-founder, president and executive producer of Vital Productions, Serge Desrosiers is the producer behind numerous projects, including the documentaries Mon Oncle Patof (2021), Amour Cougar : au-delà du mythe (2017) and Lise Watier : une vie à entreprendre (2014), several short films such as Pacific Bell and Ange & Ovni, and Renée Beaulieu's feature film Habiter la Maison (2025). Also a director of photography, he is a leading figure in the Quebec film industry, where he has worked for nearly 30 years.

In 2009, he co-founded Vital Productions with director and content producer Sandrine Béchade, and completed training in television and film management at HEC Montréal to add production to his already extensive career.

He brings his deep knowledge of the industry to Vital Productions' projects while continuing to work as a director of photography. Serge Desrosiers also shares his expertise as a speaker in Los Angeles and Paris, notably at the American Film Market Association and Ciné-Québec. Deeply involved in his field, he has served on the boards of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the Sainte-Adèle Chamber of Commerce, the CLD des Pays-d'en-Haut and the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

Filmography

LES CHRYSALIDES, documentary feature, 2026

UN RENVERSEMENT, documentary feature, 2026

TIGHT LETTUCE, feature film, 2026

L'AMOUR DU GROS BALLON, documentary feature, 2026

HERBY, documentary feature, 2026

AU PIED DU MUR, documentary feature, 2026

YEGOLÉ, MON AMOUR, short documentary, 2026

RETOUR À TADOU, short film, 2025

MARCHE AU PAYS RÉEL, documentary feature, 2025

UNE DERNIÈRE CICATRICE, documentary feature, 2025

HABITER LA MAISON, feature film, 2025