‘Les Filles du Roi’ Director on Transforming a Stage Production into a Full-Blown Movie Musical

In this episode we welcome Corey Payette, director of the movie musical Les Filles du Roi, in conversation with the film’s editor Christian Díaz Durán.

Adapted from Urban Ink’s stage production, this locally-shot film screened at VIFF 2023. Les Filles du Roi tells through song the powerful story of the young Kanien’kehá:ka girl Kateri and her brother Jean-Baptiste, whose lives are disrupted upon the arrival of the “Daughters of the King” in ‘New France’ (now Montreal) in 1665.

Corey Payette is an interdisciplinary storyteller, writer, composer, producer, and director in film and theatre. Since 2014, he has been the Artistic Director of Urban Ink, a position first held by Marie Clements, at one of Canada’s most ambitious theatre companies. Payette wrote the music, lyrics, and directed the acclaimed musicals Children of God, Les Filles du Roi, and Starwalker, among others. He is a member of the Mattagami First Nations, with French-Canadian and Irish ancestries. Les Filles du Roi is his first feature film.

This conversation was recorded at VIFF Centre in March 2024.

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This podcast is brought to you by the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Presented on the traditional and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.
 
The Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural organization that operates the internationally acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), and year-round programming at VIFF Centre. See what's playing now at viff.org.