What Québec Wants™

An Oscar for Québec?

What many Quebeckers want this weekend is for one of their own to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. They came close last year when Denis Villeneuve’s "Incendies" lost to the Danish film “In A Better World”.

This year’s five nominated films deserve to win for the simple reason that they all got this far. The nominees are:

• “A Separation” Iran
• “Bullhead” Belgium
• “Footnote” Israel
• “In Darkness” Poland
• “Monsieur Lazhar” Canada

“Monsieur Lazhar”, directed by Philippe Falardeau, is set in Montreal and tells the story of Bachir Lazhar, who is an Algerian refugee hired to take the place of an elementary school teacher who has committed suicide. As the students mourn their previous teacher’s death, Bachir tries to move on from the death of his wife, who was killed as a result of writing about some of Algeria’s social problems.

I haven’t seen all nomianted films in this category but I’m willing to make a prediction about the winner. I am not a movie critic but I have a hunch as to which one will have done what it takes to win: best lobbying.

Members of the Academy must see a movie in order to vote for it. This should go without saying yet not every member sees every nominated film - and that’s likely particularly true of foreign language films.

Lobbying, in this case, is akin to what political operatives call “getting the vote out” on election day. Studios and distributors will do whatever it takes to ensure voting members get to see their film. They arrange convenient screenings in L.A. and New-York and they’ll work the phones to get their movie seen.

Working the phones

Québec film producer Denise Robert, in an interview Radio-Canada aired recently, told of how Denys Arcand’s film Les Invasions Barbares won an Oscar in 2004 after losing to Osama at the Golden Globes. The film had been bought by Harvey Weistein after seeing it at Cannes. That night at the Golden Globe, Robert told Weinstein he’d better work the phones. He, and the powerful Miramax machine did, and Les Invasions Barbares won.

Sony’s Choice

The nominees for Best Foreign Language Films last year were:

• “Biutiful” Mexico
• “Dogtooth” Greece
• “Outside the Law” Algeria
• “In a Better World” Denmark
• “Incendies” Canada

“In a Better World” won. It had something in common with “Incendies”. Both were acquired by Sonic Picture Classics.

With two nominated films, Sony Picture Classics apparently decided to pick a horse. For whatever reason (and I’m sure they were well calculated), they chose to lobby hard (harder) for “In a Better World”.

Prediction

My prediction is therefore based on which film will likely lobby the hardest this year. I’d like to see “Monsieur Lazhar” win but it probably won’t. Its distributor, Music Box Films, likely doesn’t have Harvey Weinstein’s Rolodex or Sony Picture Classics’ muscle.

I’ll bet one of the two Sony Picture Classics films nominated this year will win; Iran’s “A Separation” or Poland’s “In Darkness” - but I'm still hopeful for "Monsieur Lazhar"

As Peter Knegt wrote in IndieWire, “making any assumption in this category is ill-advised.”

An Elvis show can’t look French-Canadian.

That line caught my attention in an article in the Globe and Mail today about two of Cirque du Soleil’s new shows that have apparently been ‘plagued by rewrites, firings and plain old bad buzz’.

The line is from Mike Weatherford, a long-time Las Vegas observer who has followed Cirque du Soleil's fortunes for the Review-Journal.

From the Globe article:

He suggests that Cirque needs to conquer new areas of entertainment if it wants to continue to grow without cannibalizing it own audience. As well, he adds, the company's new projects need to move away from Cirque's colourful, gibberish-filled comfort zone. “Viva Elvis , much more than the Beatles's Love , will have to show that they can Americanize their production and aesthetic,” says Weatherford. “An Elvis show can't look French-Canadian.”

Will Cirque du Soleil be able to turn around Banana Shpeel and Viva Elvis in the next two months, before their official openings finally take place? Laliberté's team does have a long and storied history of saving the day, so don't call either show a flop just yet.

Interesting observation. I always thought that the Cirque was French-Canadian beyond its name no matter where it performed on the planet. Its performers may come from around the globe but its DNA is distinctly French-Canadian. You feel it in several small details including the accent of the announcer reminding you to turn off your cell phone before the show begins. I always thought that it was part of its global appeal. We’ll see how it can expand its appeal without losing that part of its DNA. It’s worth noting that Celine Dion lost the accent on Céline but never lost her accent. That does not seem to have been an issue for her fans around the world - many I presume are also Elvis fans.

By the way, while an Elvis show can’t perhaps look French-Canadian, a French-Canadian can most definitely look like Elvis. Just ask Elvis Gratton.

Michael Jackson’s brand equity in Québec

Having overdosed on the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death, I hadn’t planned to write about the King of Pop on this blog. But a journalist recently asked me about Quebeckers’ attitudes towards Michael Jackson in the context of an interview about Pepsi in Québec. You might recall that Michael Jackson appeared in TV commercials for Pepsi in the mid 1980s. This “Choice of a New Generation’ was judged to be less culturally relevant in Québec. Instead, Pepsi ran the hugely successful Meunier campaign.

While the situation may have been quite different twenty years ago in Québec, it seems that today (days after his death) Quebeckers hold Michael Jackson in particularly high esteem – more so than Canadians in the rest of Canada.

According to an online survey of a national representative sample conducted by Angus Reid Strategies last week, over two-thirds of Canadians (68%) say people will remember Michael Jackson’s music and videos. However, 16 per cent think the pop star will be remembered for the allegations of sexual abuse against minors he faced twice.

Québec stands out in Angus Reid’s report:

Quebeckers appear to hold Michael Jackson in particularly high esteem. Almost four-in-five respondents (78%) there say Michael Jackson will be remembered for his music and videos instead of the allegations of sexual abuse (10%).

Almost half of respondents across the country think the sexual abuse allegations against Jackson are probably (37%) or definitely (11%) true, while 36 per cent think they are false.

Québec is the only region where a plurality believes the sexual abuse allegations against the pop icon were false (46% believe the allegations were not true, 39% think they were true).

While Quebeckers appear to view Michael Jackson more favourably, this might be in part due to the fact that the entertainer’s legal problems likely received less media coverage over the years in French than in English.

This more limited coverage was also evident last week. According to media monitoring firm Influence Communication, Michael Jackson’s death did not dominate the news as it did in the ROC. The Canadien de Montreal received 5.65% of all news compared to 4.88% for Michael Jackson. The financial crisis, Quebec’s national holiday and the departure of the Parti Quebecois’ Francois Legault also received more coverage than Michael Jackson.

TED

I attended the TED conference last year in Aspen. I loved it. But I enjoyed the talks more than the social scene. That’s not snobbism. It’s just not my thing. So I watch the talks online instead.

TED 2009 “The Great Unveiling” begins this week in Long Beach. True to TED’s promise of “Inspired talks  by the world's leading thinkers and doers”, the line-up is as impressive as it is eclectic. From Bill Gates to Natasha Tsakos.

As I scanned the speakers’ list, I asked myself: is there someone from Quebec I would want to or expect to hear from at future TED conferences?

Cirque du Soleil’s Guy Laliberté.

I doubt he does much of this type of speaking, but if there’s one venue that would fit him, it’s this one. If entrepreneur and brand builder Richard Branson can get his twenty minutes at TED, I bet Laliberté’s story would give ideas worth spreading too.

By the way, here’s a short talk given by my friend, Toronto market researcher Allison Hunt, at TED 2007. I think it’s one of the sharpest, funniest TED talks.

Quebeckers, New Year's Eve and Resolutions

New Year’s Eve celebrations are a big deal in Quebec.

Ipsos Reid asked Canadians in 2007 what they were planning to do on New Year’s Eve.

Four out of ten said they were having a quiet evening at home. The only significant difference was in Quebec where only 28% were planning to go quiet. Almost four out of ten (37%) in Quebec were planning to attend a New Year’s Eve party at someone else’s home, or have a party themselves.

The same survey asked Canadians if they were planning to make New Year’s resolutions in 2008.

On average, 29% of Canadians said they would. And Quebeckers were significantly more likely to say they would at 37%. But before you conclude that Quebeckers are more motivated to lose weight, stop smoking or drinking, get organized, become a better person, etc., keep in mind that most resolutions are doomed to fail.

According to McGill psychology professor and human-motivation expert Richard Koestner, "Most of us find that we fail at our resolutions year after year.”

Limited self-regulatory strength

Koestner's research makes the case that even if you follow all of the standard goal-setting tips, you are still likely to fail thanks to that pesky matter of willpower, or what those in the human-motivation business call, "limited self-regulatory strength."

Question your motivation

But there are two things people can do to overcome willpower limitations, his research suggests.

First, like a serious actor, question your motivation. "Unfortunately, many of the resolutions we set are actually things we feel others want us to do or things we feel guilty about not having done." Second, simply setting the goal is not enough. Bolster your goal with specific plans about when, where and how you will take steps to reach it. Ideally, your plan should make the pursuit of the goal almost automatic so that you don't have to keep relying on that elusive limited self-regulatory strength.

For more on this, read this article in the McGill Reporter .

I like Koestner’s final recommendation:

This is something people may want to keep in mind every day of the year: "There is a danger in evaluating life too much in terms of goals met or missed. It's a shame if someone looks back at the year and says, 'Oh boy, I did not lose 10 pounds and get a promotion like I resolved to,' when, meanwhile, they may have made three new friends, helped their family and been a great neighbour. Social relationships are probably the most important factor in determining the quality of one's life but they are not what we tend to make resolutions about."

Maybe that’s why Quebeckers are more likely to party with friends on New Year’s Eve and resolve to party again next year.

Happy New Year.

Casinos and Quebeckers

Casinos are supposed to do well in hard times. But it’s not the case in the US and in Ontario’s big casinos.

Gambling revenue dropped about 3% VYA in June on the Las Vegas strip and it’s expected to keep falling. Atlantic City was also down and so was revenue at Ontario’s three major casinos. For more on this, read this article published this week in the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business

Casinos du Quebec reports that for 2007-2008 it generated $790.4MM in revenues from over 10.7 million visits but it doesn’t say if revenue is up or down at its three casinos (Montreal, Charlevoix and Lac-Leamy).

Quebeckers are less likely to visit casinos than Canadians in the rest of the country. 15.7% did so in the past year in Quebec compared to 22.4% in English Canada according to data from PMB 2008.

But while Quebeckers appear less likely to visit casinos, those who do seem to spend more. The average total loss for each adult on provincially-run gambling is nearly $400. Manitoba ($491.87), Quebec ($475.69), and Nova Scotia ($470.76) generate the most per adult profit from their gambling activities, and BC ($181.93) and PEI ($277.90) the least. (Source: INTERNET GAMING: A LOOK AT ONLINE GAMBLING IN CANADA) Click here for the full document