Jouliks

Jouliks
Film poster
Directed byMariloup Wolfe
Written byMarie-Christine Lê-Huu
Produced byAnnie Blais
Claude Veillet
StarringVictor Andrés Trelles Turgeon
Jeanne Roux-Côté
Lilou Roy-Lanouette
CinematographyJonathan Decoste
Edited byCarina Baccanale
Cédric Coussy
Music byJean-Philippe Goncalves
Production
company
Films Vision 4
Distributed byTéléfiction
Release date
  • August 16, 2019 (2019-08-16) (Biscarosse)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguagesFrench
English

Jouliks is a 2019 Canadian drama film, directed by Mariloup Wolfe.[1] An adaptation of the theatrical play by Marie-Christine Lê-Huu, the film centres on a bohemian couple, Zak (Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon) and Véra (Jeanne Roux-Côté), who are raising their shy but observant young daughter Yanna (Lilou Roy-Lanouette) as squatters in an abandoned house.[2]

The film faced some criticism from Roma activists, as the word "joulik", a Russian language word for "thug", has often been used as an ethnic slur against Roma people.[3] Lê-Huu clarified that the play and film were not intended to be about Roma, but worked with the community to ensure that anything in the original play which could be perceived as reinforcing a stereotype of the Roma people was rewritten for clarity in the screenplay.[4]

The film had its premiere on October 16, 2019, at the Festival de cinéma québécois de Biscarrosse,[1] followed by a gala screening on October 22 at the Théâtre Maisonneuve in Montreal,[5] before opening commercially on November 1.