Ariane Louis-Seize

Louis-Seize is from Gatineau, Quebec.^[2] She attended the Institut national de l'image et du son (INIS), a film school in Montreal, which she graduated from in 2013.^[6] She currently works out of Montreal.^[7]

Louis-Seize's debut short film, Wild Skin (La Peau sauvage), which was released in 2016, follows a woman's erotic experience after discovering a python snake in her apartment.^[8] The film was a nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards and a Prix Iris nominee for Best Short Film at the 19th Quebec Cinema Awards.^[9] In the same year, she was one of the writers of the screenplay Of Ink and Blood (D'Encre et de sang), which follows a man who, after witnessing a deadly accident, steals the victim's manuscript, claiming it as his own.^[10][11]

Her second short film, Little Waves (Les petites vagues), was named in the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Canada's Top Ten list in 2018, its year of release.^[12] The film follows a young girl's sexual awakening one summer.^[12] Louis-Seize also released the short film Rituels in 2018.^[5]

Her third short film, The Depths (Les profondeurs), premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.^[13] It was subsequently screened at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film.^[14] The film chronicles a woman's journey scuba diving in a lake while grieving her mother's death.^[15]

She followed this up in 2020 with Shooting Star (Comme une comète), which explores the relationship between a teenage girl and her mother's boyfriend.^[16] It was screened at the Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival, where it won the Prix Télébec, and at the Whistler Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Canadian ShortWork.^[17] The film received a Prix Iris nomination for Best Live Action Short Film at the 23rd Quebec Cinema Awards in 2021.^[18]

Her debut feature film, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant), entered production in 2022, and premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023.^[19][3] The film follows a 68-year-old 'teenage' vampire named Sasha who is unable to kill humans to sustain herself, and searches for a consenting suicidal person to quench her thirst and make her family proud.^[20][21] The film stars Sara Montpetit as Sasha, the vampire, and Félix-Antoine Bénard as Paul, the suicidal victim.^[20] It was screened at a number of festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival.^[1][3][4][7]

Ariane Louis-Seize has cited Ana Lily Amirpour, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers, Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion, Roy Andersson, and Marielle Heller as influences for her films.^[5][4] A journalist from Ciné Bulles has noted her work is reminiscent of Wes Anderson and painter Edvard Munch.^[5]

She was described by a reviewer from Screen International as having been influenced by European arthouse films.^[20] She has cited the films Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), and The Hunger (1983) as particular cinematic influences.^[5][21] She is also influenced by German expressionist cinema.^[5]

To prepare for Humanist Vampire, Louis-Seize watched a variety of vampire films, beginning with Nosferatu (1922).^[5] A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) by Ana Lily Amirpour has been cited as the primary influence for Humanist Vampire.^[5]

Louis-Seize's work is known for exploring themes of girlhood, sexual awakening, and coming-of-age through the use of supernatural forces and eerie settings, which act as metaphors for the journeys of her characters.^[4][5] She plays with contradictions and dualities, finding a middle ground between desire and disgust, or comedy and horror.^[4] She is also known to play with themes of isolation, as well as desire for connection and normalcy.^[7][4] Her films have been described as atmospheric in their use of colour.^[20] She employs neon blues and greens, and darker jewel tones, like blood reds, which contribute to the gothic quality of her films.^[20]