LOLA AND I is the poetic story of a friendship. One that starts with hate, blooms with love and ends with death...
Kindhearted bookseller, Annie goes to great lengths to make everyone happy, neglecting her well-being. Introverted, and a bit OCD, she's passionate about Leonard Cohen, who even appears to her in the bookstore. And what's more, Annie has the ability to create imaginary worlds around her when reading his poems. Lola, a high-spirited vamp-looking publicist, collects lovers to heal the wounds of a dysfunctional childhood, becomes Annie's new landlord and enemy. One escapes with poetry, the other with love affairs. Opposite sides of the same coin, their difficulty in loving themselves and opening up to others, binds them. When Lola has a rare illness and Annie is forced to be by her side at the hospital, Annie uses her ability to weave chimerical universes to ease Lola's pain (but above all her own). Lola needs to let go of the past before it's too late to finally love herself. Annie must unburden her heart to Lola, accept she might die and learn to cope with the real world. Although tragic, Lola’s illness and death offer both women an opportunity for redemption and mutual healing of the soul.
After directing commercials and documentaries shot around the globe, Yanie returned to her first love: fiction. She teaches actor direction at Montreal’s Film&Sound Institute and runs cinema workshops for children worldwide. She is one of 8 women in Canada selected for the esteemed Academy of Cinema Women Directors Program, in association with TIFF. Her films blend drama, comedy, poetry, and magic realism, offering a unique way of seeing the world. Her short film INDIAN SUMMER won Best Screenplay and Best Director in Malaga, having already been shortlisted for Canada Iris Prize Best Short. Her film essay MY LIFES LITTLE THINGS was shown in cinemas and art galleries and France CanalPlus broadcast the autobiographical shorts series YANIE IN PARIS. Her screenplay LOLA&I was selected by the Cannes Film Festival Screenwriters Pavilion and SMILETV, a non-verbal comedy series she directed and co-wrote, is now shown on in-flight entertainment systems worldwide. Her latest work: dramedy 1+1+1, LIFE, LOVE, CHAOS, released in theaters in April 2025 was screened at the Berlinale Film Market, received “Best Narrative Feature” award at Cinema on the Bayou and continues its festival run. Yanie is currently preparing her next film, poetic dramedy LOLA&I, co-produced with France. Born in Montreal, Yanie speaks English, French, Spanish, and is a dual citizen of Canada and France.
SODEC, 20215 - WRITING GRANT
Cannes Film Festival, 2016, Screenwriters Pavillon
Producer - Annie Blais
Producer - Alexandre Charlet
Actor - Guylaine Trembaly
Writer/Director - Yanie Dupont-Hébert
Production Designer - Greg Nowak
