L.A. Tea Time

What do you do as a young female filmmaker in Quebec if you’re not sure what direction to take? You go and ask multitalented director, artist and author Miranda July for advice. She seems to do exactly what she wants, and it works out pretty well for her, too: after all, she doesn’t need to translate online hotel reviews to pay the rent, as Sophie Bédard Marcotte does. So she sets off with her camerawoman on a road trip to Los Angeles to have tea with July. Of course, nothing goes as planned.

Their unorthodox journey across the United States results in a lighthearted road movie filled with meditative landscapes, unlikely encounters, animations and a touch of magic. It is a playful quest for a framework in life. A film about friendship, the thirtysomething dilemma and the search for inspiration.

In her third film, Bédard Marcotte incorporates references to her cinematic inspirations, and creates a posthumous starring role for Chantal Akerman. She appears on the pink horizon as an oracle for every filmmaker who, for want of a clear path, is looking for the yellow brick road.