Magnificent landscapes of the Gaspé. Mountains as far as the eye can see. The sea that whips or caresses the coasts. The freedom of a huge territory.
The title of Jérôme Binette’s first major documentary, Confined, might sound ironic. But this is not the case.
If the runner Mathieu Blanchard found himself in Gaspésie to hike the legendary International Appalachian Trail, if Jérôme Binette found himself at his side to document the adventure, it is because of the pandemic.
After a 2019 racing season cut short due to a back injury, Mathieu Blanchard, a Montrealer of Marseille origin, was preparing to take his revenge in 2020. But in March, overnight, everything was canceled.
“It was a shock,” he says of South Africa, where he is preparing for the last ultratrail of the 2021 season. I was in distress for a few days. ”
Jérôme Binette found himself in the same situation. “I am a freelance videographer-director, I worked in tourism,” he explains. In March, when [les autorités] announced the measures, all my plans for the summer fell through. ”
“As long as you fix the wall” at home, Jérôme Binette set out to film Mathieu Blanchard running in the deserted streets of Montreal. It is also the striking images that open Confined.
The two men sympathized and Mathieu Blanchard told the director about his alternate plans, including a particularly ambitious project: to travel the International Appalachian Trail, which crosses the Gaspé over 650 kilometers and 30,000 meters of vertical drop. In a week.
The provincial government had confined us within the borders. I adapted to the situation: I had to go on an adventure in Quebec, on our own playground.
Mathieu Blanchard
Jérôme Binette joined Mathieu’s small support team to document everything.
Difficult conditions
The International Appalachian Trail turned out to be particularly difficult. “It is a summary of the worst difficulties that can be found in the trails ofultratrail, with a phenomenal quantity of mud, an infinite quantity of rocks, meteorological contrasts which are insane ”, launches Mathieu Blanchard.
If the conditions were difficult for the runner, they were also difficult for the director. “Like the storm on Mont Jacques-Cartier,” recalls Jérôme Binette. I waited for Mathieu up there, I got myself clean. When he passed, I had to go back down by Mount Xalibu, I had it in my teeth. ”
However, for him, filming is fun. “It is during the editing that it gets tough,” he says.
He ended up with a thousand hours of video, with no prior script. The two men then gave themselves objectives to guide the assembly.
It was first necessary to move away from clichés of the genre: suffering, bloody feet, the search for performance… It was necessary rather to focus on the relations between the runner and his team, on the cohesion that is created. .
It takes good ingredients to tell a running adventure because just watching someone run is the most boring business in the world.
Jerome Binette
He notably gave a humorous tone to several scenes and made room for the members of the team, while illustrating the difficulties faced by Mathieu Blanchard.
The director and the runner wanted the film to target a large audience and not just runners.
“People had to recognize themselves in Mathieu’s challenge,” says the director.
Another important objective was to show previously unseen images of the Gaspé.
“Images of the Gaspé coast, we see a lot,” comments Mathieu Blanchard. But the center of the Gaspé, with its mountains and forests, is so remote, so muddy, so wet that no one manages to find beautiful images. It’s too complex for the material, for the videographer. ”
Jérôme Binette particularly enjoyed the challenge and was not afraid to get wet, both literally and figuratively. He also obtained permission to use a drone over “the province’s most legendary mountains”.
The result is indeed remarkable. “We wanted to show the beauty of Quebec to inspire people to visit this wonderful area,” says Mathieu Blanchard.
Documentary
Confined
Jerome Binette
1 h 15