In Manawan, on June 26, 1977, a van was recovered from a river. It contains the corpses of five Atikamekw. The owners of the vehicle, two white people who had party with the victims the day before, described an accident from which they emerged unscathed. Despite the injuries and traces of aggression shown on the remains, the authorities closed the file on the strength of this testimony alone. Left with a thousand questions, the loved ones of the deceased cease to live a little. With the help of the families, the filmmaker Chloé Leriche returns to this tragedy in Atikamekw Sunsa meditative, poetic and political work, highlighting a clear case of systemic racism.
“I heard about this case while filming my previous film in Manawan, Before the streets », Relates the screenwriter, director, editor and producer.
For memory, Before the streetss tells the initiatory story of a young Atikamekw who, after fleeing the city, tries to find peace by reconnecting with the ancestral rites of his community.
“Everyone was telling me I should make a film about what happened in 1977. Except I had no idea what they were talking to me about. Then, one day, Angèle Petiquay [soeur cadette de Denis Petiquay, une des victimes] came to see me and she told me her story, almost commissioning me to make a film. She told me: “We need that. We need to understand what happened.” It felt like an injustice. »
When she decided to dive, Chloé Leriche wanted to repeat an approach that had worked well for Before the streetsnamely involving the community directly concerned.
“I think that with Before the streets, it was the first time that an indigenous band council participated in the financial structure of a film. I did this again for Atikamekw Suns, but pushing much further. For example, by finding employability programs, to allow people to improve their skills and work [sur le film]. »
Things never said
At this point in the interview, Chloé Leriche suddenly interrupts, then continues with this admission: “At the start, I really didn’t think that the creative work was going to be done so close to the families of the five victims. »
Everything changed for the filmmaker when she went to the family of one of them: Thérèse Ottawa-Flamand. When she asked about the missing woman, about what she was like when she was alive, a heavy silence fell over the assembly.
“There were twenty people – there are always large tables among the Atikamekw – and everyone was silent. We felt the discomfort. I was then told that we never talked about that, that we hadn’t spoken that name for years. It was at that moment that I realized that I would not be able to make the film that I had initially planned. Because it was clear that these families had never been able to mourn. Too many things remained unclear. »
It was in 2017, so forty years after the tragedy, and the pain, as the filmmaker notes, was still palpable.
In order to better understand what the families had experienced, and continued to experience, Chloé Leriche decided to organize writing workshops. It was an opportunity for exchanges and discoveries of “incredible human richness”, says the filmmaker.
For example, there was this moment when the latter suggested to the brothers of two of the victims, Julianna Quitich and Marie-Paule-Nicole Petiquay, that they each write a letter to their deceased sister.
“They are now elderly gentlemen, and they were having difficulty, because they had not written for a long time. But there, their children and their grandchildren gathered around them to help them write these letters, which they then read to the group, very solemn… I realized that with these words, they expressed things they had never said. »
Words collected with recognition and respect, and which nourished the film in the making.
A second pivotal moment occurred during another of these workshops. Sauterre Flamand, the widower of Thérèse Ottawa-Flamand, revealed that after the death of his wife, he started talking to his horse. Gradually, he came to confide in the beast as if he were speaking to the deceased.
In the film, Chloé Leriche takes up this special relationship between this grieving man and the noble animal.
“That was another tipping point. And that’s how, little by little, the film was built from the “dreams, impressions and memories” of loved ones,” explains the filmmaker, in reference to the intertitle which opens the film.
Moreover, regarding this decision to insert dreamlike and poetic passages, Chloé Leriche explains:
“I find it important to leave moments that the public will be free to interpret based on their experiences and experiences, without explaining everything to them. As a spectator, I hate being held by the hand. So, as a director, I rely on the intelligence and sensitivity of the world. »
Never the same again
In addition to the writing workshops, the production set up an acting workshop with Louise Laparé, an authority in the field.
“The idea was to have the actors play a big emotional scene, because that was what worried them the most: the prospect of not being able to cry in front of the crew during filming. Seeing that they could do it, that they were capable, would give them confidence. And in fact, during filming, I happened to say: “Remember the workshop. Remember what you managed to do: you know you are capable,” recalls the filmmaker.
Precisely, Oshim Ottawa, who plays Philippe Flamand, experienced such a moment of doubt during a particularly difficult scene. At the time, the police forced Philippe Flamand to open the door of the recovered van, then forcing him to identify, in situ, the remains of his friends and his sister-in-law.
“I didn’t think I would be able to play that,” admits Oshim Ottawa. But I gathered my emotions, and with the help of the other actors, I got through it. We helped each other a lot on set. »
Co-founder of the group Red Rockerz, Oshim Ottawa plays his own great-uncle.
“I met several people who knew him, to prepare myself… That day, he came back with his pants full of mud, he sat on the ground and he said that something very sad was happening. arrived. He was never the same after that. It closed. »
Carry History
This disastrous June 26 was also present David-Marcel Ottawa, who worked as an interpreter at the courthouse for the Atikamekw. Knowing the legal system, he was able to see how the authorities, from the police to the coroner, had botched the job — an understatement. He insisted in vain that a real investigation be opened (which happened in 2016, but without any charges being filed, the coroner’s notes having apparently disappeared).
Already the adventure ofBefore the streetsbut also seen in Hochelaga land of souls And BootleggerJacques Newashish plays “Marcel”, a character inspired by David-Marcel Ottawa.
“I knew him, David-Marcel: he was my mother’s cousin. Playing a real person adds pressure; It’s not like playing a fictional role. There is a stronger feeling of responsibility. Especially in a context like this, where families and the community have been upset, torn apart. We carry the story of the person we play, but we also carry History. »
Dedicated to the memory of Julianna Quitich, Marie-Paule-Nicole Petiquay, Thérèse Ottawa-Flamand, Denis Petiquay and Lionel Petiquay, the film Atikamekw Suns hits theaters on April 5.