Eleven peoples in traditions
In addition to the documentary series First contact, launched on April 6 on Canal D, another original production from here introduces the First Peoples of Quebec, and more particularly some of their traditions and their ancestral know-how. Beneath its appearance as a travel, adventure and outdoor program, In a territory near youa series almost entirely produced by Aboriginal people, offers an overview of the ten First Nations and the Inuit nation anchored in activities and rites perpetuated for generations, sometimes a little fragile, that young and old of these communities continue to sustain.
Hosts Brad Gros-Louis and Eve Ringuette, respectively Wendat and Innu, seem most of the time to learn about the traditions and knowledge brought to light by their one-day (or two-day) guide at the same time as the viewer. These practices, explained and put into context by the hosts, including some artists, are a pretext to reflect on their own identity, between modernity, respect for traditions and transmission. The exercise could easily have fallen into folkloric clichés, but it mostly avoids them, offering a refreshing look at these treasured legacies. We can learn about survival in the forest among the Atikamekw, beaver hunting with an Innu trapper and author Marie-Andrée Gill, and artisanal lobster fishing with Micmac rapper Quentin Condo.
In a territory near you
United, Monday, April 4, 7:30 p.m.
Second chance for a movie
Launched at TIFF in September 2020, where it won Best Canadian Film and the Audience Award, the documentary The inconvenient Indian by Michelle Latimer, adapted from Thomas King’s hit eponymous essay and produced by the NFB, disappeared from distribution shortly before its scheduled screening at the Sundance Film Festival. A CBC investigation then called into question the partly Anishinaabe and Métis origins of its director, by her grandfather supposedly from Kitigan Zibi. A somewhat awkward situation given that his film is interested in the relationship between Whites and Aboriginals and the impact, often devastating, of colonizing culture on the identity of members of the First Peoples.
Almost a year and a half later, the NFB announces that after “significant consultations” with the film’s Indigenous participants, the NFB’s Indigenous advisory committee and other producers, a “responsible way forward” has been established for The inconvenient Indianwhich will be distributed “as an educational source and for community screenings” starting in the fall of 2022. The organization is placing this “world premiere” on the APTN network in this “way forward”, and thus gives the opportunity to curious to delve into this exciting and aesthetically very successful exploration of the “blurred areas” of Aboriginal identity.
The inconvenient Indian
APTN, Friday, April 8, 9 p.m. and the following day on APTN lumi
Before leaving
It is one of those documentary films that bring tears to our eyes without making us sad. Thank you, goodbye, I love youby author, journalist and director Nathalie Roy, a film of exemplary finesse and simplicity devoted to the daily life of a palliative care home on the South Shore, through the stay of some of its beneficiaries, is undoubtedly part of this category.
This portrait of La Source bleue, located in Boucherville, one of the 37 palliative care homes accessible free of charge in Quebec, shows how the 5,000 people who end their days, most often peacefully, are supported in these establishments each year. We are both overwhelmed and reassured by the stories of Claude, a young man in his fifties who does not yet accept his imminent death, of Madeleine, serene in the face of her imminent end, and of Yvon, who has recovered from the hair of the beast after his arrival in this oasis. We identify with each of them, with the questions, the fears and the certainties that inhabit them, and we begin to hope that we will experience an end of life so imbued with humanity and gentleness.
Thank you, goodbye, I love you
United, Monday, April 4, 9 p.m.