How to pay tribute to an accomplished Canadian-Ukrainian mountaineer, who died after a fight with a terrible disease? Boris Kaschenko’s family did not hesitate for long: why not go all together on an expedition, to Patagonia, to scatter the ashes on one of the mountains he loved so much?
“We felt strongly that it was the right thing to do,” recalls one of his daughters, Veronika Kaschenko, in an interview on Zoom.
Then, the idea came to document the adventure, to make a film of it. An acquaintance put Boris Kaschenko’s wife, Margarita, in contact with Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier, a Quebec documentary filmmaker who has developed an interest in funeral rituals.
The result, Boris, is on view at the Montreal International Documentary Meetings (RIDM). “It’s a magical, extraordinary story, of meeting through an intermediary”, comments Mme Marcoux-Fortier.
PHOTO CREDIT: ANASTASIA KASCHENKO
Boris Kaschenko was an accomplished mountaineer.
Challenges
From the first meeting, the two women connect, the project gets underway. Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier invites another young documentary filmmaker, Chloë Saint-Denis, to join the adventure. “For me, co-directing is something natural,” explains Ms.me Marcoux-Fortier. It’s part of how I grew up in documentary cinema. »
Chloë Saint-Denis accepted the invitation with pleasure. “I’m younger, I have less experience,” she said. I find that the profession of documentary filmmaker is very solitary: you write alone, you pitch alone, I was tired of that. Here, each one comes with different skills. It gives joy because somewhere, when you’re alone in front of a project, it’s heavy. »
However, the project involved particular difficulties: walking and filming in a grandiose, but also very capricious nature.
It could rain, hail, shine, a double rainbow could appear, and all that in the same day.
Chloe Saint-Denis
For her part, Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier loved hiking, but she did not have “a tremendous experience in such places, landscapes, such large mountains”.
Know the mountaineer
The film does justice to this nature: snow-capped peaks, lakes, rivers, forests. But also rain and wind. Sometimes the directors insert archive footage that features Boris Kaschenko, most of the time in the mountains or near a climbing wall.
“Neither Choë nor I knew Boris during his lifetime, recalls Mme Marcoux-Fortier. It is a particularity to go ahead in the creation of a work on a being that we know through those close to us. »
There is no narration in Boris. We hear some testimonials from his friends from the Toronto section of the Alpine Club of Canada. We especially witness a few conversations between the members of his family, his wife Margarita and their three children, Veronika, Anastasia, Kyryl, as well as the spouses of the latter. This is how you get to know the mountaineer.
If the laughter is there, sadness also sometimes appears, especially during the scattering of Boris’ ashes.
In a way, Iphigénie and Chloë joined the family for the duration of the documentary, which could complicate the distance necessary for the production of a documentary.
“We spent the night in the same shelter, we ate the same meals, we brushed our teeth together, recalls Veronika Kaschenko. My mother, with her Ukrainian instinct, wanted everyone to eat, including Iphi and Chloë. I had to tell her that they were going to eat eventually, but that they had to film first. »
Filming took place in December 2019. On the way back, the pandemic hit. “Afterwards, it was a long process of communication and creation at a distance,” comments Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier.
For the Kaschenko family, the result is very moving. “For us, it’s a particularly precious memory,” says Veronika Kaschenko.
For her part, Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier is now pursuing a number of projects, starting with a documentary in collaboration with a group of scientists from UQTR and the Inuit community of Kangiqsualujjuaq, as well as projects in Montreal and Lanaudière.
For her part, Chloë Saint-Denis juggles with a good number of ideas, but “nothing that is ready to cook”.
At the Cinéma du Musée, this Saturday, November 19 at 3:30 p.m. Film presented with French subtitles. At the Salle Crave of the Cinémathèque québécoise, November 23 at 8 p.m. Film shown with English subtitles.