On the Ice Floe

Les univers de l'artiste Joseph Kieffer et des pêcheurs sur glace de Rimouski sont très différents. Pourtant, au pays du froid, le courant est passé. Venu de France à l'invitation du centre d'artistes Caravansérail, Kieffer leur a proposé un marché propre au partage : en échange d'une de leur histoire, il leur offrira une girouette, créée sur mesure pour leurs cabanes de pêche, inspirée par leurs récits. Ce projet est à l'image de ceux qui y participent : attachant, humain et tendre. Peut-être est-ce l'effet magique de la banquise qui se forme chaque hiver sur le fleuve et où rituellement, les pêcheurs s'installent? Cet endroit où le silence devient source de sérénité et où les cultures se mettent en commun pour mieux combattre le gel. C'est au cœur de cette communauté inventée, chaleureuse et éphémère que nous emmène Sur la banquise.

Reflecting our society, the world of junior hockey seems more and more obsessed with competition. Without making any judgments, Junior gives us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our national sport. Taking in one complete season with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, this film reveals the daily lives of managers and players on this Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team. This documentary marries the steady pace of fiction films with the sensitive eye of the ?direct cinema? tradition. It intentionally shows no scenes of hockey being played, yet proves that what happens off the ice is no less exciting. Admired and treated like professionals, junior hockey players are already stars whose lives have very little margin of error. They are also teenagers as young as 16, who are already gambling with their future. Trainers, shareholders, agents, scouts and parents: all eyes are fixed on these elite young players, even though only a tiny number of them will succeed in playing at the highest level. By intercutting evocative images and making effective symbolic links, Junior offers a real-life portrait of an environment that engenders deep emotions despite its rough exterior.

Crystal Pillar, White Lady, The Whale--these are the names given by ice-climbing enthusiasts to the spectacular ice formations surrounding Quebec's Montmorency Falls. Ice Birds shows two experienced climbers scaling the breathtaking wall of the Crystal Pillar with precision and considerable daring, appearing from below as black spots on the vast landscape of one of nature's masterpieces. Film without words.