Un Everest de l'intérieur

In May 2000, four Canadians set off on an expedition to climb the perilous north side of Mount Everest without the use of oxygen or sherpas. The majestic Himalayas form the backdrop for this documentary as the four try to conquer the mythical top of the world. Anxiety, courage, friendship and rivalry : the group's ordeal gives us a rare insight into the human condition under stress, and, while immobilised on the edge of the mountain by extreme weather conditions, we can share, as if we were there, the emotions and tensions that afflict the group's solidarity; threatening the dream of attaining the summit itself. Do they possess what it takes to succeed in such a hostile environment or is the journey just one of coming to terms with their own limitations? Whatever the outcome, the group managed to capture these breathtaking images from the heavens, and deliver a moving testimony to the fragility of humankind while confronted by the mighty forces of nature.

L'agriculture est en crise partout sur la planète. La course à la productivité de l'agro-industrie s'effectue au détriment de l'environnement et de la qualité des aliments. Sous la pression de la mondialisation, les revenus des agriculteurs diminuent, et les fermes familiales disparaissent sans cesse. Pas de pays sans paysans, de la documentariste Ève Lamont, adopte le point de vue de cultivateurs et d'éleveurs du Québec, de l'Ouest canadien, du Vermont (États-Unis) et de la France pour dénoncer les dégâts que cause l'agriculture industrielle. Pensons ici à la pollution et à la destruction des écosystèmes, sans compter la prolifération de cultures d'OGM, qui fait peser une menace additionnelle sur la biodiversité et l'autonomie des paysans. Pas de pays sans paysans témoigne à la fois d'une implacable lucidité et d'un irrépressible espoir. Un mouvement ralliant agriculteurs et consommateurs proclame qu'il est possible et crucial de cultiver autrement. En Europe comme en Amérique, des paysans proposent une autre vision de l'agriculture et mettent en oeuvre des pratiques soucieuses de l'environnement et de la pérennité de l'agriculture.

Finding Macpherson is, above all, the story of an improbable friendship between the great Quebec singer Félix Leclerc and the intriguing Frank Randolph Macpherson, a chemical engineer from Jamaica who arrived in Quebec in 1917 and would inspire Leclerc's song "MacPherson." It is also a story about memory: a memory of the song that would push animation filmmaker Martine Chartrand to create the striking and poetic animation MacPherson, made by filming paintings on glass using 35mm film, while revisiting her own history. This highly personal and historical journey is captured by Serge Giguère, who accompanies Chartrand from the very start. A sympathetic look at an artist at work, Finding Macpherson is also a steadfastly humanist film that highlights the imperceptible but unbreakable links that bind us to each other.