A License to Remember : Je me souviens

Que peut bien signifier la devise «Je me souviens» sur les plaques d'immatriculation du Québec? Maladivement curieux, Thierry Le Brun, un nouveau venu dans la Belle Province, cherche la réponse en interrogeant aussi bien Monsieur et Madame Tout-le-Monde que des personnalités telles que le cinéaste Pierre Falardeau, l'acteur Julien Poulin, la grande dame du petit écran Janette Bertrand, le dramaturge René-Daniel Dubois et les membres du groupe Loco Locass. Il recueille leurs commentaires là où sa quête le mène - en traîneau à chiens, à la pêche sur la glace, dans un élevage d'émeus, dans des festivités diverses, à une rencontre avec...la police! Il reçoit des réponses parfois tristes, parfois drôles et toujours surprenantes. Cette grande variété d'interprétations lui permet de découvrir la complexité de la société québécoise, ses contradictions, ses espoirs et ses rêves. Elle nous permet aussi de nous ouvrir à l'autre et de mieux comprendre les préoccupations des multiples collectivités qui composent le Québec d'aujourd'hui.

Stories of resistance, strength and perseverance are laid bare in this examination of a dark day in Canadian history. At the height of tensions at Oka, Quebec, in 1990, Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) women, children and Elders fled their community of Kahnawake out of fear for their safety. Once past the Canadian Army that surrounded their home, they were assaulted by angry non-Indigenous protesters who pelted their convoy with rocks. This visceral display of hatred and violence - rarely seen so publicly in Canada - shocked the nation and revealed the severity of the dangers that faced the Kanien'kehá:ka in their struggle to defend a sacred site. This film is the fourth in Alanis Obomsawin's landmark series on the Mohawk resistance at Oka that would become a pivot point in contemporary relationships between Indigenous nations and Canada.

In the vastness of northern Quebec, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, lies the village of Kangirsujuaq, in Nunavik. Here, tradition and modernity intersect on a daily basis. Teenagers lap up "southern" culture and play golf on the tundra. Their elders--many of them former nomads and hunters--are trying to get used to the strange feeling of staying put. Elisapie Isaac, a young filmmaker born in Nunavik, decides to return to her roots on this breathtaking land. To bridge the growing gap between the young and the old, she lets Naalak, an elder, and Danny, a young policeman from Kangirsujuaq, tell us what they think. She also speaks to her grandfather, now dead, and confides in him her hopes and fears. Above all, she asks the fundamental question: Can Inuit culture survive in the modern world? In English and Inuktitut, with subtitles.