A dive into the forests of Quebec awaits the audience in Millau. The Cinemas of Millau, located on Rue de la Pâpinière, will host Canadian filmmaker Pascale Ferland on Tuesday, May 12th at 8:00 p.m. for the screening of her feature film “Dans la forêt” (In the Forest). The screening will be followed by an exchange session with the director, who is specially traveling from Quebec.
An ensemble documentary essay
With a duration of two hours, “Dans la forêt” is presented by its director as an ensemble documentary essay that explores the deep connections between humans, animals, and the forest. Filmed over three years across five regions of Quebec (Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Gaspésie, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, and Côte-Nord), the film adopts a choral structure, composed of life fragments that intersect, respond to, or contradict each other.
Pascale Ferland follows animals and several characters, sometimes controversial, sometimes discreet, whose personal or professional lives are anchored in the Quebec forest. The result paints a portrait of a complex and nuanced world, where desires to protect and exploit coexist, and where three languages intertwine: French, Anishinaabemowin, and Innu-aimun.
Between realism, commitment, and lyricism
The director claims a tone that oscillates between realism, political commitment, and poetry. The camera is patient when observing the wildlife (caribou, moose, foxes, bears) and sometimes shifts into the realm of dreams to evoke what the forest represents beyond the visible: a place of life, memory, soothing, conflicts, and identity. Faced with climate upheavals and the sixth mass extinction, the film serves as an invitation to rethink our relationship with living beings, not as a resource, but as a shared and inhabited space.
A renowned filmmaker
As a screenwriter, director, and producer for over twenty years, Pascale Ferland has developed a personal and award-winning documentary body of work. She is known for works such as “L’Immortalité en fin de compte” (2003), “Adagio pour un gars de bicycle” (2008), which won the Victor-Martyn-Lynch-Staunton Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and “Pauline Julien, intime et politique” (2018). “Dans la forêt,” released in 2025, continues her reflection on contemporary issues related to nature and territories.
Screening on Tuesday, May 12th at 8:00 p.m. at the Cinemas of Millau, Rue de la Pâpinière in Millau. Single rate: 5 euros. The screening will be followed by a meeting with the director Pascale Ferland. For more information about the film: https://f3m.ca/film/dans-la-foret/
