Jean-François Lesage

The night is falling and Montreal is under the snow. People line up at the lost and found office of the city’s transit company. They all have lost something, which, upon reflection, becomes the symbol of a deeper loss. Prayer for a Lost Mitten is a creative documentary by turns melancholic and festive, yet ever compassionate. A film that helps us get through the winter.

In Quebec 40s, orphans or abandoned children are placed in a gigantic psychiatric hospital where children were locked. Were they sick? No, they simply had no family. To escape this oppressive universe, they created a parallel world: the institution's basement where, in a maze of tunnels, they founded an independent company, with its rituals, spells. A young girl, Agnes, reigns over this underground world that adults seem to tolerate.

In 1981, an unusual person arrives in Natashquan, marking the beginning of an unlikely love story between this small Quebec village and the young man they call “The Punk”. Five years later, he vanishes without a trace, forever impacting the community.

A mysterious forest in early fall echoes with birdsong and the sound of a river. Fallen leaves speckle gold on the blue stones. Two weary travellers make their way on foot – the painter Meng Huang and writer Ma Jian. When, as if after a long journey, they finally reach a cabin, they eat and drink, but the mood is not one of contentment. Their gaze is dark, haunted by memories of the China they have fled: persecution, resistance and the treatment meted out to those who fight for human rights. With the forest arousing painful thoughts and existential considerations, they talk about art. For the two artists, whose world view has been upended by the Tiananmen Square massacre, creation offers an answer to oppression and lies. But what kind of life remains for the exiles?

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A portrait of lovers at Night, in the summer of the Mont-Royal park in Montreal.

In the heart of a deep forest runs a river. On its banks, men and women sit and talk, opening up to each other. In this remote setting conducive to reflection, they wonder what it takes to attain inner peace, debate the wisdom of passing something on to future generations and realize that, in love, the perfect ‘soulmate’ is a near-impossible ideal. The sun sets behind the mountains and the swimmers bitterly acknowledge the failure of certain dreams, but still find meaning in contemplating nature, the stars and the moon.