Sébastien Blais

In the wake of her arranged marriage, a young woman in Mauritius begins a job at a call centre. Her first steps toward independence have repercussions no one could have expected.

Following in the Extra Terrestrial's footsteps, the QT wants to go home. 'My Queer Samsara is a critical look at a constructed social identity that hides underneath it a gnawing want; a need to 'go back home' and be fully accepted into the bosom of our very first loves, the ones who were supposed to take care of us, our families.'

Samuel’s home port is in Gaspesia, eastern Quebec, in Saint-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis. It is winter and the fishing boats have been put into dry dock. Samuel makes the most of this respite to implement his career plan. He wants to buy the boat from Clément, who is retiring, and become his own captain. Samuel is ambitious and passionate. Despite the obvious difficulties represented by such a project today, the strengthening of regulations, quotas and diminishing resources, he persists with his idea. Few young people in his village have chosen to stay like him and even fewer have chosen to take over a traditional activity that is jeopardised these days.

After a 20-year absence, Noriko returns to Nagasaki to clear out her mother’s home. In doing so, she finds letters that reveal a family secret intertwined with the memory of the peninsular town’s inhabitants. In reconstructing this family story, Okurimono gradually develops into a grace-filled meditation on the passage of time and the legacy we leave behind.