Directing
SHOW DE BLEU explores the “smoke show” (burn-out) as a filial ritual.
Atoll, Victoriaville's contemporary art center, held its first and last fundraiser on December 12, 2023. During the event, artist Antoine Larocque, who is also the organization’s co-director, paints phrases on the walls denouncing the city's plan to demolish the building that currently houses Atoll.
Filmed in rural Central Quebec, "born to be a star" is halfway between an artist's (self-)portrait and a family portrait. Artist Antoine Larocque gives us access to his workspace and the environment that surrounds him.
Filmed in Victoriaville, the film uses images from various sources to paint a cynical portrait of the violent boredom that reigns in rural areas. Quiet sequences of people sharing joints by the river are followed by a lone car speeding along wooded roads, as if seeking speed on the brink of accident. Thuya abandons technical mastery in favor of intimate and spontaneous filming, composing a raw self-documentation of daily stagnation. Filmed mainly in a single day of improvisation, based on chance encounters and found footage.
ZOOM was made from videotapes stolen from a house. The selected sequences depict an absurd relationship with others and with nature through video excerpts filmed by an unknown person in Antoine Larocque's hometown (Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada) in the 1990s. The man who filmed these images was found dead a few years ago. He lived alone, isolated, and had developed a compulsive hoarding disorder. He died of a heart attack while playing the video game DOOM on his X-BOX. The images added to this question challenge our relationship with images.
