Impossible Loves
Starting in the 1960s, Super 8 gave an entire generation the opportunity to shoot their own films and fostered the emergence of a new, resolutely independent cinema. In Quebec, this movement was championed by the Association pour le jeune cinéma québécois, which founded the Quebec International Super 8 Film Festival in 1980. Jean Hamel, co-founder of this landmark event, is the guest programmer for this film series, which accompanies the publication of our thematic issue dedicated to this period. These programs, featuring films primarily drawn from our collections and digitized for the first time, offer a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrancy and creativity of the Super 8 era.
In the presence of guest programmer Jean Hamel and filmmakers
The Bar Rock was destroyed by fire in December 1978. A few days after the fire, employees and customers gathered these shots of the bar.
The film introduces us to the unique world of an elderly woman living alone with her cat. Through his skillful direction, the filmmaker highlights the close ties between hearing and sight.
In the “enchanting” setting of the railroad tracks, a young woman meets the man who was the love of her life when she was eighteen.
Living in a community requires a new definition of intimacy and raises questions about the balance between closeness and rivalry. Is it utopian to believe that two women can maintain their relationship without questioning it when one of them is “in love”?
Two women have been together for three years. One of them arranges a strange meeting with the other, during which she questions the relationship, saying it has lost its spark.
Le jardin (du Paradis) moves away from visual experimentation to explore new narrative structures. The film connects the past and the present, French and English, within a synchronic framework of ideas. The atmosphere it creates highlights the cyclical nature associated with some sad experiences.
Paul and Charles killed a man. After the murder, they know very well that nothing will ever be the same for them. Despite the unease and the silences that now separate them, they feel the same pain. Going their separate ways, the two men will each seek a little tenderness in the hope of healing their wounds: a hole in their hearts through which no blood flows, but all their fears, their loneliness, and their helplessness.
