The Family of the Forest
The mission of the Centre d'art et essai de la Cinémathèque québécoise (CAECQ) is to primary program Quebec-made documentaries and independent fiction, as well as international documentaries, animated and foreign films, while encouraging opportunities for meetings between the public and the artists. Its programming is presented in conjunction with the Cinémathèque québécoise’s under the label New releases.
Gérard and Catherine sacrificed family, friends and their homeland of Belgium for a life of self-sufficiency deep in the boreal forest of Gaspé Peninsula, Québec. Now 15 years later, as their three sons become young adults, what will happen to this remarkable life they’ve given everything to create?
Laura Rietveld
Laura Rietveld is an emerging documentary writer, director and laureate of the Prix du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec – Work by an Emerging Artist in Montréal (2015). Bound by themes of identity, family, and the human-nature connection, Laura’s work has appeared in English, Inuktitut, and French. Her first documentary, Okpik’s Dream (2015) won Grand Prix Rigoberta Menchú Award at the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival, Honourary Mention for the Grand Prize at the Innsbruck International Nature Festival in Austria, and was nominated for Best Documentary Program at the Canadian Screen Awards. Laura’s latest feature documentary, The Family of the Forest (2022), selected for First Pitch, Forum RIDM (2018), workshopped with Sundance Collab (2021) has been nearly seven years in the making. Laura was not always a filmmaker.
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La famille de la forêt by Laura Rietveld
La famille de la forêt by Laura Rietveld
