It’s a plunge into the forests of Quebec that awaits the viewers in Millau. The Cinemas of Millau, located on Pépinière Street, will receive Canadian filmmaker Pascale Ferland on Tuesday, May 12 at 8:00 pm for the screening of her feature film “Dans la forêt”. The session will be followed by an exchange with the director, who is specially coming from Quebec.
“Un essai documentaire choral”
With a duration of two hours, “Dans la forêt” is presented by its director as a documentary essay exploring the deep connections between humans, animals, and the forest. Filmed over three years across five regions of Quebec (Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Gaspésie, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, and Côte-Nord), the film adopts a choral structure, made up of life fragments that intersect, respond to, or contradict each other.
Pascale Ferland follows animals and several characters, sometimes controversial, sometimes discreet, whose personal or professional lives are rooted in the Quebecois forest. The result portrays a complex and nuanced world where the desire to protect and exploit coexist, and where three languages intertwine: French, Anishinaabemowin, and Innu-Aimun.
“Entre réalisme, engagement et onirisme”
The director claims a tone that oscillates between realism, political commitment, and poetry. The camera is patient when observing the wildlife (caribou, moose, foxes, bears) and sometimes shifts into dreamlike sequences to evoke what the forest represents beyond the visible: a place of life, memory, tranquility, conflict, identity. Faced with climate upheavals and the sixth mass extinction, the film invites us to rethink our relationship with living beings, not as a resource, but as a shared and inhabited space.
“A recognized filmmaker”
Screenwriter, director, and producer for over twenty years, Pascale Ferland has developed a personal and award-winning documentary oeuvre. She is known for works such as “L’Immortalité en fin de compte” (2003), “Adagio pour un gars de bicycle” (2008), which won the Victor-Martyn-Lynch-Staunton Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and “Pauline Julien, intime et politique” (2018). “Dans la forêt,” released in 2025, extends her reflection on contemporary issues related to nature and territories.
Screening on Tuesday, May 12 at 8:00 pm at the Cinemas of Millau, on Pépinière Street in Millau. Ticket price: 5 euros. The session will be followed by a meeting with director Pascale Ferland. For more information on the film: https://f3m.ca/film/dans-la-foret/
