2014 • 32' • French & English
Director(s): Herlé Jouon • Producer(s): Antipode • Coproducer(s): France Télévisions • Format(s): HD
The St Lawrence River is one of the most dangerous maritime routes to navigate on the planet. During the winter months, the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker plows endlessly up and down between the Atlantic and Montreal to clear a passage for cargo ships. For three months we followed the daily lives of the crews of the Amundsen, one of Canada’s biggest icebreakers. The task of its crew is to free cargo ships trapped in the ice.
However, the St Lawrence is not just a vital artery for the economy of Quebec, it also provides a formidable, open freedom for those who live along its banks. So our crew ventured onto the ice field together with some of those who are wild about the river.
Rémi and his friends are experts at white fishing, an ancestral Amerindian technique consisting of tracking the fish under the ice. Every winter they set up a large, temporary village on the ice in the Saguenay fjord.
Joannie steers between the drifting floes with the help of her ice canoe. Each adventure onto the river is an opportunity for her and her friends to measure themselves against the elements.
We present a veritable epic ice adventure. A winter in Quebec with the ice-mad fans of the St Lawrence.
