19 Oct FOCUS-DOCU #1: The Autobiographical “I”
19
Oct
FOCUS-DOCU #1: The Autobiographical “I”
Meetup, Rencontre - Documentary Cinema - Fall 2026
Monday October 19, 2026
6 pm - 9 pm
Main Film Atelier
2025 Rue Parthenais #304-A, Montréal, Quebec, H2K 3T2
Guests | Claude Demers, Adrian Wills, Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins
Free upon registration
I, YOU, HE/SHE: This edition of FOCUS-DOCU offers a reflection on the various approaches documentary cinema takes toward reality. Through three panel discussions, the series explores the multifaceted relationships that develop between the filmmaker, the viewer, and the subject. Spanning personal involvement, audience engagement, and observation of the world, these roundtables examine the formal, ethical, and political choices that shape contemporary documentary practices.
The autobiographical documentary blurs the lines between the filmmaker, the subject, and the film. Whether it is a self-documentary or a story centered on a loved one, the filmmaker is intimately connected to the story being told and makes their own presence a central element of the film. The camera becomes a tool for personal exploration, memory, transmission, or healing. How does the filmmaker’s presence within the narrative itself change things? How can one film one’s own intimacy or that of loved ones without losing the distance necessary for creation?
For more information, please feel free to send an email to: services@mainfilm.qc.ca
Paul-Claude Demers is a self-taught filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. After his first feature-length fiction film, *L’invention de l’amour* (2000), which was selected for several festivals in Canada and abroad, he turned to documentary filmmaking with *Barbiers – Une histoire d’hommes* (2006), which won a Gémeaux Award. He followed that with *Les dames en bleu* (2009), which screened at numerous international festivals and won a Gémeaux Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, and then *D’où je viens* (2014), which screened notably at Rotterdam and Hot Docs. In 2016, his short fiction film *Mon dernier été* won 17 awards.
In 2019, Demers directed *Une femme, ma mère*, which won the Grand Prix in the national feature film competition at the RIDM, before going on to achieve significant critical and popular success and receiving, among other honors, a Gémeaux Award and an Écran Award. His documentary essay *Journal d’un père* is set to be released in 2023. Poetic and deeply human, his films have been screened and honored at numerous international festivals. He continues to create both documentary and fiction films, while also working as a scriptwriting and directing consultant and as a mentor in documentary filmmaking at INIS.
D’où je viens (2014) : In this feature-length documentary, filmmaker Claude Demers returns to the working-class neighborhood where he grew up to explore the mystery of his origins. In this intimate chronicle, his journey intertwines with that of two young boys just beginning to discover the world. The city of Verdun and the St. Lawrence River provide the backdrop for this coming-of-age story and introspective journey. Blending realism with lyricism, this film is a free-spirited work that is as human as it is poetic.
Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins
Born in Quebec City, Olivier Higgins and Mélanie Carrier—both biologists by training—discovered filmmaking while documenting their many journeys around the world. In 2006, they directed the film *Asiemut*, which chronicles their 8,000-kilometer bike ride from Mongolia to India. The film, which has won numerous awards, has been screened in some 40 countries. In 2010, the director-producer couple founded MÖ FILMS, an independent production company dedicated to documentary filmmaking. Their second film, *Rencontre* (2011), selected by the National Geographic Society, won several international awards, while their satirical short film with an environmental theme, *L’Homme de glace*, was screened at numerous festivals. Their documentary *Québékoisie*, which explores the relationship between Quebecers and First Nations peoples, was nominated for a Jutra Award in 2014 and won awards at the RIDM and RIFF, among others. In 2020, Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins released *Errance sans retour*, a feature-length documentary addressing the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh.
Québékoisie (2013) : To better understand the complex relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, Mélanie and Olivier decided to cycle along the Côte-Nord, little knowing that their quest for identity would take them on a journey that would swing them back and forth between themselves and the ends of the earth. From chance encounters to planned meetings, their journey will take them on a surprising path that crosses that of an Innu man searching for his ancestors in Normandy and the deeply moving story of Corporal Lemay’s sister, whose brother was killed during the Oka Crisis in 1990.
Adrian Wills is a creator and director with over 20 years of experience who excels in fiction, documentary, and multi-camera work. His portfolio has earned numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Film. He has collaborated with clients such as The Beatles, the Michael Jackson estate, NASA, and the Leonard Cohen estate. Among his notable achievements are co-creating the drama series 21 THUNDER, an original CBC and Netflix production, as well as co-directing the series and directing DEADLY SECRETS / SECRETS MORTELS, a crime series for Investigation Discovery USA. He is adapting Wayne Johnston’s award-winning novel, *Jennie’s Boy*, with Telefilm Canada and Picture NL (Newfoundland), for a feature film that he is set to direct.
A Quiet Girl (2023) : In A Quiet Girl, adopted Montreal filmmaker Adrian Wills discovers, on camera and in real time, the startling truths of his complex beginnings in Newfoundland. Shocking details drive Wills to the core of his birth mother’s resilience, and ultimately his own. In this moving feature documentary that combines 16mm footage and contemporary images with deeply personal conversations, Wills’ voyage transforms from an urgent search for identity into a quest to give a quiet girl her voice.