SOMETHING LIKE IMMORTALITY

81 min, Documentary, Quebec, Canada, 2003
Directed byPascale Ferland
Produced bySylvain L’Espérance
LanguageFrench
Short descriptionThree compulsive creators face judgment by their fellow citizens.
Film subjects Arts & Culture , Rural Life
Regis du cinemas, general

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Film details

Synopsis
While travelling the roads of the Quebec countryside, one often sees off-beat structures and fabulous installations. These curious constructions are the work of local people who, even with no artistic training, are compelled by an almost-visceral desire to create. This film shows us the work and everyday life of three such artists. Harshly judged by their compatriots, they face the devastating reality of living on the fringe of a society that seeks to ostracize them at all cost.

 

Credits

Director : Pascale Ferland

inspired by a screenplay of Pascale Ferland and Valérie Rousseau in collaboration with la Société des arts indisciplinés

Directior of photography : François Vincelette

Sound : Pierre Bertrand

Editor : René Roberge

Sound Editor : Martin Allard Hugo Brochu Marie-Eve Livernoche

Music : Éric Morin

Producer : Sylvain L’Espérance

 

Financial partners

SODEC

ONF

Le Fonds canadien du film et de la vidéo indépendants

Société des arts indisciplinés – Fonds Jeunesse Québec

Musée québécois de culture populaire

 

 

Direction

Pascale Ferland

Pascale Ferland has been a screenwriter, director, and producer for over twenty years. After studying visual arts at UQAM, where her video works received awards, she developed a personal body of documentary films, grounded in fieldwork and driven by a desire to create dialogue between form and ideas. In 2003, she directed her first documentary, Something Like Immortality, followed by Tree With Severed Branches (2005) and Adagio for a Biker (2008), which earned her the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2012, she wrote, directed, and produced her first feature-length fiction film, Riptide. Her 2018 documentary, Pauline Julien, Intimate and Political, achieved wide recognition and won numerous awards. Her most recent film, In the Forest (2025), extends this creative path and resonates at the heart of contemporary debates on our relationship with nature and the land.

 

Filmography

IN THE FOREST, 124 min, Documentary, 2025

PAULINE JULIEN : INTIMATE AND POLITICAL, 77 min, Documentary, 2018

RIPTIDE, 98 min, Fiction, 2013

ADAGIO FOR A BIKER, 90 min, Documentary, 2008

TREE WITH SEVERED BRANCHES, 80 min, Documentary, 2005

SOMETHING LIKE IMMORTALITY, 82 min, Documentary, 2003

Awards

VISIONS DU RÉEL 2004
Sélection officielle Nyon, Suisse