Director
Nicolas Lachapelle & Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux
Production
Brousse
Languages
French, English, Cree
60 min, documentary, Quebec, Canada, 2016
Children from a Cree community express and question their identity.
Synopsis
Lights Above Water is a documentary created with the children of Waswanipi, a Cree community in Northern Quebec (James Bay Cree). Influences from various sources color the daily life of the community. Rejecting and taking ownership of the cultural elements, the children of Waswanipi build their own specific identity. Over a year, they guide us through their expression of this identity and they question the future of their own generation.
Credits
Script : Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux, Nicolas Lachapelle
Photography : Nicolas Lachapelle
Editing : Anne Gabrielle Lebrun Harpin
Sound Editing : Julien Schmidt
Music : Alex Raymond Lachapelle, Mourad Bennacer
Sound Recording : Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux
Production : Brousse
Financial Partners
ONF
PRIM
Vidéographe
Périphérie Centre Création Cinéama
Nicolas Lachapelle
Nicolas Lachapelle is a journalist, a filmmaker, and the director of many sound documentaries. His works, which explore the relationship to territory through the themes of exile, rootedness, and memory, have been showcased at numerous festivals both in Canada and internationally. In 2022, Nicolas was awarded the Best First Documentary Work prize at the RVCQ. Recently, he received nominations for Best Short Documentary at the Gala Québec Cinéma and the Canadian Screen Awards.
Filmography
THE PUNK OF NATASHQUAN, 20 min, Documentary, 2025
ZUG ISLAND, 22 min, Documentary, 2022
WHAT REMAINS AFTER WE’RE GONE, 72 min, Documentary, 2020
BEYOND THE 138, 60 min, Sound Documentary, 2019
GAS RUNS THROUGH MY VEINS, 10 min, Sound Documentary, 2017
LIGHTS ABOVE WATER, 60 min, Documentary, 2016
Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux
Coming originally from the world of theatre, Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux approaches documentary cinema as a collaborative process between artists, subjects, and context. Through this approach, she seeks to explore an immersive and non-authoritarian cinematic language. Reflections on identity, childhood, and community are central to her artistic practice. As such, she situates part of her work within social spheres that lend themselves to fieldwork and engagement with communities.
Lumières sur l’eau, 60 min, Documentary, 2016