Film details

Synopsis

Night has fallen and Montreal is under a blanket of snow. At the City Transit Company, people line up at the lost and found office where upon reflection, losing something becomes a symbol of a deeper loss. The creative documentary is sometimes melancholic, sometimes festive yet always compassionate. In fact, it makes you appreciate Winter.

Crédits

Written and Directed by : Jean-François Lesage

Photography : Marianne Ploska

Editing :Mathieu Bouchard-Malo and Ariane Pétel-Despots

Sound : Marie-Andrée Cormier

Sound Design : Marie-Pierre Grenier

Sound Mix : Olivier Germain

Music : Tom Brunt

Produced by : Les Films de l’Autre, Jean-François Lesage

Director's statement

With Prayer for a Lost Mitten, I set out to explore the ideas of loss and longing — a longing for what is lost. From the get-go, I wanted to imbue my work with a certain nostalgia, which I did by filming in black-and-white and adding a jazz soundtrack, nodding to certain key films of the 60s. I also felt the Lost & Found at the Société de transport de Montréal would be a great place to start looking for protagonists. I wasn’t wrong.

My approach revolves around the notion that anyone could be the subject of a documentary. Everyone has something interesting to say; you just need to take the time to listen. It’s a question of perception. This theory, so rich in creative possibility, was however put to the test during the shoot, when my protagonists proved averse to spending long hours outdoors through the cold winter nights with my team. They ended up being less generous with us than they might have been during a summer shoot. Entirely understandable, of course.

But for me the theory still holds. To up the nostalgia factor further still, my working method is inspired by the 1974 Harmonium classic “Un Musicien Parmi Tant d’Autres” and its anthemic line:

On a mis quelqu’un au monde,

on devrait peut-être l’écouter

Which roughly translates to: “We’ve brought someone into this world, we should perhaps listen to them.”

Direction

Jean-François Lesage

After studying law, Jean-François Lesage began his career as a journalist for Radio-Canada television in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1998, shaken by the discovery of Chinese cinema, he headed to Beijing, where he was to spend six years. This is where he directed his first creative documentary, Sweet Nights Sour Nights (2004). He followed this up with How Can You Tell if the Little Fish Are Happy? (2009) co-directed with his brother Philippe Lesage. Back in Montréal, he then made A Mile End Tale (2013), the closing film at Visions du Réel 2014, followed by A Summer Love (2015), winner of the Grand Prize for Best Canadian Feature at the RIDM. The Hidden River (2017), his fourth feature, won the Special Jury Prize (Canadian feature) at the RIDM. In 2020, his feature Prayer for a Lost Mitten won Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs. His most recent documentary feature is Among Mountains and Streams (2024).

 

Filmography

AMONG MOUNTAINSAND STREAMS, 98 min, Documentary, 2024

PRAYOR FOR A LOST MITTEN, 79 min, Documentary, 2021

THE HIDDEN RIVER, 75min, Documentary, 2017

A SUMMER LOVE, 62 min, Documentary, 2015
A MILE END TALE, 68 min, Documentary, 2013
HOW CAN YOU TELL IF THE LITTLE FISH ARE HAPPY?, 100 min, Documentary, 2009
SWEET NIGHTS SOUR NIGHTS, 52 min, Documentary, 2004