About a year ago, Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins received a request for a link to watch their documentary Hiking without returning. The request came from the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
“They wanted access to the testimonies and images from our film to investigate the Rohingya issue,” says the Quebec filmmaker.
Melanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins. Archive photo
That’s not all. This touching documentary, which has been screened in more than 20 countries and won several international awards since its release in February 2021, also achieved the prestigious Harvard University this fall.
At the request of a student who wanted to use it for research purposes, the documentary was published on the Harvard portal. Students and teachers therefore have access to it.
“Unusual”
How did he get into Harvard? Mélanie Carrier has her own idea.
“I think it might be because the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the United States focused on our film on their main page last month. Since then, traffic on the Errance Sans Retour site has increased significantly,” says Mélanie Carrier.
We summarize: the UN, the International Criminal Court, Harvard. The journey of Wandering Without Return is as amazing as it is fabulous.
“It’s extraordinary,” says the documentary filmmaker happily. Recognizing that projects like this have such resonance, that they are truly useful and not just touching people, is important,” admits Ms. Carrier, who says she is “overwhelmed.”
“First and foremost for the cause. Then you tell yourself that all the hard work serves a purpose.”
An exhibition in the Museum of Civilization
It’s not over. After presenting an exhibition inspired by their stays among the Rohingya at the National Museum of Fine Arts in 2020, Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins, in collaboration with photographer Renaud Philippe and fine art artist Karine Giboulo, are behind another exhibition to follow Exhibited at the Musée de la Civilization from March 13, 2025 to January 4, 2026.
“The focus is on the life story of Mohammed Shofi, a Rohingya refugee living in Quebec since 2008, who is also the translator and narrator of Wandering Without Return,” explains Ms. Carrier.
The Carrier-Higgins couple, designers and initiators of this immersive exhibition co-produced by Mô-Films, tentatively titled “Finding Refuge”, are collaborating again with Karine Giboulo. She created almost 500 figures that will populate the fifteen dioramas offered to visitors.
Figures displayed to the public visiting the Finding Refuge exhibition at the Musée de la Civilization in Quebec in 2025. Image provided by Karine Giboulo
Another way to keep the fate of an uprooted people on the other side of the planet in the news.