Winner of numerous awards for their films, translated into twenty languages and screened in 200 countries and territories, directors and filmmakers Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins, biologists by training, have a unique and moving way of telling life stories.
“Life is not in molecules but in the compounds that bind them together,” wrote Linus Pauling, an American chemist and physicist, one of the few to have received two Nobel Prizes.
This sentence, which sets the table in the film Québékoisie directed by Mélanie and Olivier and deals with the complex relationships between Quebecers and Aborigines, sums up their work very well.
It actually encapsulates something like the essence of this pair destined for biology.
“We’re addicted to that quote because our work keeps coming back to it,” explains Olivier, who was named artist of the year in the state capital in 2022 by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
I organized a meeting with Mélanie Carrier after I knew she was going to Copenhagen, where the Mayor of Quebec will be welcoming her next week. Finally, I met the couple who founded Mö Films, an independent production company in Quebec, in 2010.
He loves the picture, she loves the words. Both share this openness and this very human side that enables them to create films whose authenticity and beauty are breathtaking.
Linked Fates
Mélanie and Olivier met in 2nd secondary school. They were friends for several years before realizing they had fallen in love.
“I went to Europe and he went to Australia and we realized we were bored,” she says, eyes shining.
The couple later flew to La Réunion as part of a university course in biology. Olivier had brought his camera, bought when he was 19.
“We filmed to show our parents memories and we saw how they were touched by our images. This allowed us to share something, and that’s how it all started,” says Mélanie.
After the bachelor’s degree, both received scholarships for a master’s degree. Instead, they opted for a climbing trip to Mexico and North America.
“We dreamed of adventures and great expeditions,” emphasizes Mélanie. After that we decided to go to Asia.”
Multiple prizes
Her 8,000km bicycle journey from Mongolia to India inspired her first film Asiemut, which won 35 awards. From this, Mélanie drew her first book, Cadence, which was published in 2007.
The couple have since won numerous awards for their productions. To know how much, “we never counted,” Mélanie replies.
They are particularly proud of the success of the hard-hitting documentary Errance sans retour, which received three Iris Awards (best documentary, best editing and best cinematography) and the Canadian Screen Award (best documentary in Canada).
They take a poetic, insightful and deeply moving look at the Rohingya tragedy.
These members of the Muslim minority have fled Myanmar to seek refuge in Bangladesh, the world’s most populous refugee camp with 700,000 people, where they are dragging us.
It is a must.
This work, inspired by the work of photographer Renaud Philippe, also resulted in an exhibition that was shown at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec.
Move to Denmark
Back in Denmark, the film Québékoisie will be shown at the Cinemateket, the international documentary film festival. There will also be talk of the upcoming short film Shofi, named after the narrator of Errance sans retour, who lives in Quebec after 18 years in the camp.
It will also give Mélanie the opportunity to talk about her latest project, Children’s Height, which involves her two children.
Filmed at school and in the daily life of her son Émile for three years, this upcoming documentary will tell the story of his arrival in the school world.
The project also allowed the two accomplices to soak up sweetness and light after the overwhelming errance sans retour. The excerpts suggest a work that is equally touching but takes us elsewhere.
“We needed that light, that beauty of childhood that’s part of life,” confides Mélanie, for whom this “freedom to have light in our lives” became like a duty after delving into the heart of the Rohingya tragedy.
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