Absences
The film was inspired by Laganière’s own personal story, of the inevitable estrangement of her mother, whose memory is slowly being consumed by Alzheimer’s disease. This “anticipated separation” serves as a bridge to the film’s other subjects as they pursue their own personal quests: Ines, an immigrant who returns to her country of birth, Croatia, to find the mother who abandoned her; Deni, an American author who is finally able to search for his Quebec roots; and Nathalie, who is desperately looking for her missing sister. Through their stories, Absences explores the deepest regions of the psyche, where our sense …
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The film was inspired by Laganière’s own personal story, of the inevitable estrangement of her mother, whose memory is slowly being consumed by Alzheimer’s disease. This “anticipated separation” serves as a bridge to the film’s other subjects as they pursue their own personal quests: Ines, an immigrant who returns to her country of birth, Croatia, to find the mother who abandoned her; Deni, an American author who is finally able to search for his Quebec roots; and Nathalie, who is desperately looking for her missing sister. Through their stories, Absences explores the deepest regions of the psyche, where our sense of loss and resiliency co-exist.
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participationColette SauvageauDeni Yvan BéchardNathalie BergeronInes HajrovicYvonne DuguayMarcel DumesnilZekija HajrovicRobert HendricksLaurette Sauvageau
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scriptCarole Laganière
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directionCarole Laganière
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cameraDominic Dorval
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editingAube Foglia
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location soundRichard LavoieMélanie GauthierLouis Léger
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original musicLuc Sicard
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researchMyriam Berthelet
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additional cameraCarole LaganièreFrançois Vincelette
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still photographerDominic Dorval
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production assistantPerrine BralOlga MaticevicChris NiesingRance Russo
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sound editingClaude Beaugrand
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dialogue editingFrancine Poirier
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translationJelena PopovicVision Globale
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technical support - editingPierre DupontIsabelle PainchaudPatrick Trahan
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online editingYannick Carrier
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titlesGaspard Gaudreau
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infographicsMélanie Bouchard
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foleyLise Wedlock
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re-recordingSerge Boivin
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musicianLuc SicardMélanie AuclairAndrew Czerny
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music recordingLuc SicardGaëtan PilonFC LegaultCarl Bastien
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music mixingLuc Sicard
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marketing managerTammy Peddle
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marketing manager - assistanceGeneviève Bérard
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administratorJohanne DubucSia Koukoulas
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production coordinatorHélène Regimbal
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administrative assistantSophie DupuisLise Lévesque
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technical coordinatorRichard Cliche
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associate producerMélanie Lasnier
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producerColette Loumède
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director generalMonique Simard
Ideal for essays and debates on memory and family history. What parallels is the filmmaker drawing between the various stories in her film? What is the filmmaker saying about memory with the story of her mother’s dementia? Trace the history of your family back three generations. Identify the gaps in this history. Write a story about an imaginary long-lost relative. Tell the story of an absence in your life visually or in writing.
