''Absences'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Carole Laganière and released in 2013. Based in part on Laganière's relationship with her mother, whose memory was fading due to
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
, the film profiles three people who are coping with the unresolved absence of loved ones from their lives, while also reflecting on her own sense of loss.
The participants are Nathalie Bergeron, a woman whose sister Marilyn went missing several years earlier and has never been found; Ines Hajrovic, a
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n immigrant to Canada who is searching for the birth mother who abandoned her; and writer
Deni Ellis Béchard
Deni Ellis Béchard, also known as Deni Yvan Béchard, is a Canadian-American novelist.
His novel, ''Vandal Love'' (2006), won the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. It was a finalist for the 2009 Co ...
, who is looking for information about his family history after having grown up in English Canada and the United States without much connection to his paternal
French Canadian
French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...
roots in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...