''Archipelago'' (french: Archipel) is a Canadian animated documentary film, directed by

Félix Dufour-Laperrière Félix Dufour-Laperrière (born 1981) is a Canadian animator, film director and screenwriter from Chicoutimi, Quebec. He is most noted for his 2021 film ''Archipelago (Archipel)'', which was the winner of the Prix Luc-Perreault from the Associatio ...

and released in 2021.Wendy Ide
"‘Archipelago’: Rotterdam Review"
''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'', February 5, 2021. A poetic

essay film An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal an ...

that blends diverse styles of animation, the film is a

psychogeographic Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutiona ...

meditation on the islands in the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

, forming a metaphor for

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

's status as an "uncertain country" defined by the tensions between its status as a province of Canada and the Québécois people's conception of themselves as a distinct nation.Chris Robinson
"Enter The Impossible Province: Félix Dufour-Laperrière On His Québec-Set Feature ‘Archipelago’"
''

Cartoon Brew Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched in 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created '' Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring '' Mystery ...

'', February 3, 2021. The film is narrated principally by

Florence Blain Mbaye Florence Blain Mbaye, sometimes credited as Florence Blain, is a Canadian actress, singer and dancer. She is most noted for her role in the 2013 film ''Another House (L'autre maison)'', for which she garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for ...

and Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, with a shorter narration by

Joséphine Bacon Joséphine Bacon (born April 23, 1947), is an Innu poet from Pessamit in Quebec. She publishes in French and Innu-aimun. She has also worked as a translator, community researcher, documentary filmmaker, curator and as a songwriter for Chloé Saint ...

of one of her own poems in

Innu-aimun Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 10,000 Innu in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada. It is a member of the Cree–Montagnais– Naskapi dialect continuum and is spoken in various dialects depending on the com ...

. The animation team included Malcolm Sutherland, Philip Lockerby, Jens Hahn, and Eva Cvijanović. The film premiered in February 2021 at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental f ...

, and had its Canadian premiere at the

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ont ...

in April. It was released commercially on October 19.

Awards

The film won a jury prize at the 2021

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

. It received four

Prix Iris The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.24th Quebec Cinema Awards The 24th Quebec Cinema Awards were held on June 5, 2022, to honour achievements in the Cinema of Quebec in 2021. The ceremony was hosted by actress Geneviève Schmidt. Actress Hélène Florent won both Best Actress for '' Drunken Birds (Les Ois ...

in 2022, for Best Documentary Film, Best Editing in a Documentary (Dufour-Laperrière), Best Sound in a Documentary (Olivier Calvert) and Best Original Music in a Documentary (

Stéphane Lafleur Stéphane Lafleur (born 1976) is a French-Canadian film director, editor and musician.Prix Luc-Perreault The Prix Luc-Perreault, formerly known as the Prix L.-E.-Ouimet-Molson, is an annual Canadian film award, presented by the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma to a film deemed to be the best film of the year from Quebec, from among the ...

from the

Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma The Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC) is a Canadian organization of film critics from Quebec. Formed in 1973, the organization currently presents two annual awards, the Prix Luc-Perreault for best Quebec film of the year and ...

at the 2022

Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma The Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma (formerly known as Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois) is a festival created in 1982 to celebrate the cinematographic production of Quebec, Canada. The goal of the festival is to promote the Cinema of Quebec and i ...

."RENDEZ-VOUS QUÉBEC CINÉMA : Les lauréats et lauréates des PRIX RVQC 2022"
''CTVM'', May 2, 2022.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 13667778 2021 films 2021 animated films 2021 documentary films Canadian animated feature films Canadian animated documentary films Quebec films French-language Canadian films 2020s Canadian animated films Animated films set in Quebec