Directed by
Laura Rietveld
Language
French
Produced by
Katarina Soukup - Catbird Productions 2, Inc
85 min, Documentaire, Québec, 2022
Gérard and Catherine sacrificed family, friends and their homeland of Belgium for a life of self-sufficiency deep in the boreal forest of Gaspé Peninsula, Québec. Now 15 years later, as their three sons become young adults, what will happen to this remarkable life they’ve given everything to create?
Synopsis
Gérard Mathar and Catherine Jacob left family, friends and homeland for a life of self-sufficiency in the boreal forest of the Gaspé Peninsula, Québec. Now as their sons become adults, will the next generation also commit to a life bound to forest, land and sea? What makes the intense demands and sacrifices of this life worth it? What does it mean to truly appreciate and live with nature? And what can we learn from this inspiring family? The Family of the Forest ponders these questions with a poetic sensitivity while joining the Jacob-Mathar family at a pivotal time: as Côme, Ossyane, and Jonas emerge into adulthood and Gérard and Catherine complete an ambitious plan to keep sons close to family and forest.
Credits
Script writer : Laura Rietveld
Cinematography : Alex Margineanu
Editing : Annie Leclair
Sound design : Catherine Van Der Donckt
Sound mix : Bruno Bélanger
Music : Ramachandra Borcar
Sound : Lynne Trepanier
Laura Rietveld
Laura Rietveld is an emerging documentary writer, director and laureate of the Prix du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec – Work by an Emerging Artist in Montréal (2015). Bound by themes of identity, family, and the human-nature connection, Laura’s work has appeared in English, Inuktitut, and French. Her first documentary, Okpik’s Dream (2015) won Grand Prix Rigoberta Menchú Award at the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival, Honourary Mention for the Grand Prize at the Innsbruck International Nature Festival in Austria, and was nominated for Best Documentary Program at the Canadian Screen Awards. Her first music video, Broke Down Ski’Tuuq was nominated for Best Music Video, Performance, Native American Music Awards (2018). Laura’s latest feature documentary, The Family of the Forest (2022), selected for First Pitch, Forum RIDM (2018), workshopped with Sundance Collab (2021) has been nearly seven years in the making. Laura was not always a filmmaker. In 2010, frustrated by a lack of diverse and meaningful stories told by mainstream media, Laura resigned from a corporate media career. Laura holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business and a BA in History from Queen’s University, both Ontarian institutions.She lives in rural Quebec with her young family and chickens, surrounded by the nature that nourishes her.
Filmography
BROKE DOWN SKI’TUUQ, 3min, music video, 2017
LE RÊVE D’OKPIK, 72 min, documentary, 2014