While North of Ourselves follows the journey of two protagonists through the milestones of an unprecedented winter expedition, it is above all to let the territory impose itself as the central character, the beating heart of the story. We contemplate it from a human perspective, through the eyes of the two adventurers, across dizzying distances. Born at the intersection of the world of adventure and essayistic thought, this documentary questions our relationship with the North. It emanates from a profound desire to reconnect with the Quebec territory in all its immensity, its silent transformations, its sensitive and complex reality.

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Quebec is vast – it is three times the size of France – and it remains largely unknown.  The current borders date back a hundred years, but the majority of Quebecois, who lives in the south in the St. Lawrence Valley, has little or no connection to the North, except for the natural resources that are exploited there. This abstract, reductive – even absent – vision reflects a symbolic erasure, where the North exists more as a geographical concept than as a concrete, living, inhabited reality.

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This film does not betray the distance: it allows us to contemplate each stage of this perilous adventure. But it also gives a voice to members of Indigenous communities – the Cree of Eeyou Istchee and the Inuit of Nunavik – who offer a different perspective on the world. In the opening scene, a seal hunter from the community of Ivujivik teaches us the virtues of patience. He invites us to take a long, hard look at the tip of his harpoon to catch a glimpse of beauty.

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This beauty lies in the inner landscape that resides within the physical territory – what we might call “reality”. This is what I have tried to express by alternating scenes of action with more contemplative ones, where the North unfolds in all its shades of white. The poetic narration is written in the “we” form, because it includes not only the voices of the protagonists, but also that of the entire Quebecois people, who I sincerely hope will be as moved by this land as I was.

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“The land defines the boundaries of who we are”, says the narrator at the end of the film. I deeply believe that the neighboring country is also ours. All we have to do is follow in its footsteps to discover that the North is not so far away, and that it has so much to tell us.