The films of Sylvain L'Espérance
Born in Montreal in 1961, Sylvain L'Espérance studied visual arts and cinema. For 30 years, he has traveled from Québec to Mali and to Greece and in a poetic exploration of reality, he has directed a dozen films that combine direct cinema and experimental research. The place of foreigners and marginalized communities in our world is at the heart of each of his films. Migrants, workers, artisans, fishermen, shepherds, the unemployed, the homeless, these are the common people who speak and are seen. His films express a political statement and free speech inhabited by a raw and indomitable force.
Selected and awarded in leading documentary festivals, L'Espérance's films are internationally acclaimed. Into the Delta won the Best Director Award at the Florence Festival dei Popoli (2010). Sur le rivage du monde won, for its part, the Grand Prize of the international DOK.Fest Munich (2013). The Song of Empedocles was selected at RIDM (2019) and DOK.fest Munich (2020). His latest film Animal macula won a special award in the National Feature Film Competition at RIDM in 2021.
3 products
Standing on The Edge of the World
Standing on The Edge of the World
Duration: 3h32After several failed attempts to reach Europe, César, Félou and Érik find themselves in Bamako, Mali – deported but still driven to pursue their dreams. Meanwhile Amih fights with unshakeable determination to escape a life of unfulfillment and forge a brighter future for herself and her children.
The River Where We Live
The interior delta of the Niger River is a vast region inhabited by a million people. A unique social, political and communal organization has developed over this territory, giving a profound meaning to living together in relation to the movement of the river. The delta is fashioned as much by the immutable alternation of the seasons as by a state of perpetual metamorphosis. A single place c...
The Invisible Hand
The African country of Guinea contains the biggest bauxite deposits in the world. However, the profits from the extraction of this ore, which is used to produce aluminum, does not go to the Guineans. Despite this, beside the capital’s factories are all kinds of craftsmen, who melt down used aluminum cans to make new objects necessary for the lives of the community, making them into pots, bricks...
Standing on The Edge of the World
Standing on The Edge of the World
Duration: 3h32After several failed attempts to reach Europe, César, Félou and Érik find themselves in Bamako, Mali – deported but still driven to pursue their dreams. Meanwhile Amih fights with unshakeable determination to escape a life of unfulfillment and forge a brighter future for herself and her children.
The River Where We Live
The interior delta of the Niger River is a vast region inhabited by a million people. A unique social, political and communal organization has developed over this territory, giving a profound meaning to living together in relation to the movement of the river. The delta is fashioned as much by the immutable alternation of the seasons as by a state of perpetual metamorphosis. A single place c...
The Invisible Hand
The African country of Guinea contains the biggest bauxite deposits in the world. However, the profits from the extraction of this ore, which is used to produce aluminum, does not go to the Guineans. Despite this, beside the capital’s factories are all kinds of craftsmen, who melt down used aluminum cans to make new objects necessary for the lives of the community, making them into pots, bricks...
