The Act of Beauty

In the gardens of Sageterre, in Le Bic, the beauty of the place lies not only in the wild lupines and poppies that grow there, the horses that gallop across the land, or the landscapes that flourish. It resides in the collective effort to bring forth the “commons,” to the point of removing this piece of land from the logic of the market by transforming it into an Agroecological Social Utility Trust (FUSA). The images bear witness to this undertaking, in dialogue with the words of Jean Bédard, writer and initiator of the project. By becoming a farmer himself, he embodies his own critique of modernity.

For modernity has indeed fostered a rupture with living, nourishing nature, establishing an instrumental relationship to agriculture. The path chosen here is one of collective reclaiming of this lost autonomy. I would have liked to hear even more from the voices of the collective, because while Jean Bédard initiated this dynamic, it is through the presence and commitment of the group that it can truly take shape. We catch a glimpse of this, notably when Gabriel Leblanc, a market gardener from Le Bic, describes this initiative as a form of revolution.

In short, this film embodies a form of hope. There’s growing talk in Québec of other initiatives emerging, giving rise to new models of collective living and shared risks and resources in ecological farming. The act of beauty also lies in the fact that this story is by no means isolated.

Sylvie Lapointe
Filmmaker