Soleils Atikamekw

Chloé Leriche taught herself to write, direct, edit, and produce her own films. After studying philosophy, she worked with First Nations youths at Wapikoni Mobile. Her first feature film, Before the Streets, was born from these encounters. Atikamekw Suns is her second feature film. 

A word from the selection committee:
Atikamekw Suns opens on a documentary segment: an elderly Atikamekw lady talks about a dramatic event that occurred 40 years earlier in the Atikamekw community in Manawan, Canada: 5 young people were found drowned in their van. However, the two white individuals driving the van came out unharmed. A title-card follows: “this film was freely inspired by memories, dreams, and impressions of the victims’ loved ones”. Dreams and memories are all this community has left: no trial, no investigation, no police records. With this introduction, the young filmmaker Chloé Leriche wants to dispel any doubts about her intentions. No, she is not a member of the Atikamekw community, she is merely the conduit for this tragic event. She is not trying to fix or even condemn, but to find another path along with the survivors. By reviving their memory through her film, she leaves an indelible imprint of their stories. The fully invested actors embody the dead and the living together in this minimalistic reconstruction of 1970s Manawan. The director presents a sober fantasy of a film, both fiction and non-fiction, that opens as a crime drama. However, among the staples of the genre, the Atikamekw community is only entitled to the opening scenes: witnessing the accident, identifying the body, providing statements… Systemic racism deprives them of the investigation, interrogations, door-to-door inquiries, and the discovery of evidence. Thus, the film does not progress but rather goes round in circles, toing and froing from the police station to waning hopes. The survivors’ voices, interspersed throughout the film, bring us back to the opening scene and the following question: how does one live one’s life after such a tragedy? 
― Clairemma Blot