International Festival of Films on Art

L’Étreinte des Temps – world premier
Direction: Maxime Pelletier-Huot and The Society of Affective Archives
In collaboration with le Bureau d’art public de la Ville de Montréal
Screening : Friday March 22, 2019 at 8pm
Centre of Canadien Architecture – Théâtre Paul-Desmarais – Montreal
Link to video demo

Synopsis

Situated in the heart of Tio’tia:ke island (also known as Montreal, Canada) the Mont-Royal park has been known since time immemorial as a site of meetings, exchanges and contemplation. Very ancient graves, as well as a contemporary cemetery, testify to the sacred nature of this territory. In the spring of 2018, the Mont-Royal park welcomed for the first time in half a century a new permanent public artwork on the landscape. Realized by three artists of different cultural backgrounds, the sculpture L’Étreinte des temps gives voice to the heritage of the mountain by evoking the history of the site and drawing inspiration from ancestral knowledge. This film follows the process of the realization of this artistic project and presents the mysterious and captivating process of the transformation of an organic material into a bronze sculpture. Inspired by the form and medicinal properties of the willow, an ancient remedy against pain, L’Étreinte des temps is an invitation for the present moment to join with and protect all the yesterdays and tomorrows.