Travelling Distribution

Carnaval

A film by

Justine Martin

Synopsis

Once a year, people from different marginalized communities meet together in the woods to delve into the art of circus and have this discipline become a common way to express themselves, away from the city.

Highlights

Tags

2023

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Documentary

Genre

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Country

Canada (Quebec)

Year

2023

Length

12'23"

Themes

Environment and Nature

Social Justice

Teen friendly

Production
Ginger Le Pêcheur

Executive Production
Cirque Hors Piste

Director
Justine Martin

Screenplay
Justine Martin

Artistic Direction
Laurence Girard

Cinematography
Myriam Payette

Editing
Félix Bouffard-Dumas

Sound
Jérémie Mazan

Music
Louis-Joseph Cliche

Director's statement

CARNAVAL is an ode to the circus arts in the form of a colorful, sensory spectacle. Using the forest as a backdrop, my documentary encounters a community on the fringe of society, questioning modes of expression and the importance of a pause in time.

When I was younger, I was immersed in the world of the circus for a long time, and I've always loved its strange, expressionist aspect. For me, CARNAVAL is a film that goes out and discovers people, letting them exist in a setting removed from the normativity of our society. I attach great importance to the forest, because for me it represents an inspiring place cut off from all influential factors, and can thus lead to gentle introspection. The forest acts here as a bubble preserved from the world, where the desire to be seen and heard rhymes with benevolence and the quest for meaning. As a witness to a colorful show, it was important for me to establish a distance between this world that was coming to life before our eyes.

With a strong sound and musical backdrop, I wanted the audience to be lulled by the steps of a community that dances to the rhythm of the vagaries of its reality. By rediscovering the nature of their identity through the circus, the people we meet deliver a beautiful lesson in humanity through their gestures, in a universe that is bright, distinct and a tad whimsical.

Justine Martin

Justine Martin is a Quebecois filmmaker whose work explores rites of passage, the influence of time and the intersection between reality and fiction. She is a graduate from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal and was part of the 2024 Sundance Ignite Fellowship cohort. Her debut documentary short, Oasis (2022), has been shortlisted at the 96th Academy Awards® for Best Documentary Short and is part of the New York Times’ Op-Docs collection. Justine is currently developing Sundays, a feature-length documentary, while her third short film, Little Goodbyes (2025), is currently in distribution.

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