Claude Demers returns to the working-class district of Montréal where he grew up, and immediately wonders: Why? The rest of Where I’m From forms the answer. Demers tries to relive all the experiences he had for the first time as a child, or at least understand them: the first novel he read and the power of language. His first awareness of death. The question of what is normal and what isn’t. The idea of wanting to leave, of having to leave.
Certainly if you’re not famous, with preferably a few skeletons in the closet, your autobiography can quickly turn into a navel-gazing ego document. Claude Demers manages neatly to skirt these pitfalls. Where I’m From is lyrical and intimate without becoming sentimental. Demers lifts his own story to a universal level by intercutting it with the adventures of two local kids who are on the brink of maturity, ready to discover the world. And all of that in a cinematographic language of the greatest beauty.
Film details
- Country of production
- Canada
- Year
- 2014
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2014
- Length
- 82'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
