André Desrochers is a Quebecois filmmaker whose career spans over decades, with five TV shows and over 20 documentaries under his belt. Recently, he has been working on a trilogy of films which highlight different aspects of nature in area. Le Fabuleux Marais and Les Rapides du Diable were the first two of the series, which focused on wetlands and water. For his newest film, Des Arbres et des Arts (or The Art of Trees), he is focusing on the forest life of the Montérégie, a subject he feels is talked about a lot in Ontario and the USA, but rarely in our region.
The film is divided into multiple parts, each highlighting a different type of forestry (endangered trees, rare trees, cedars and sumacs, maples, nut trees and basswood, etc). One section of the film is dedicated to the relationship between trees and mushrooms/fungi, which is a nuanced and complicated connection. “We can show that there’s a whole communication going on, some scientists will even say that they’re talking to each other … The mushrooms retain heavy metals, then they nourish the roots, then the roots in exchange give a little magic potion for the mushrooms to grow,” he explains.
Though it is not entirely a documentary, Des Arbres et des Arts is based on a lot of truth and facts about the forestry of the region. Desrochers has always been inspired by storytelling, and wanted this film to feel like the trees were sharing their stories with the audience. He did the same thing for his two other films in the series, highlighting legends and stories that are from the region. Some of these were stories that his wife and grandmother had told him.
Desrochers’ vision was to “Put into words what people had told me about the trees.” For example, “When we’re talking about the cedar, we tell the story of Jacques Cartier who was saved from scurvy by the cedar trees,” he explains. The hope is that the whimsical nature of this film will help people digest the message. Each section of the film is set up as if a different tree is narrating.
The film also goes into depth about preservation and how to help trees to continue to grow sustainably. Desrochers has been exploring themes of environmental sustainability well before it was part of the mainstream conversation. He explores how trees are not included in the Earth Charter (an international environmental movement) and asks questions about the rights of trees, like “Could we either develop them, conserve them, or help them conserve themselves? And why not give them legal status and make everyone in the region a forest guardian?” All of these ideas are discussed at length in his film.
Desrochers received financial support from the Conseil des Arts des et des Lettres du Québec (CALQ), the MRC of Beauharnois-Salaberry MRC, the MPs for both Vaudreuil and Soulanges, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, along with technical support from Ambioterra, Crisvert, and parties in Saint-Bernard and Chateauguay.
This film has been entered into a few film festivals, including the Nature Without Borders International Film Festival, and the Wildlife International Film Festival, for which it has already been preselected “even though it wasn’t finished at the time. The content is good enough for them to preselect it,” Desrochers says. Other festivals he’s entered are taking place online, where viewers can vote for their favourite films.
If you are interested in seeing the film, the premiere will be taking place on April 12 at the Earth Day Forum at CVR high school at 2:30 p.m. It will be presented in French with English subtitles. It will also be shown across the region over the next few months, including on April 22 at the Pavillon de l’île Saint-Bernard in Chateauguay, and twice in May (which is Tree Month) in Saint-Lazare and at Pointe-du-Buisson in Beauharnois.