Nos Petites Mains (Josiane Roberge, Canada, 2024, 16:03)

Nos Petites Mains

(Josiane Roberge, Canada, 2024, 16:03)

Credits
Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer, Narrator: Josiane Roberge
Music and Sound: Simon Elmaleh
Texts: Denise Desautels, Marie-Noëlle Goy, Josiane Roberge
Narration: Denise Desautels, Josiane Roberge

Project details
Runtime: 16 minutes 3 seconds
Completion Date: May 1, 2024
Country of Origin: Canada
Language: French
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Film Color: Black and White

Description

A contemporary dance performer and a resident in a long-term care facility meet one winter morning. Their places on the timeline are different, yet they share, with tenderness and sisterhood, their thoughts and experiences of aging. Nos Petites Mains reflects on the passage of time, the fragility of life, and the beauty that emerges in connection between bodies and generations.

Director’s statement

Created in collaboration with Le Papillon Blanc Danse, a non-profit organization that brings contemporary dance into healthcare spaces, this work was inspired by observing their encounters with vulnerable and elderly people. Roberge describes the film as a personal reflection on aging and human connection, seeking to highlight the beauty and grace that arise from these encounters between dancers and residents.

Director biography — Josiane Roberge

Josiane Roberge is a visual artist and filmmaker whose practice lies between relational art, performance, and moving image. Her works explore states of being and inner movement, often combining intimate personal dimensions with collective experience. Her films and installations have been presented in Canada, Europe, and Latin America at festivals and exhibitions such as Mois Multi, Vidéoformes (Clermont-Ferrand), the Baie-Saint-Paul International Symposium of Contemporary Art, and the Québec Cinéma Rendez-vous. Her recent works are part of the collections of Méduse and the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul.

Programmer’s notes — Blas Payri

This piece achieves a perfect fusion between videodance and art documentary. The black-and-white cinematography gives the work a poetic and timeless tone, revealing beauty even in the most ordinary spaces.

The film alternates between poetic text, natural imagery such as wind on snow, and intimate gestures that speak of aging and care. The choreography is subtle and human: intertwined hands, slow arm movements, real embraces that transcend staged performance. These are not symbolic gestures but genuine physical connections, filmed with sensitivity and respect.

The camera moves with discretion, capturing details of hands and faces with shallow depth of field that reinforces intimacy. The alternation between wider shots and close details creates rhythm and breathing, allowing the viewer to feel both the fragility and the strength present in these encounters.

Nos Petites Mains stands as a poetic reflection on time, empathy, and the emotional depth of human contact, showing how dance can exist even in the smallest movements of life.

Québec’s videodance works often show this capacity to combine social and human discourse with ciné-choreographic language, where artistic form and ethical reflection coexist. In this piece, that balance is particularly successful, resulting in a work that is both touching and meaningful.