Québékoisie – Meeting the First Nations of Quebec

Poster of the documentary Quebekoisie showing two overlapping faces, an Indigenous woman and a non-Indigenous man, produced by MÖ FILMS.
Québékoisie
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2013
Running time: 1 hour 21 min.
Language: French
Subtitles: English

A landmark documentary by MÖ FILMS, Quebekoisie is a Canadian documentary film that follows Mélanie and Olivier on a cycling journey along Quebec’s Côte-Nord, as they seek to better understand the complex relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Through encounters and shared stories, their search for identity unfolds between personal introspection and openness to the world.

Nominated for the Jutra Awards and winner of the Magnus-Isacsson Award at RIDM, and broadcast internationally on TV5 Monde, Quebekoisie offers a sensitive reflection on living together, identity, intercultural relations, and our connection to territory in Quebec and Canada.

Synopsis

Featuring commentary by anthropologist Serge Bouchard and sociologist Pierrot Ross-Tremblay.

At the age of 30, after traveling extensively around the world, Olivier and Mélanie realize that while they feel connected to the far reaches of the globe, they have never set foot on an Indigenous reserve in their own country, Canada. The young couple decides to cycle along Quebec’s Côte-Nord to better understand the relationships between Québécois and First Nations peoples. Where does this lack of knowledge about Indigenous peoples come from, when studies show that more than half of French Canadians have at least one Indigenous ancestor? Why do prejudices remain so deeply rooted? How can these relationships evolve? From chance encounters to planned meetings, the filmmakers’ journey intersects with the surprising quest of an Innu man searching for his ancestors in Normandy, as well as the deeply moving path of the sister of Corporal Lemay, killed during the 1990 Oka Crisis.

Crew

Written, directed and produced by: Olivier Higgins and Mélanie Carrier
Research: Mélanie Carrier, Olivier Higgins, Odette DesOrmeaux
Director of Photography: Olivier Higgins
Editing: Olivier Higgins and Myriam Verreault
Image Post-Production: Studio Élément
Color Grading: Éric Denis
Animation and VFX: Mathieu Blouin and Thierry Roussel-Garneau
Graphic Design: Simon Beaudry
Sound Post-Production: Audio Zone
Sound Design: Bruno Pucella
Sound Mixing: Martin M. Messier

Participants (alphabetical order): Anne-Marie St-Onge, Élisa-Uashtessiu Bacon, Eruoma Awashish, Évelyne St-Onge, Fernande St-Onge, Francine Lemay, Hélène Vézina, Isabelle Kanapé, Josée Simard, Malcolm Riverin, Marco Bacon, Mavis Étienne, Nicolas Dupont, Pierre Emmanuel Bacon, Pierrot Ross-Tremblay, Serge Bouchard.

Awards and Recognition

Laurels indicating Quebekoisie nomination for Best Documentary at the Jutra Awards.
Best Feature Documentary nominee
Jutra Award
Laurels for the Magnus Isacsson Award awarded to Quebekoisie at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM).
Magnus Isacsson Award
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)
Laurels for the Humanist Award awarded to Quebekoisie at the Vues sur Mer festival.
Humanist Award and Audience Award
Festival Vues sur Mer
Laurels for Best Feature Documentary awarded to Quebekoisie at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Best Feature Documentary
Rhode Island International Film Festival

Reviews

« A powerful film, filled with humanity.»
RADIO-CANADA TÉLÉ - VALÉRIE CLOUTIER
« A must-see documentary. »
THE GAZETTE - BRENDAN KELLY
« A documentary that is as beautiful as it is necessary. »
LE DEVOIR - ANDRÉ LAVOIE
« The timing couldn’t be better for this film. In the end, this is a documentary making a plea for a more open, more diverse society where we’re all proud of our heritage and happy to showcase our differences. »
THE GAZETTE - BRENDAN KELLY
« (…) above all, a passionate desire—woven into every image—to speak of the human within humanity, of what can be saved, of what can be changed. »
24 IMAGES - CÉLINE GOBERT
« A truth, a sensitivity—everyone should see this documentary. For me, it was a profound and deeply moving experience. A must-see. »
RADIO-CANADA PREMIÈRE - PATRICIA TADROS
« Québékoisie: now an essential film. »
INNUVELLE - CHANTALE POTVIN
« Québékoisie is a road movie but it’s unlike anything I’ve seen. »
CULT MTL - KAYLA MARIE HILLIER

Directors’ Statement

The Story Behind the Title

 

Quebekoisie belongs to a tradition of documentary storytelling that examines our relationship to territory, identity, and Indigenous–non-Indigenous relations in Quebec. Through a cycling journey along the Côte-Nord, the film brings forward dialogues, encounters, and tensions shaping this vast region—where histories, memories, and invisible borders intersect.

 

In Quebec, many large regions bear names whose boundaries are both real and imagined: Gaspésie, Minganie, Jamésie. These are expansive, inhabited territories, yet their contours often remain blurred in our collective imagination, as much on maps as in our minds. While researching the title, we discovered that filmmaker and writer Pierre Perrault had previously used the term “Québécoisie” (with a c) to describe a shifting space of identity—a living territory defined by human relationships rather than by lines drawn on a map.

It is in this spirit that we chose the title Quebekoisie: not as a simple geographical reference, but as a metaphor for a territory with porous, evolving boundaries—crossed by stories, languages, migrations, rivers, and encounters. A space that overlaps with neighboring nations, where human connections give meaning to place.

 

The choice of the letter k also echoes older spellings of Kébec or Québek, used before modern standardization. This variation reflects the idea that language, like territory, is alive and constantly transforming.

 

Quebekoisie thus names a place that can be experienced and described differently by different people without losing its deeper meaning—a territory shaped by multiple narratives, where identity, both individual and collective, is built through encounter and dialogue.

 

Partners

You could also like

Through an intimate documentary process spanning four years, this film observes childhood at eye level, within a family of filmmakers. Winner of the Jean-Marc-Vallée Award, it offers a thoughtful reflection on transmission, parenthood, and how we pass on our ways of seeing and telling the world to future generations.

Both poetic and immersive, this documentary takes viewers into the heart of the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh—the largest in the world—home to nearly one million Rohingya who fled genocide in Myanmar. Recognized by international critics, winner of the Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Documentary and shortlisted to represent Canada at the Oscars, the film offers a human perspective on exile and dignity.

Now considered a landmark documentary in Quebec, this road movie takes viewers along the Côte-Nord, where encounters and dialogue offer an in-depth look at relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Through its human and social perspective, Quebekoisie has helped reshape how identity and living together are understood in Quebec.

Encounters immerses us in a powerful journey where young Innu, Huron‑Wendat, and non‑Indigenous Quebecers travel 310 km along the ancestral Jesuit Trail. The documentary explores the deep symbolism of the land, questions of identity, and the evolving relationships between Indigenous and non‑Indigenous peoples in Quebec.