Hochelaga, Land of Souls

François Girard

Canada, 2017, 100 minutes

When a sinkhole opens beneath a downtown Montreal stadium, revealing long-buried artifacts, archeologist Baptiste Asigny and a research team believe they are on the brink of linking the site to the Iroquois village of Hochelaga, the probable location of the meeting between Jacques Cartier and the Iroquois people in 1535. Weaving together past and present, the film visits and revisits Hochelaga through the centuries. It takes us back to the village in 1267, centuries before it was colonized, to the arrival of Cartier (Vincent Perez) and its violent disruptions; to a deadly epidemic that hit a young Montreal in 1687; to the turmoil of the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837; and to a pioneering moment in neurology in 1944. The epic narrative offers a kaleidoscopic take on history that prompts timely reflection on the role of origin, identity, and place in shaping the soul of a nation.—Toronto International Film Festival

In French, Mohawk, and English with English subtitles