Sylvain L'Espérance

Montreal-based director and producer Sylvain L’Espérance addresses social issues with formal rigour in films like Les printemps incertains, on the declining fortunes of a working-class neighbourhood, and two films about globalization — Pendant que tombent les arbres and Le Temps qu’il fait. Un fleuve humain (2006), in which he makes effective use of sound and the spoken word, provides a vivid account of rural life along the Niger River. He brings a formation in Fine Arts to his work, and is faithful to certain principles of cinéma direct, preferring to use only location recording on his soundtracks.

Selected Filmography

The River Where We Live (2006)
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal — Grand Prix Camera Style, Special Mention

The Invisible Hand (2002)
Festival Vues d’Afriques — Best Documentary

Uncertain Springtimes (1992)

Pendant que tombent les arbres (1996)

Le Temps qu'il fait (1997)