French Film about Four Female Hunters
By Audrey Debruyne
When I first arrived in Thunder Bay from France, I was surprised to discover the hunting culture around here. Enthusiasts, and well seasoned hunters, would gather with friends and family at camp during the hunting season to share their stories around the fire. Many of my female colleagues would show me photos from their hunting trips on social media, and talk about recipes using freshly caught game meat. Before long, I myself was introduced to indoor sports shooting.
As part of Vox Pop documentary nights, Club culturel francophone de Thunder Bay (formerly Club canadien-français de Thunder Bay) partners with Vox Popular Media Arts Festival to present a documentary titled Un film de chasse de filles (Girls on the Hunt) about women who hunt.
Girls on the Hunt is the story of four female hunters ranging in age from 14 to 72. The idea to create the documentary stemmed from the fact that, in Québec, although the number of hunting licenses has decreased, the percentage of hunting licenses assigned to women has increased substantially. The film touches on the lives of these four women and on the emotions they experience while hunting, such as compassion, love, care, and sensitivity—emotions that non-hunters would normally be incredulous to think can characterize a hunter. “Throughout the film shoot, I was surprised to see how much compassion, love, care, and awareness there was in the practice of hunting,” says director Julie Lambert.
Lambert received prizes at the Québec movie festival in 2014, and a prize from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec in 2016. Girls on the Hunt immerses you in the world of women hunters who are determined to take to the woods. You might look at hunting differently after following their adventure, I know that I certainly did.
Girls on the Hunt will screen February 13 at Trinity Hall at 7 pm, free admission. English subtitles included.
Photo credit: ©Julie Lambert/retouched by Marc Biron
