Prayer for a Lost Mitten

Night falls on snow-covered Montreal. People wait and take turns at the lost property office in the city's transport department. They have all misplaced something which turns out to be symbolic of a deeper loss: a ‘tuque' (in Canada, a woolly bobble hat), a photo, but also the love of the family or a loved one. In a quest which is reminiscent of that in Chronique d'un été (1960)—a founding film of 'cinéma-vérité' directed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, who were looking into the happiness of the French people—Jean-François Lesage essentially draws a chronicle of a certain humanity, with all the gentleness and benevolence that characterises his filmmaking. (Visions du Réel)