A true animated film about invented islands. About an imaginary, linguistic, political territory. About a real or dreamed country, or something in between. Archipelago is a film of drawings and speeches, that tells and dreams a place and its inhabitants, to tell and dream a little of our world and times.
Mani, a master’s student, returns to the reserve in northern Quebec where she grew up. Her painful past resurfaces. Resolved to reintegrate into the community, she gets involved in the debate around a referendum on allowing the free sale of alcohol on the reserve. Laura, a bootlegger, pockets the profits she makes there under the protection of the band council and her partner Raymond. The latter is still angry with Mani, whom he holds responsible for the death of his daughter in a fire. Opposing forces quickly divide the community into two sides who face each other to determine the best path to independence.
Joséphine Bacon is an Innu poet from Pessamit, born in 1947. Director and lyricist, she is considered a leading author of Quebec. She worked as a translator-interpreter with elders, those who hold traditional knowledge, and, with wisdom, she learned to listen to their words. Joséphine Bacon often says of herself that she is not a poet, but that in her nomadic and generous heart, she speaks a language full of poetry where echoes of the elders who have marked her life resonate.