Where I'm From

It all starts in darkness, with a child who doesn't know where he comes from. In a quest that is both personal and universal, director Claude Demers (Barbers: A Men’s Story, Ladies in Blue) revisits the locales of his childhood and asks questions about the mysteries of his origins, and about his formative years, which were marked by abandonment.

The film is an intimate chronicle that unfolds in the working-class neighbourhood of Verdun, where the filmmaker grew up. It features Bastien and Cédric, two young boys who are discovering the world around them and who serve as the narrator’s alter egos. The town and the magical banks of the Saint Lawrence River serve as a backdrop for this coming-of-age story that is also a profound inner journey. Between past and present, birth and death, D’où je viens traces the course of one man’s redemption. The film marries realism with lyricism and a vibrant soundtrack that celebrates life. It is a free-flowing work, both deeply human and poetic.