The Last Hunt (Web Site)

Equal parts tenderness, brutality, love and death, The Last Hunt dives deep into the motivations that led Montreal photographer Alexi Hobbs to photograph his grandfather’s last hunting expedition, exposing both the strength of family bonds, and the implicit spirituality within the endlessly pragmatic act of hunting.

The elements of the story are simple: the photographer, his beloved grandfather Antonio “Pit” Allard, a gun, a camera, and the wild creatures that surround them in the woods of northern Quebec. The complex interplay between these elements is triggered by the old man’s declaration that this will be his last trip to the family cabin.

Alexi longs to find common ground with his grandfather, looking for traces of Pit within himself, all the while facing the inevitability that “something is beginning to end.” The point of connection he finds is that both hunting and photography rely on noticing the details that other people miss: the snap of a twig, the shape of a hand.

Reaching beyond the bounds of hunting and photography, The Last Hunt illuminates the enduring spirit behind the vanquished animals, fading family stories, and frozen moments. It’s a story that reminds us that some things can never be captured or killed.