It’s the first Poitras who settled in Quebec four centuries ago. Reporter Gaelle and cameraman Renaud followed the family history of Marcel, who is a native of Quebec. Twenty years ago, he came back from Canada to live in his ancestor’s home : « La grande Maison » located in Cugand, one of Clisson’s parish.

« Marcel, how does the discovering of the castle make you feel, the place where your forebears lived », asked Gaelle. « You seem moved ».

Renaud shooted Marcel’s intense feelings. This is the aim of the journalist team : adapting in a short period of time the memory of several generations

A story is being told. It took five hours of shooting to make four minutes of report. Each place, each picture are important. They don’t have a lot of time, we must go straight to the point.

I met Marcel before and we chose 3 places built before the 17th century, at the time when Jean lived here. These 3 mythical sites of the medieval city of Clisson are the ideal building to follow Marcel’s steps on the way of his ancestor Jean.

We start the shooting by a fisrt scene filmed on the bridge of La Vallée. The screenwriter team shooted the first meeting between Marcel and I. We joined each other on the bridge, and Marcel told us why he was here today. Renaud asked me to explain how I could help Marcel on his step to find more about his ancestor life. A few pictures later, first scene is in the bag

All the details are important. In particular, this camera which enableed to highlight the ancestor’s city. This forebear who migrated from France to Quebec a few century ago. Marcel hoped these pictures would make his canadian cousin want to come to Clisson… The camera followed us all the time. But we forgot it very quickly. We relaxed, gradually tongues were loosened. But sometimes after forgetting totally the camera during a while, we remembered it suddenly. Then, The two reporters reminded us to stay focused. Marcel was not shy for words. His life is like a fascinating book, the story of several destinies that cross and intersect between each other.

I easily understand why the television is so interested by his life : he told us his anecdotes very clearly so that we clearly could imagine how Clisson looked like when his ancestors were alive.

The report will be soon released on tv (TF1 French channel) next automn…one saturday evening.

Pauline - Guide & conseillère en séjour