Diffusion immédiate
In Quebec (Canada), there is a very untypical celebration every 25th of July, Camper’s Christmas. During the three days preceding Camper’s Christmas and until it’s celebration, we follow five totally different working class families. Through interviews and set ups revealing the typical activities of camping, our characters talk about this untypical gathering celebrating the spirit of Christmas, of childhood and family.
Camper’s Christmas becomes a pretext to talk about Canada’s family situation. Do we still have the same family values has we did forty years ago? Is it still worthed today to have children? Is it dificult to have a family life in our era? Why do the rich people have fewer children than the less fortunate?
Open-faced, the McBrearty’s, the Wistaff’s, the Descôteaux’s and the Cabral’s discuss their joys and sorrows of their daily lifes. In spite of the vulnerability of the Family, they still believe in it. Just like they hold on to their camper’s Christmas, a gathering that they organise witn enthusiasm year after year, the 25th of July.
But during the three days of preparation for this Green Christmas the forecast is calling for rain. Will Santa Claus’s parade be cancelled? Our families are worried. They even hang their rosaries on the cloches line…
This uncertainty sends us back to the fragility of the family unit. We witness a couple’s separation, the isolation of a retired couple abandoned by their grown up children. Will the Family survive?
Adding up to the bad weather forecast, a family tragedy occures in the neighboring town. At Otterburn Park, the 24th of July, a father murderes his wife and kids. Everybody on the campground comments on this sad event, the worst of all family tragedies. On the front page of the Journal de Montréal, we see a picture of the family on a brighter day, six months earlier, on Christmas eve.
The clouds spared the parade, but the night’s festivities will be under the rain. In spite of the thunder showers, the croud is dancing and singing in the streets. The reunion is touching. The celebration is beautiful.
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Source: Guylaine Maroist
Phone: 514.899.0449
Synopsis
