Le moulin à images

The city of Quebec is in the midst of celebrating its 400th birthday. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain created a permanent colonial settlement, part of la Nouvelle France. They are celebrating big time. The whole year and especially this summer have been filled with unique activities. (You may have heard about Paul McCartney's free concert attended by 200,000 or so; Céline Dion and Cirque de Soleil are later this year and are not free).

Another huge undertaking is a visual extravaganza called "le moulin à images" (the image mill). For forty minutes, images (moving and non...) that tell four centuries of history are projected along 600 meters of concrete grain silos.


Yes, grain silos. An unusual backdrop to be sure. (Just in front of the white roof at center left of the photo, you can see the end of the wharf where we viewed the show). Apparently, the creators took the curvature of the silos into consideration so when they wanted the image to appear flat, it did, but in addition they very often took advantage of the vertical elements of the silos. The silos became fence posts, missiles, candles, even cigarettes at different moments of the presentation. There were other special effects like water and fire and smoke used at several appropriate moments. Very original.


The show was spectacular. I was wide-eyed and smiling the entire time. I found myself bursting into applause or laughter at different moments. It was stunning.


Practically speaking, it was at once an exhilarating and tiring evening. Bo and I met up with Bo's brother and his wife. We chose a spot together on one of the wharves which turned out to be a fantastic spot and then we waited. Did I say we waited? We waited for two and a half hours, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting, on the wharf. Sometimes in a little bit of rain. It was nice to be in such good company for the wait.


In addition to the special 400th birthday festivities this year, every year, Quebec City hosts Les Fêtes de la Nouvelle France. Instead of a renaissance festival as you see in so many very un-renaissance-y places all over North America, Quebec City decided to embrace its own history with ten days of dressing up in costumes and re-creating the atmosphere of yore. They have begun a tradition, borrowed from Europe, of a parade of "giants." These are papier maché puppets that stand at least 4 meters (13 ft.) tall. Each is worn by a human who carries the structure sometimes weighing as much as 90 kilos (200 lbs.), but typically around 50 (110 lbs.) or so, on his shoulders. Here are Charles LeMoyne and Jeanne Mance, two early settlers of La Nouvelle France.


This year because of the added attraction of the 400th birthday celebration, giants came from several countries in Europe to help celebrate. The giants from Quebec generally represent figures from Quebec's history. The characters from Europe were often dressed in traditional garb or costumes which represented other worldly themes (we saw one pair named War and Peace). Every so often several of the giants took to the dance floor, which is what they do best. I'll leave you with a video. (Sorry about my poor filming skills...I always forget that I have to take the film horizontally...it's still fun...).