What We Choose To Remember: our shared history

By Aiden Wilson - Special to The Record
What We Choose To Remember: our shared history
Guy Rex Rodgers, Youssef Shoufan and Betty Eserpanza working on the film What We Choose To Remember (Photo : Courtesy of Betty Eserpanza)

What We Choose To Remember is the title of a new film by Guy Rex Rodgers, but it is also a pertinent question in a province whose motto is “Je me souviens,” what exactly are we meant to remember?

The film seeks to explore this question with the help of more than 30 individuals from several waves of Quebec immigration who, throughout the documentary, share their stories and experiences, having lived through all manner of language conflicts throughout the province’s history.

Filming began on the 50th anniversary of the October Crisis. Some of the families involved in the film lived through that era of great turmoil.

Where other immigrants and anglophones may have fled, the film features the firsthand accounts of those who chose to stay.

In an interview with The Record, Rogers said the inspiration for the film was not only to conserve our history but also to start a conversation that’s long overdue.

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