Oasis
At the dawn of their teenage years, Raphaël and Rémi are twins who see their fusional attachment crumble while one of them, suffering from an increasingly marked disability, remains a prisoner of childhood. During one last summer surrounded by nature, time seems to want to stand still.
Interview with Writer/Director Justine Martin
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! I made Oasis to tell the story of the twins Raphaël and Rémi. When I was younger, I was living in the same neighbourhood as them and I was their babysitter. When they were kids, they were always together and Raphaël's handicap was not an obstacle to their precious relationship.
I met them again years later. Now teenagers, I noticed that their relationship wasn't the same. Even if they have the same age, Rémi is now in a phase where the influence of his friends is very important to him while Raphaël stays stuck in childhood. I wanted to do a film about them to capture the last and fragile moments of their special bond, at a midpoint between childhood and adulthood.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Oasis is a luminous film that contains a lot of emotions. Even if it's a documentary, it plays with a lot of codes from fiction and I think the exploration of the medium is very interesting. It really gives the feeling of a warm wave passing by and I think it's a rich visual and poetic experience. My film has a contemplative approach that allows the viewers to witness the beauty in small details of human experience.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
It was important for me to do a film about brotherhood rather than about handicap. Even if Raphaël has a specific condition, the film is about their relationship and not about the problems that can cause a handicap in their life. This way, Raphaël is characterized by his personality and his love for his twin Rémi. I wanted to illustrate the essence of two brothers that meet at an age where they will take separate paths, a very common reality for brothers and sisters when they grow up.
I was also influenced by my love for nature, which is very present in the film. I grew up surrounded by forest and trees and for me, it was important to surround the twins with the same kind of settings. This way, I was able to create an intimate bubble of their moments together and a contrast between the reality in nature and the one at the skate park where they live.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
For this documentary, I wanted to have a powerful sense of storytelling and cinematography. We created a whole universe around the film. The colours, the mise-en-scène, the visual vocabulary and the soundscape were created before the shoot to allow us to be very prepared and attentive on set since we were filming a documentary. All the scenes had clear intentions and we let the twins breathe in them.
Oasis evolved a lot in post-production where we came up with new ideas while editing. The musical components appear at that phase, making this documentary sensory, musical and poetic.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I receive a lot of emotional feedback where people share with me glimpses of their personal life. A lot of people talk to me about their relationship with their brothers and sisters and I am always very touched to see that my film can reach them this way.
People appreciate the humanity and the brightness of Oasis and the way everybody can relate to the universality of its themes.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I would say that it surprised me in a positive way. For example, in a screening in Québec, a young man told me that the film made him want to call his brother right away because he was missing him. It was a beautiful moment. To see that my film has the power to get people closer to each other is for me very strong and moving.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I want to share my passion for filmmaking and alternative ways to make documentaries. I'm looking for good visibility and I am happy to share my vision and the emotions of my film with others.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I would say film festival directors and journalists. I already have a distributor.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I think my film is very human and wants to share the importance of childhood memories with brothers and sisters. I simply want people to be touched by my film and share their impressions. It can as well break some prejudices about handicaps in general and make a small difference for people who watch it.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What is the line between documentary and fiction?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm working on a short film called Les Faux Sapins, a dark comedy about a child witnessing Santa Claus' death at the shopping center.
I am also developing a long feature film with Oasis where I plan to follow the twins for at least 10 years to capture their first times in adulthood.
Interview: May 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Oasis
At the dawn of their teenage years, Raphaël and Rémi are twins who see their fusional attachment crumble while one of them, suffering from an increasingly marked disability, remains a prisoner of childhood. During one last summer surrounded by nature, time seems to want to stand still.
Length: 14:10
Director: Justine Martin
Producer: Louis-Emmnanuel Gagné-Brochu
Writer: Justine Martin
About the writer, director and producer:
JUSTINE MARTIN is a screenwriter and director based in Montreal who is a Cinema Graduate from Concordia University. Feminism, environmental awareness, and childhood are themes that inspire her stories. She is currently working on the development of her next fiction film while writing a web series. Oasis is her first documentary and went to festivals like IDFA, Dok Leipzig and Clermont-Ferrand and won an award at Riverrun Film Festival and at the Sólveig Anspach competition.
Key cast: Louis-Emmanuel Gagné-Brochu (producer), Myriam Payette (director of photography), Kayla Fragman (production designer), Félix Bouffard-Dumas (editor), Christophe Voyer (sound composer), Louis-Joseph Cliche (music composer)
Looking for: journalists and film festival directors
Facebook: Justine Martin
Instagram: @justi.marti
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Docaviv Film Festival/Tel Aviv, Israel - May 11th to May 20th; DOC-Cévennes/France - May 16th to May 20th; Doc Edge/New Zealand - May 24th to July 9th; Krakow Film Festival/Poland - May 28th to July 18th