The Nature of Frédéric Back
In The nature of Frédéric Back, the Canadian documentary maker Phil Comeau follows the journey of the director of The Man Who Planted Trees through the key places that shaped his life and artistic evolution, travelling from Alsace to Brittany, Hollywood to Japan, ending up in Montreal and the Quebec countryside.
Based on exceptional research and in collaboration with the artist and his family, The Nature of Frederic Back shows us a number of seldom seen pieces, including a large amount of landscapes that Phil Comeau compares with the very locations where they were painted. Focusing particularly on the formative years of the artist, the film shows how deeply the works and teachings of Mathurin Méheut influenced him, and contains numerous accounts, including those from John Lasseter and Isao Takahata, that enrich this remarkable documentary.