Born in Gentilly, Quebec, in 1952, Céline Baril earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from UQAM (l'Université du Québec à Montréal) in the 1980s. She works primarily in installations and since 1980 has had her work exhibited both independently and in collaboration with other artists in several galleries. From 1982 to 1984, she was a co-broadcaster and co-producer at Radio Centre-Ville in Montreal. In 1989, she directed Barcelone, her first film which was followed by two experimental fictional films La fourmi et le volcan in 1992 and the full-length L'absent in 1997. In just three films, she succeeded in forging a world full of rich sights and sounds particularly reminiscent of the complex "journey of self-discovery" genre. But nothing up to this point could have prepared audiences for the tender and playful eye with which she observes both people and things in Du pic au cœur, a fictional story with a more classic feel.