Bric à Brac is a documentary that presents both a playful and clear-sighted look at the social ritual of the yard sale. Spontaneously filmed all over the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, six enthusiasts share their passion about their summer pastime while a philosophy teacher and a well-known anthropologist (Fernand Arcand) explain their interpretation of the phenomenon in a concrete and insightful way. Bric à Brac offers more than clichés; it actually stimulates reflection on our habits as consumers, on the way we relate to objects and on the importance of territory while putting into practice this inescapable activity that brightens (or clutters!) our summers.
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Commentary by Claire Valade, Film critic from Quebec:
"Much more than just a nice, fun film about one of Quebecers’ favourite pastimes, garage sales, Martin Guerin’s film is firmly situated in the here and now, offering a perfect solution for our own pivotal era of sustainable development, recycling, reinvention, and transformation of forgotten and discarded items. The young documentary maker takes us inside a true social ritual, a festive custom that he shows to be nothing less than a treasure for its most devoted and resourceful participants. The result is a worthy reflection on our relationship with money and space and, ultimately, on the consumer society and its precarious balance between the persistent desire to accumulate and the recurring need to purge."
