Oasis
2022 · 14m · Canada
Directed by Justine Martin
Genres: documentary, drama, family
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
A tender documentary portrait of twin brothers Raphaël and Rémi Cormier spending a summer together in nature before their lives diverge — Raphaël's disability means they will attend different schools for the first time.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Twin brothers, one disabled, sharing a last summer before separation — Oscar shortlist, Moonlight comp, all the signs of immaculately controlled lyrical doc-fiction. Probably gorgeous and I'm slightly bored by 'probably gorgeous.'
Martin's twin-brother portrait, Oscar-shortlisted with the formal courage to refuse the disability-issue framework in favor of brotherhood-as-form, sits comfortably alongside Lukas Dhont's Close. Genuinely tender filmmaking.
96th Academy Awards shortlist for Best Documentary Short — 14:10 hybrid doc-fiction where Martin (who babysat the twins) blurs scripted and observed footage to portray brotherhood rather than disability. That framing choice is the entire ethical posture of the film, and the shortlist confirms it landed.
Reviews
It's a film that feels effortlessly authentic and deeply sincere. Martin invites us into the lives of these two brothers with such sensitivity.
A much-needed reminder of gentleness, humanity, and the small wonders.
Festivals
- Festival du nouveau cinéma 2022
- IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2022
- Indy Shorts International Film Festival, Grand Jury Award Documentary Short
- RiverRun International Film Festival, Best Documentary Short
- Dok Leipzig 2022
- Krakow Film Festival 2022