St. Laurent Pilgrimage
1985 · 2m · Canada
Directed by Dan J. McCrimmon
Genres: documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative, tender
Saskatchewan Métis Catholics make their yearly pilgrimage to St. Laurent, spiritual centre since the 1885 rebellion.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 1985 NFB doc about Catholic pilgrimage sounds like the opposite of subversive, but McCrimmon's refusal to exoticize or aestheticize Métis spirituality—just letting the ritual breathe—is actually more radical than any formal hijinks could be.
McCrimmon situates this within the documentary tradition of place-as-witness, where the pilgrimage itself becomes the formal structure; the film's contemplative pacing and tender observation of ritual continuity post-1885 demonstrates the craft of knowing when *not* to intervene.
Two minutes to establish spiritual lineage and community memory—the decision to anchor it in the *walking itself*, in bodies moving through landscape, does the historical and emotional work without explanation.