The Eighth Floor
(Le huitième étage, jours de révolte)
Pedro Ruiz | Documentary, Drama
2023 | 91 minutes | Canada
The life of of Front de Libération du Québec's Jacques Lanctôt, on his return to Havana's Hotel Nacional— which sheltered him during his 1970s exile.
Synopsis
An evocative exploration of memory, exile, and the complexities of the human psyche, The Eighth Floor blurs the lines between reality and fantasy in a hybrid film that melds autobiography with fiction.
Reminiscent of literary autofiction, the film chronicles the life of Jacques Lanctôt, a notable figure of the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) upon his return to the eighth-floor room of the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba—a place that once sheltered him during his exile in the 1970s.
Using the presence of a recording team as a pretext for Lanctôt to reflect on his journey towards self-discovery, this biopic captures the emotional turmoil of a man in forced retirement, navigating an intimate and poetic journey through his mind within the enchanted castle of a Caribbean island.
Reviews
“A hybrid cinematographic work, a documentary as real as fiction, which features actors and the presence of Jacques Lanctôt, expressing himself in interviews in a profound and engaging tribute to the Latin American cinema of the 60s, praising the film Memoirs du sous-development, in a very particular and personal way." – Werner Herzog
“This film is a work of art with the hybrid mix of elements used. Pedro Ruiz does an amazing job at shedding light into this complex story.” – Alejandra de la Huerta, Point of View Magazine
Citation
Coming soon.
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Pragda subjects
Activism
Biography
Caribbean Studies
Culture + Identity
Exile
History
International Relations
Latin American Studies
North America
Political Science
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma; Festival de la Ville de Québec
DIRECTOR: Pedro Ruiz
NATIONALITY: Canada
YEAR: 2023
GENRE: Documentary, Drama
LANGUAGE: French; Other languages; Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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