Shadow Men (2017)

Directed by

Renée Blanchar

Genre

documentary film

Country

Canada

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows three Acadian men working in the Alberta oil sands, far from their families. It shows how the long separations affect the men, their wives, and their children back home in Atlantic Canada.

poignantintimatesoberingcontemplativeemotionally weightygroundedquietly observational

What happens

Shadow Men (French: Nos hommes dans l'ouest, lit. "Our Men in the West") is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Renée Blanchar and released in 2017. The film centres on three Acadian men who are working as migrant workers in the Athabasca oil sands, profiling the impact of their extended absence from their families on both themselves and their wives and children back home. The film premiered at the 2017 Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie. It was subsequently screened at the 2018 Atlantic International Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Atlantic Documentary. The film received a retrospective screening in the In Focus program at the 2025 Atlantic International Film Festival. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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