Written and Directed by Evin Collis
Produced by Jon Montes
At the intersection of animation and painting, Le Portugais follows the life of Pedro Da Silva, a 17th century Portuguese immigrant who would be the face of a 2003 stamp celebrating him as Canada’s first letter carrier. Eschewing historical romanticism, animator Evin Collis, a direct relative of Da Silva’s, provides a shifting artistic vision of survival in the colonial project of New France and the collisions of cultures and economies that would eventually contribute to the creation of the Canadian state.