The toutEs ou pantoute collective is launching To try to hear me, a choral audio documentary exploring solitude in its intimate, social and political dimensions. Through different stories, the project addresses parenthood, romantic separations, aging, marginality and mental health issues.
After a notable festival tour in the fall of 2025 and the spring of 2026, including the Quebec City Cinema Festival, Les Filministes and the Rendez-vous des Grandes Gueules, and several theatrical broadcasts, To try to hear me is now available for free on all podcast platforms, including Apple Balados and Spotify, as well as on the tousoupantoute.com website.
A sensitive and feminist exploration of solitudeFrom Sherbrooke to Rimouski, via Saint-Casimir, several hundred kilometers were traveled to capture the intimacy and complexity of these journeys, and to give voice to voices that intersect and intertwine, composing a nuanced portrait of solitude at its most universal and taboo. The work does not sugarcoat pain, nor romanticize isolation; she observes, listens and restores the richness of individual experiences, revealing solitude as a space for reflection, transformation and creation.
SynopsisAt the heart of the documentary, five women from different backgrounds and ages reveal themselves with rare frankness and sensitivity. Lise, an octogenarian writer, talks about how solitude imposed itself very early, from motherhood, and how writing offered her a space of resistance and fantasy. Anne, recently settled in Rimouski, shares her thoughts on the difficulty of forging deep connections in adulthood, on the sometimes painful mismatch between what we experience and what we seek. Camille, residing in a century-old house in Lanaudière, evokes solitude as an area of resilience and self-affirmation. Naïla, a multidisciplinary artist living with a complex mental health diagnosis, testifies to the loneliness experienced in a world unprepared to accommodate psychological distress, but also to the power of self-compassion. Finally, Marie-Anne, feminist philosopher and mother, examines the tensions between existing for oneself and existing for others in the context of motherhood, while questioning the social and political conditions which shape our relationship to time and to oneself. Around these five main voices, around ten other voices – including those of the screenwriter-director duo – as well as extracts from poems by Annick Arsenault and Névé Dumas, set to music by Eugénie Jobin (Ambroise), enrich the story. The work is akin to a sensitive cartography of contemporary solitude, where it can be both refuge and burden, ground for creation and contemplation, space of suffering and place of reconciliation with oneself. The construction of the documentary, which unfolds without narration or guide, invites the listener to suspend their own thoughts and enter this intimate non-place where each voice intertwines and resonates with their own.
A documented and immersive approach The production of To Try to Hear Me is part of a thoughtful and deeply immersive approach. Alexandra Turgeon and Laurie Perron devoted more than a year to exploring solitude through personal and artistic experiences. They exchanged correspondence and kept solitude diaries, participated in solitary residences and a long stay of silent meditation, and delved into both scientific literature and artistic works to nourish their reflection. This exploration led to the establishment of a call for testimonies, which made it possible to meet the five protagonists of the documentary and to compose a work that is both intimate and universal, faithful to the complexity and diversity of the experiences of solitude. Thanks to the sensitive sound design of Sylvaine Arnaud and Eugénie Jobin, the collective’s documentary approach combines with an impressionist sensitivity, making each speech a sound element that is both autonomous and connected to others, in order to create an immersive environment where listening becomes an experience and shared presence.
About toutEs ou pantoutetoutEs ou pantoute is a queer-feminist audio art collective co-directed by Alexandra Turgeon and Laurie Perron. Her projects stand out thanks to rich sound environments and give great importance to rural communities, women and people of sexual and gender diversity. The collective’s approach combines a documentary form with an impressionist approach, aiming to increase the immersive potential of the works. Its team is characterized by its territorial representativeness. For the creation of To try to hear myself, the duo joined forces with the talents of sound designer Sylvaine Arnaud, and singer-songwriter Eugénie Jobin (Ambroise).