A young woman works as an exotic dancer in a bar. The customers' hats remind her of a man she knew as a child, who also wore a hat. The man entered her bedroom, turned back the sheets and laid his hand on her body. She cannot forget how he defiled her.

The Hat strikes hard with its stark, and sometimes crude, imagery of a memory that refuses to go away. The woman, conscious of having been abused body and soul, draws the audience into the shadows of a wounded childhood.

The woman can never forget. The hat becomes for her an overwhelming, invasive obsession, constantly resurfacing in a rapid and implacable succession of metamorphoses. Animator Michèle Cournoyer uses black ink on white paper to illustrate this painful tale. With a quick stroke, she throws ink on paper, creating an occasional blotch. Stains on the soul, stains on paper

The Hat is a tough, visceral experience. The filmmaker, with naked honesty, invites the audience to share in the pain of a woman, an exotic dancer whose body is on display and whose soul is forever soiled.

1999, 06 min 01 s

Le Chapeau/The Hat

Embarquement immédiat/Mindtravel

Special Jury Award
Los Angeles Animation Competition / World Animation Celebration (Wacfest)
August 7 to 12 2001, Los Angeles - USA

Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury
International Short Film Festival
May 3 to 8 2001, Oberhausen - Germany

Prize of the City of Vienna (ex-aequo with Surface Dive by Joanna Priestley) with a cash prize of 25,000ATS (approx. 2,612.50$Cdn divided between the winners)
Tricky Women International Women's Animated Film Festival
March 2 to 8 2001, Vienna - Austria

Best Animated Short Award
International Film Festival
March 1 to 11 2001, Santa Barbara - USA

Best Animated Short
Soirée des Jutra
February 25 2001, Montréal - Canada

AQCC-Téléfilm Canada Award - Category: Best Short or Medium-Length Film - with a cash prize of 4,000$ (ex-aequo with Du front tout le tour de la tête de Chantal DuPont)
Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois
February 15 to 25 2001, Montréal - Canada

Honorable Mention - Category: Films less than 7 minutes Category A
International Animated Film Festival / CINANIMA
November 6 to 12 2000, Espinho - Portugal

Special Jury Award - For its creativity, sensitivity and personal treatment of a difficult and grave subject such as incest.
International Film Festival
October 20 to 28 2000, Valladolid - Spain

Special Jury Award
International Animation Festival
September 19 to 24 2000, Ottawa - Canada

Telefilm Canada Award for Best Canadien short film - with a cash prize of 4,000$
International Francophone Film Festival in Acadie
September 15 to 21 2000, Moncton - Canada

John Spotton Award - with a cash prize of 2,500$
International Film Festival
September 7 to 16 2000, Toronto - Canada

Special Mention FIPRESCI award
International Animated Film Festival
June 5 to 10 2000, Annecy - France