Sylvie Laliberté is a Montréal artist who creates videos, prints, photographs, and installations. She also writes songs that she sings at home and on stage. In her video The Tool Is Not Always a Hammer, the naïve tone of the song and the carefully chosen words bring the gravity of things to the fore. The childlike melody takes us back to the roots of our doubts. The raw, playful performance allows emotion to emerge. In her videos, Sylvie Laliberté brings together poetry, subtle comedy, and existential questions. It takes talent to pull this off—and that is precisely what she has: immense talent. And that irresistible smile that, for a second, blinds us to the depth of her questions. A handmade, povera kind of video that, without us even realizing it, guides us toward the still-pure star that lives within us.

Jennifer Alleyn
Filmmaker