Born in Montreal in 1961, Sylvain L'Espérance studied visual arts and cinema. For 30 years, he has traveled from Québec to Mali and to Greece and in a poetic exploration of reality, he has directed a dozen films that combine direct cinema and experimental research. The place of foreigners and marginalized communities in our world is at the heart of each of his films. Migrants, workers, artisans, fishermen, shepherds, the unemployed, the homeless, these are the common people who speak and are seen. His films express a political statement and free speech inhabited by a raw and indomitable force.

Selected and awarded in leading documentary festivals, L'Espérance's films are internationally acclaimed. Into the Delta won the Best Director Award at the Florence Festival dei Popoli (2010). Sur le rivage du monde won, for its part, the Grand Prize of the international DOK.Fest Munich (2013). The Song of Empedocles was selected at RIDM (2019) and DOK.fest Munich (2020). His latest film Animal macula won a special award in the National Feature Film Competition at RIDM in 2021.