In the vast white expanse of the northern part of Canada, Mathieu Blanchard pulls his pulka through temperatures of minus 40 Celsius degrees. He pushes himself to his limits in the Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 600-kilometre race that he completed in nearly eight days. In search of solitude, the ultra-trail runner reveals himself in L’appel du silence (The call of silence), an immersive and haunted French film where pure performance fades away to make room for raw emotions. Co-director Mathis Decroux tells us more.
The images of the film are breathtaking. White as far as the eye can see and some humans towing their pulkas while trying to maintain an acceptable running pace at -40°C. And an idea: to go in search of oneself, of the cold, of silence, of physical performance.
In February, 2025, Mathieu Blanchard won the Yukon Arctic Ultra race. It took him 7 days and