STARS

Montreal in winter is a cold, cruel place. It’s the sort of city where you have to chip the tears off your cheeks when you start to cry, where words freeze barely halfway out of your mouth. The cold is a vindictive bride – she’ll trap you between her thighs and turn your heart to ice if you’re not careful. Most sensible people spend their time indoors, trying to combat the chill by drinking red wine, getting high and having sex. Some fall in and out of love and some just fall asleep.

Last January, in the dead of night when everyone was dreaming, Montreal’s Stars escaped the city for an even colder place. Bundled in parkas, they headed to North Hatley, in Quebec’s rural Eastern Townships, hunkered down and set themselves on fire.

When the snow melted and they came out blinking in the sun, Stars discovered they’d made something of staggering beauty.