Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints: archive

Myself and Simon Bujold (camera) filming Annie Roy and Pierre Allard, the founders of ATSA. Photo Marc-André Verpaelst.

Je vous avais parlé de notre tournage à État d’Urgence, le ‘happening’ artistique et social organisé par Annie Roy et Pierre Allard. Trois stagiaires sont venus nous aider durant la semaine. Je leur ai demandé qu’est-ce qu’ils [...]

Abdallah of Mile-end from Adam Shamash’s film.
I don’t know if you know about Radio Canada’s contest ‘ Digital Diversity/Métissé Serré’? It is a very well organized competition which allows for audience participation. No surprise, for one of the persons in charge is Michel Coulombe who we know as a founder of the ‘ Silence – [...]

Abdallah de Mile-end, le personnage du film de Adam Shamash.
Je ne sais pas si vous connaissez le concours ‘Métissé Serré’ de Radio-Canada ? Mais c’est une belle expérience participative, très bien organisée. Pas une surprise, car un des responsables est Michel Coulombe (bio) que nous connaissons en tant que fondateur du défunt programme ‘Silence on [...]

Photo Marc-André Verpaelst
(This was first posted in french, thanks to Jeannette Pope for the translation.)
Wednesday evening we began Filming State of Emergency 2007, ( État d’Urgence 2007) an artistic and social ‘happening” which takes place in Émilie Gamelin square in Montreal until Sunday the 25 Nov. Organized by the artists [...]

Photo Marc-André Verpaelst
Hier soir nous avons commencé un tournage à État d’Urgence 2007, un ‘happening” artistique et social qui occupera la place Émilie Gamelin à Montréal jusqu’à dimache le 25 Nov. Organisé par les artistes Annie Roy et Pierre Allard, les fondateurs de ATSA ( Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable), l’évenement en est à sa [...]

Father Jerôme Ledoux, the main character from the film ‘Shake the Devil Off.’
The RIDM ended in beauty with a closing film which I loved, ‘ Shake the Devil Off ‘ by Peter Entell, from Switzerland. Filmed in News-Orléeans, it follows the struggle of a predominantly black population trying to maintain its parish [...]

Le père Jerôme Ledoux, personnage principal du film ‘Shake the Devil Off.’
(There will be an english translation of this post in a few days.)
Les Rencontres (Montréal) se sont terminées en beauté, avec un film de clôture que j’ai adoré, ‘Shake the Devil Off’ ( ‘Chassez le démon’) de Peter Entell, de la Suisse. Tourné à [...]

Angelina, one of the people from the film: De l’autre côté du pays, in a dormitory where her daughter, Charlotte was taken by the rebels and held captive for 8 years.
The RDIM began with force. I found the choice of the opening film, Junior - a film by Isabelle Lavigne and Stephane Thibault, really [...]

(This is a translation from a post from last week. Sorry it’s late! Jeannette Pope.)

Rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I saw more films at the RDIM. The Danish film –The Monastery tells a most extraordinary story, so well told that we completely ignore a certain lack of professionalism in the [...]

(This is a translation of a post from last week, thanks to Jeannette Pope.)
The RIDM was at its peak yesterday.
I saw ‘The War on Democracy’ by John Pilger who was here for the occasion. Not my type of cinema - the moments of spontaneity are rare - but it has a very good analysis [...]