Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints: archive

From The Diamond Road
Can you be a documentary filmmaker in the present tough context and still have a life I do my best to have time for family and friends, and to get out in the bush or on a river somewhere regularly. This past weekend I was out paddling with another documentary producer/director, my [...]

Young@Heart
One of the most inspiring documentaries I have seen in recent years is playing in at least one theatre in Montreal right now. Young@Heart , by British filmmaker Stephen Walker, tells the story of a choir of elderly people preparing for an important concert in their Massachusetts home town. But they are not singing [...]

Documentary instructors Peter Raymont and Steve Lucas with director Derreck Roemer and Jan Rofekamp, president and CEO of Film Transit International, at SIFT 2007.
Last december I had the opportunity to teach a two-day workshop on the basics of doc-making for the Canadian Screen Training Centre in Montreal. At the same time Nettie Wild and others [...]

Up The Yangtze, a film by Yung Chang
When I attended the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto a few weeks ago, a heard a lot of talk about the CBC, much of it disgruntled. Once back in Montreal, I summarized these concerns and sent them to Andrew Johnson, Commissioning editor and senior producer of [...]

Jennifer Alleyn with her dad Edmund.
Not long ago I had the chance to see ‘My father’s studio’, a beautiful film by Jennifer Alleyn produced by Jeannine Gagné at Amazone Films. The opening screening will be at ExCentris in French and at Cinéma du Parc in English starting May 9th. Excellent editing by Annie Jean. [...]

Jennifer Alleyn avec son père Edmund.
Il n’y a pas longtemps j’ai eu l’occasion de voir ‘l’Atelier de mon père’, un trés beau film de Jennifer Alleyn produit par Jeannine Gagné à Amazone Films. Le film prend l’affiche à ExCentris en français et au Cinéma du Parc et anglais à partir du 9 Mai. Excellent [...]