Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints: category

Last week, at the Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal, I had a chance to see the latest film by one of the world’s best documentarians, Kim Longinotto. In Pink Saris, she tells the story of the ‘Pink Gang’ of women in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states. Led by a tough lady named [...]

It’s film festival season in Montreal, and I have seen quite a few films. I am often struck by how much it takes to make a really excellent doc. A good subject or a worthy cause are only the most basic starting points. A good story is one step better, but far from a guarantee [...]

“You don’t like the Truth – Four Days inside Guantanamo” The film is about the shocking case of the young Omar Khadr, the 24-year old accused of terrorism and killing an American soldier, who has been imprisoned for seven years, most of that time in Guantanamo. I will not summarize the case and describe this moving and incisive film in any detail, because I would not do as good a job as Cinema Politica’s Ezra Winton – read his article on the Art Threat blog.

Suffice it to say that the film is a deconstruction and analysis of the surveillance camera video of the seven-hour, truly revolting –Orwellian more than Kafkaesque– interrogation of Khadr by representatives of CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The normal progression for a budding filmmaker has generally been from student films and shorty shorts towards longer shorts, and then medium-length films and finally feature length ones. Working on the short films, he or she would learn the ropes, learn how to use equipment and tell a story. Later on, with more resources, would [...]

French would be the logical language for this post, but I’d like to share this content with people outside Quebec. This past week was Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette week. This extremely talented, 31-year-old Montreal director launched a novel, held a vernissage for a photo exhibition, and signed a terrific documentary broadcast on Radio-Canada Sunday night at 10.30. [...]

Cette semaine à Sunny Side of the Doc à La Rochelle, l’ONF et ARTE France ont annoncé une collaboration pour la production de documentaires pour le web. Ils produiront un documentaire par année, avec un budget de 100.000 $ Can. Les deux ont déjà une expérience considérable avec les webdocs. Depuis presque un an déjà, [...]

Last Friday night, Ole Gjerstad‘s and Joelie Sanguya‘s film Qimmit: A Clash of Two Truths premiered at the Cinéma Parallèle as part of the Présence autochtone aboriginal film festival. Co-produced by Piksuk Media Inc. and the National Film Board of Canada, the film won the Rigoberta Menchu Second Prize at the 20th First Peoples’ Festival [...]

I went to see Garry Beitel’s film The Socalled Movie when it premiered in Montreal a few days ago. A terrific evening: great film, great audience, all very Montreal. The post-screening Q & A was followed by a concert by the film’s main character, musician Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin) with his band. Socalled is a [...]

Regular guest blogger Jocelyne Clarke wrote this about a very committed Montreal filmmaker. At the recent edition of Vues d’Afrique, I attended Erica Pomerance’s just completed film, ‘Opération Survie’, about a medical condition that affects approximately two million women worldwide : obstetrical fistula. Generally associated with primitive birthing conditions, delivery complications and inadequate health care, the [...]

Jocelyne Clarke qui contribue régulièrement à ce blogue nous parle d’une cinéaste très engagée, aussi basée à Montréal. À Vues d’Afrique cette année, j’ai vu un film important réalisé par Erica Pomerance, « Opération survie », sur un sujet pas très « sexy » mais o combien pertinent pour les femmes africaines, la fistule obstétrique. Selon les statistiques, environ [...]