Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints: category

Muriel reading. Photo: Terre Nash
Sadly we just learned that our friend Muriel Duckworth, pioneering feminist and peace activist, passed away Saturday morning at the venerable age of 100. I say we, because many of my relatives and friends knew and admired Muriel, a tireless opponent of war and injustice in all forms. You can read [...]

Marching Grannies
All photos by Alan Auvaart (see below)
I just came back from filming the Raging Grannies in action at the protest against the CANSEC arms fair in Ottawa. It is the largest event of its kind in Canada, showcasing all the best new ways to inflict pain, cause death and create mayhem. It was held [...]

Mémés and Grannies sing in front of Eaton Center
Continuing to shoot our film abut the Raging Grannies and their French-speaking sisters, the Mémés Déchaïnées. Last week we joined Louise-Édith Hébert and Anna-Louise Fontaine as they picked up several other Mémés and brought them down to a rehearsal with the Raging Grannies. They then went over [...]

Myself and Martin Duckworth filming the Grannies in Vermont.
I am still working on my film about the Raging Grannies, the movement of elderly women fighting for peace, social justice and the environment with satirical songs and the occasional guerrilla action. I have decided to edit some of the Grannies’ songs as music videos, and so [...]

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 [...]

Just returned from Victoria, B.C. where I filmed the 20th anniversary celebration of the Raging Grannies. Victoria is where it all started, and many of the formidable women who took the initiative for this movement are still active - a little frail some of them, but very motivated, creative and busy !
The Raging Grannies [...]