Magnus would have felt honoured by the outpouring of praise from friends and colleagues on his blog, on his Facebook page, on the Doc list serv, and in the media. He was a public kind of guy, sharing not only his insights into documentary practice and his love for film in general, but also his more personal life, including the last 5 years as he faced the challenges of illness.

Those five years were incredibly productive, despite the difficult context for documentary filmmaking. His work reached a new maturity and his last film, Ma vie réelle, could well be seen as one of his best.

While he knew the cancer that reared its ugly head back in 2007 might return, it was only in the last 6 months that he really began to feel its effects. There were the twice or 3 times yearly scans to deal with and the worry of leaving his family and a young daughter, but otherwise he was a happy and fulfilled human being until the end, living life to the fullest, aware of every precious minute.

Nowhere was that more evident than in the fréquent forays he made onto Quebec’s rivers, whenever he could find even a few days, often enticing colleagues away from their desks and editing rooms.

We too, his family, have been consoled in our loss by the knowledge that Magnus is being remembered, his work being critically examined, tributes being planned and a filmmaking award being set up in his name.

This blog, which Magnus began 5 years ago seems a fitting place to post some of the more personal letters and tributes from friends and colleagues, those which will never make it into newspaper or academic articles. They reveal the whole person behind the filmmaker, the friendships he valued, the passionate, crazy guy he was.

We hope you enjoy them!

- Jocelyne

Tributes from Friends

From Patricio Henriquez, one of Canada’s leading documentary filmmakers. He worked with Salvador Allende and was forced to leave Chile after the coup in 1973. He sent me  this after I mentioned him as an inspiration in an interview in November 2011.

My very dear Magnus,

I am so proud that you count me among the people who influenced you. Especially since it was just the opposite.  Just after we got to know each other in the 1980’s you were a decisive influence on me. Coming from journalism and public affairs television, I followed in your footsteps and decided that I could – like you – dare step away from the financial security of television and take the uncertain road of independent documentary production. I took that decision in spite of some persistent fears, and I never regretted it, even though my finances never recovered to their levels of 20 years ago. I state and I repeat : you were the deciding influence in my decisions, and I will always be grateful for that. I am also proud that you count me among your friends. To be close to you is a magnificent privilege, always inspiring, and not just on the professional level.  Your talent, your involvement, your loyalty and your integrity are models for the rest of us.

Your friend and companion

Patricio Henriquez

……………..

From Helene Klodawsky, one of our best documentary filmmakers, very sensitive and creative.  We have known each other since she first came to Montreal some 30 years ago. She wrote me this in the spring of 2012 as it was clear that my health was getting a lot worse and I was talking about semi-retiring.

Dear Magnus,

Your letter is so moving and without a doubt, shows the enormous strength, love and insight that you and Jocelyn are known for.  You are leaders – not only in the film community – but in a “whole” human way.  The way you are sharing your challenges, as well as your hopes and achievements makes all of us, I think, dare to be more open, more sharing of who we are – even when things are tough.

I am really sorry to hear that health issues continue to get in the way of your amazing work and dedication to telling stories, particularly in these difficult times.  You seem, along with your family, in touch with what’s most important – and so I salute you in your self-knowing.  May time in the country and in your canoe give you the peace and clean air you seek.  I can’t see you being retired for long Magnus – it will be no surprise to see you taking on a multitude of projects – maybe different ones, but no doubt as engaging.

Helene Klodawsky 

………………

From Claes Jurander and Petra Westermark, two leading Swedish artists and childhood friends. Claes makes graphic art and drawings, and has been teaching in Sweden’s art schools for several decades. Petra is a textile artist who exhibits nationally and internationally. I have seen them about every two years ever since I moved from Sweden in 1970, usually at their incredible house  at the end of a Stockholm bus route. Jocelyne quickly became a close friend of theirs too, finding many affinities around plants, literature, art and music.

Dear Magnus,

Today we went picking raspberries. That made us think of you. We think of you often, but at this precise moment, in the raspberry field, the image of you sharpened.  We have strong memories of you from that particular spot, gulping down the red berries. In a white shirt and full of life. While the other guests are sitting down, eating pie. Because from Montreal you have, as usual, in some magical way organized the gang of youth friends for a bi-annual get-together. Thanks to you, we meet again.

It makes us happy to see the pictures and to read about the beautiful wedding, and about all the love that is showered on you. It comforts us to feel the enormous strength you are showing against the force of the illness. But it is difficult and so unusual to see you ensnared in all the tubes and technical devices demanded by the care. In our inner eye, you will always be descending dangerous rapids and escalate the Rocky mountains.

We also think about Jocelyne. So strong in the middle of all this. She is your great gift, Magnus !

Claes Jurander / Petra Westermark

…………………………..

Franck le Coroller has been my assistant for the last couple of years. And what an assistant ! His skills became increasingly important as I started losing a few marbles due to medication. Negotiate something, organize something, pull things together at the last minute, Franck was always there performing a small miracle and saving our scene. Now he has promised to help pull together a DVD which will transmit some of what I feel I have learned along the way. Thank you Franck!

I am taking the time now to do a balance sheet of everything I was exposed to during these very busy years and to evaluate what I learned.  Beyond the techniques and manners, it was a way of doing things that you found ways of sharing with me (and others) in such generous ways. I feel more human, and you and Martin are already inspirations for me. Something indefinable has been passed through me. Now I just have to dive in myself and let my own ideas develop in the same fashion.

I am sad not to be by your side at this moment, but I know that you are surrounded by love and that is reassuring. You have shown incredible wisdom, and I am with you with my whole being however you decide to live these moments. You have marked my existence profoundly and forever. What a fantastic encounter.

Kisses, friendship and add some oceanic clouds drifting in.

Franck

………………

Frederick Bohbot is an up-and-coming producer in Monteal, very dynamic and full of initiative. He wrote me this short message the day after our wedding party.

Hi Magnus,

Thank you and Jocelyne for letting me share this moment with you.

I’m very sorry to see the way this illness is coming after you.

I don’t think I’ve ever said it to you directly, but your presence in my life has had a profound effect. Regularly, I think about how I would absolutely not be doing what I’m doing today had I not met you. And meeting people over the years who have worked with you and speaking to people at the party on Friday, it’s clear that I’m not the only one that you have helped enormously.

If there’s any way that I can help you or Jocelyne over the coming months please never hesitate to ask.

Frederic

…………………

Martin Duckworth is one of my best friends and more than anyone else the  guy who has allowed me to do what I have done professionally. His heart is huge, his generosity without limits, and his talent immense. He has done a fantastic job on my new film, MY REAL LIFE. He wrote this when I told him I had collected some quotes.

Magnus. I think I know the secret of your constant blossoming as a human being and as a film-maker.  It’s the respect you have for other people.   You make everyone you meet feel relevant.  That brings out the best in people, and accounts for the love and respect that surrounds you.   You make us all feel fully alive when with you, both as friends and as fellow workers.

Martin

……………………

This is from one of my very best friends, Michael Kaufman of Toronto. He is an activist supporting womens’ rights, one of the founders of the White Ribbon campaign against violence against women. He has been one of the few people I could always discuss many personal issues with and a huge support throughout the years. We meet regularly near Kingston, benefitting from Michael’s and Betty’s incredible hospitality.

He wrote this to me as I told him I felt the end was near.

Dear Magnus,

I received your sad, peaceful, and heroic email. So many thoughts come into my head.

One is about your strength.  Maureen and I would always joke about your physical strength and stamina – for we remembered hikes when you carried both yours and Maureen’s pack up a mountain and another, when you and I were portaging and you carried both the canoe and what seemed like the lion’s share of our gear. It was always a quiet, physical strength, not the pumped up, chest-thumping physical strength celebrated in North America, but something more basic, more essential, more timeless.

But of course, what I’m thinking about now is your emotional strength. I don’t just mean these days – as you go through what all of us often live through in our imaginations but have no clue how we will actually manage.  What I mean is also the emotional strength throughout your life.

That strength of yours has carried many of us, just as you carried our packs. We’ve known each other for, what?, almost forty years. We met in a turbulent political time but also a turbulent personal time. You were always there for me, solid and supportive, as I tried to cope, not always successfully, with one messed up relationship or another. You held my hand, encouraged me, helped me make sense of my troubles, and told me in more ways than one that things would work out.  I will always owe you my gratitude and thanks.

One of the things I’ve always loved about you is the way you have managed to stay so true to your social values and to focus so singularly on what I think of as your political art, with no interest in the glitz and glamour that calls to many of us. I know I have always felt more torn between that desire to live the life of an artist, the life of a political activist and educator versus the desire for physical comfort and financial security. (The results have been predictably uneven!)  I’ve loved your ability to stay true to your great calling as a filmmaker focused on giving voice to those who have little voice, and bringing their spirit and thoughts to the world.

Yet, within that singular commitment, you weren’t crazy. You always found time to return to the lakes and the woods; you always insisted on making time for reading, some solitude, and physical activity, and for those you loved.

And it’s been so beautiful watching as you transformed your life with Jocelyne and as you became a father once again.

Magnus, although geography has kept us more apart than would have been good, you are and have been one of my closest friends throughout my adult life.

You are a treasure … a man who has brought treasures to others and a man to be treasured.

You will be with me in the years ahead.

I love you so very much.

Michael

……………………

This is from Clara Valverde whom I lived with through the 1980’s. Originally from Spain, her father was an author and political refugee from the Franco regime. Clara was and still is a writer, health activist and sometimes healer. She wrote me this after I told her I feel the end is near.

My dear Magnus,

It’s very strong of you to admit your vulnerability. I think it was Eduardo Galeano who said: “It takes a lot of courage to be discouraged”.

I am sad that you life is coming to and end, but what a life! Do you remember the title of Pablo Neruda’s autobiography? “Confieso que he vivido”. Boy, you have lived!  Your strength, ideas and determination, your commitment to justice, they will go on and on and inspire projects, people, small and not so small revolts.

I know that I learned much from you and got “infected” by your drive to do whatever one wants, to find the way to have a voice and give voice to those who don’t have. That part of me has a lot of Magnus in it.

Be vulnerable or whatever you feel. You have done so much for the world and the world is a better place for it.

And so are we, the ones who love you.

lots of love,

Clara

…………………………..

Magnus didn’t get around to annotating the following two letters, but he certainly meant to. 

This one is from his close friend Ole Gjerstad, a Norwegian expatriate filmmaker who has been away from Norway as long as Magnus has been from Sweden.  This first paragraph basically spells out their first meeting – Ole coming from California and Magnus being his first contact here, his little apartment on Henri-Julien, both with young children, when Magnus was producing a radio documentary about the Vikings for Swedish radio.  Born within a week of each other, Magnus and Ole celebrated their birthdays together at 40, 50 and 60.

Kjœre, kjœre Magnus;

Først var du bare et navn, felles bidragsyter til “Kommentar”, kontaktperson i Montreal.  Så da jeg dukket opp fra California, var det logisk at jeg tok kontakt.  Du bodde i en bitteliten leilighet på rue Henri-Julien, hvor jeg knapt kunne dukke meg inn døren.  Anna var syv år; mine barn var babyer. Du laget radiodokumentar for SR om vikingene på Vinland, og jeg satt stemme til utdragene fra Leifs saga. Vi var akkurat like gamle, dvs. du seks dager eldre enn meg.  Vårt nœre og voksende vennskap begynte da, i 1979.

You have to admit, it’s been quite a life.  We’ve been like two corks bouncing on the currents down the river of life, one caught in an eddy, the other topsy-turvy through rapids — but usually we emerged in the next calm stretch within sight of each other.  We could (still can) be honest about our doubts, our flaws, just as we took genuine pleasure in each other’s victories and lucky breaks.

I always admired your stubborn determination to get your films made, and made to your standards, even when it meant working for nothing month after month. Such a fucking waste of talent and commitment is what I felt, and it made me even angrier at the direction our industry has been taking.  Me, I don’t have your patience and persistence, and especially the energy that you’ve been pouring into mentoring younger colleagues these past several years.  It has raised the horizon of each one of them, as I’m sure they’ll tell you a thousand times over.

When you had that first tumor removed five or six years ago, I didn’t like it one bit.  Chantal had received her diagnosis; we were heading down a dark valley, and even if the doctors told you not to worry, I was less confident.  Well, you’ve used the break to the fullest, in your life with Jocelyne and Bethiele and in turning out a series of great, moving docs.  And now, as much as the evil C is ravaging your body, your calm courage makes it possible for us who love you to come away strengthened by your spirit rather than broken by the cruelty of it all.  If you only knew what a difference that makes!

I’ll be around tomorrow and days following.  I’ll remind you of some of the highlights of our journey.  I’ll rub your back, hold your hand, and just be your friend, as always.

Ole

…………………..

Mark Achbar hardly needs an introduction, one of Canada’s pre-eminent documentary filmmakers.  Before moving away from Montreal, Mark and Magnus spent many an hour in the gym and sauna of the University of Montreal sports center.  Their friendship remained close even when Mark moved to Vancouver (and beyond).  Recently, they spend a week at Martin Duckworth’s family house on lake Memphremagog, allowing Magnus to breathe the pure air he so craved, to have a few more paddles, and where Mark revealed what a nurturing and caring friend he was.  Thank you again Mark!

Dear Magnus,

It’s so considerate of you to feel the need to include us, or make reference to us; I don’t feel left out at all, and wouldn’t have. You’re so special to each of us in different ways.

But now that you bring it up, there are things I may not have remembered to tell you during our week at the Duckworth’s cottage, or ever, for that matter. I would rather say this to you directly, now, rather than to a group of grieving friends and family, later.  Maybe I’ll do both. But you know how I hate public speaking.

Although I moved away from Montreal in 1994, and haven’t seen you that often since, I’ve never felt any less close to you. My 8 Montreal years were so deeply enhanced by your friendship. You are a core part of why every molecule of my being felt so at home in that city. You’re undoubtedly a major part of what kept me going on the Chomsky film. I’m glad my glum pessimism never infected you.

When I think of you Magnus, I think of your relentlessly positive attitude. Your excitement about, and admiration for, the work of others. A natural humility offset by incredible talent and persistence. Your bravery.  Your patient impatience. Your ability to juggle so many balls at once and still not spread yourself too thin (I know you would beg to differ). Your honesty about your own imperfections and weaknesses.  In fact, your matter-of-fact-ness about everything. The way you gently ask the hardest questions, so directly, so unabashedly, in a way that has moved me, and I’m sure all who have been fortunate to encounter you, to think more deeply about themselves, their actions, the world around them. About injustice.  About inequality.

That’s what you do person-to-person, and it’s what you do through your work.

When I first met you, I was impressed by your grasp of politics and international affairs, and your eloquence on those subjects, and how, without showing off or intimidating, you would invite others to share your knowledge and understanding. In that way you are the best of teachers. Inspiring others to better themselves, and to do their best. You do that in so many ways, in so many realms. Even now. Especially now.

I will treasure my memories of hiking with you for days in Vermont; canoeing with Harold, so depressed at the time; cross-country skiing behind you, struggling to keep up, trying to imitate that little kick you do with each step, that made you go so fast, so gracefully, seemingly effortlessly. You grew up on those skis, I knew I’d never catch up unless you let me. It wasn’t fair. Not that anything is.

We each needed an exercise buddy and found the perfect match in one another. Our modus operandi was: you provide the motivation, I provide the transportation. You’d call and I’d drive us to the gym, and like clockwork we’d go through our workout routine: so many minutes cardio, so many minutes this, so many minutes that, all very structured. At the end, we would reward ourselves with a relaxing sauna and an exchange of information about our projects and our love lives.

There are few things I enjoy less in life than the sudden shock of cold water, so to go from deep sauna to deep freeze is pretty close to my worst nightmare. But you would challenge me to follow your example, lowering yourself into that frighteningly cold, deep, dark, square of self-torture just outside the sauna. I remember doing it at least once, but I remember you more clearly, you:  stepping backwards, you’d let go of the ladder, plunge yourself in, then tread water. You’d touch the ladder in front of you, rotate 90 degrees, tread water for a moment more, touch that side of the pool, then rotate 90 degrees, tread some more, then touch the next side, and continue around until you’d done 360 degrees and ended up back at the ladder. And only then would you allow yourself get out. This was not merely the lunacy of your average Swede, but an instinctive exercise of mind over matter. You were able to re-direct and occupy your mind to the point that the numbing cold didn’t matter. I also see you doing that now. And this too will be a great relief when it’s over.…

Thank you for everything Magnus, for your kind, dear, caring friendship, your encouragement, your confidence, your honesty, your advice, your generosity.

I will miss you very, very, much. There is some comfort knowing I won’t be alone in that.

Alone, late at night, on Salt Spring Island, with Love,

Your friend and admirer,

Mark

Our dear friend, father, brother, colleague, militant, activist has passed away Thursday August 2nd, 2012, after a struggle with cancer.

Magnus, notre ami, père, frère, miltant, activiste, collègue est décédé jeudi, le 2 août suite à un combat contre le cancer.

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Read friend’s words in this post.

Read The Gazette’s obituary and the report from the CBC. Et ici, dans le Devoir.

Marc Glassman, editor of POV magazine, had conducted an extensive career interview with Magnus about six months ago.

One word comes to mind when I think of Magnus: integrity. As an artist, as a family man, as a friend, he was always full value. He never let himself—or anyone else—down.

He came to documentary out of a profound desire to expose injustices in the world. Magnus had a deep sense of what’s right and wrong and he used his camera to bring to light the causes and concerns of at-risk youths in Montreal North, Canada’s Native peoples and the homeless in city cores. He was fearless, taking on institutions ranging from McDonald’s to the Quebec government.

Magnus’ cinema became more personal as he matured as a filmmaker. The wonderful duo in Art in Action, the feisty Choir Boys and the amazing Raging Grannies came to life under Magnus’ quiet and compassionate gaze. Without losing a sense of the political, Magnus created indelible portraits of people he came to know and respect.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with Magnus and his wonderful family—-Jocelyne and Bethiele in Montreal and Anna in Toronto. What’s struck me is that Magnus was ever present, participating to the fullest in his personal life as he did in his work as a documentarian. Whether it was riding his bike up the mountain three times a week or keeping an insightful and intelligent doc blog or having a dinner with family and friends, Magnus did it with commitment and style. His life and work is an inspiration to us all.

Marc Glassman

The full version of the POV interview can be found online here: POV Magazine- Magnus Isacsson- Advocate and Auteur. 

In the next few days, we will post some of the tributes that are coming in. Meanwhile, you are welcome to leave a thought, a comment, right below.

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On publiera davantage un peu plus tard…

Vous êtes invités à laisser un mot, un commentaire, ci-dessous.

David St-Pierre, Choreographer

I recently saw a documentary which I consider to be one of the best I’ve ever seen, OVER MY DEAD BODY (trailer). It follows renowned Quebec choreographer Dave St. Pierre during the several year period when he waits for a lung transplant – the only way to save his life from cystic fibrosis. The filmmaker is St. Pierre’s friend and creative partner Brigitte Poupart, and this is her first film.

Brigitte Poupart, Actress, Dancer & Filmmaker

Several things make this film exceptional. St. Pierre is totally vulnerable.  We follow him through the trials and tribulations of the high-risk operation, several times cancelled as the deadline for survival by surgery draws nearer.  Poupart’s commentary is personal, intimate and honest. Her creative vision is remarkably layered and textured, drawing on footage of St. Pierre’s work as well as his health predicament. One has the impression Poupart is a seasoned documentarian who has developed a visual signature over a period of a few decades. But no – she is a performance artist, involved in theatre and dance shows. To top it all off, this film was made on a very small budget, with the support mainly of the Quebec Arts Council and an artist’s centre called PRIM.

Ten years ago I ran a series of screenings called the Lundis du Doc/Docu-Mondays. It was in collaboration with the Quebec Director’s Association (ARRQ), the French program of the NFB and the Rencontres du Documentaire. It was a lot of work, and I stopped doing it in 2005 at the same time as I started this blog. Now, a group of filmmaker friends want to pick up where I left off. My health doesn’t allow me to continue, but I wish them the best of luck. They gave me a carte blanche for the first evening, that’s why we’ll be screening Poupart’s film. For those of you who live in Montreal, it’s at the ARRQ, MONDAY AUG 6TH, 19 HRS, 5154 ST.HUBERT.

Thank you to Sally Rylett for help with this blog post.

Danny Raymond, Alex ‘Breezy’ Bryson, Mikerson ‘Swagga Kid’ Stiverne and his older brother Michael ‘da Prince Stiverne.

The ‘characters’ and the crew.

Over a year and a half, we shot about 60 hours of material. Working with our formidable editor Annie Jean we have now shaped this material into a 90-minute film. The creative process has been terrifically stimulating. Some things worked out much as I had seen them from the beginning: only a snippet of first-person narration at the beginning of the film; alternating between our characters just by cutting, no special devices required. But other developments were surprising. For example, some of the interviews I had written off as being too meagre came to life and took on a great deal of meaning thanks to Annie’s ministrations. And then there’s the music. Two of our characters, Alex and Mikerson, are rap singers. Seeing how well their music worked in the film, we commissioned them to develop more songs that they recorded together with the help of Don Karnage, a music teacher and community organizer who has an electrifying presence on the screen. In the end, Alex’s and especially Mikerson’s music is the main music of the movie, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they get a lot of attention when the film comes out. The film is now named after one of Mikerson’s songs, MA VIE RÉELLE. (MY REAL LIFE.)  The title has a few meanings, opposing the real day-to day life of the young men to the clichés we see in the media, and also to the many virtual realities which occupy a large portion of their time.

Almost until the end of the editing process, our wonderful cinematographer Martin Duckworth helped with pick-up shoots, as well as participating in creative meetings with Producer Jeannine Gagné and sometimes groups of invited guests. Jeannine has given us complete creative freedom while at the same time offering judicious advice and total support.
Now Annie and I have done most of our work, and the film heads off to sound editing, colour correction and other dimensions of picture on-line, and finally the sound mix in late September. The film will première in November.

Thanks to Sally Rylett for helping with this blog.

Montreal documentary filmmaker Martin Frigon recently released a film called La Grande Invasion (The Great Invasion, produced by Productions Multi-Monde) on a subject which is very close to my heart: the impact of out-of-control real estate development on local communities.My father who was an artist and art school director in Sweden spent a good part of his life fighting for the respect of the character of the landscape and local communities where he lived on the Atlantic coast north of Gothenburg. But I don’t think in his wildest nightmares he could have imagined the kind of development which is now transforming the Laurentians, a beautiful area north of Montreal where I have some land and spend a lot of my time paddling and hiking.

I saw the film at the Parc Cinema, which allowed time for a substantial panel discussion after the screening. As Martin’s film shows, the development of mega-shopping-centres (‘Power Centres’) and giant housing developments is literally ruining local communities,even forcing many local residents to become refugees. I asked Martin a few questions.

I think if I had made this film I would have paid a lot of attention to the aesthetics, contrasting archives from what used to be beautiful Laurentian villages with the horrors of this kind of development. But your focus is really on economics, culture and community life. Why is the tax issue so important?

The idea of contrasting the beauty of the old villages and the unbridled development we are seeing was the basis for my first script. At that time, my main character was Louis Pelletier, a carpenter known in the local media as the king of heritage buildings in the Laurentians. From the beginning, the documentary was about the destruction of built heritage under pressure from American urbanism. The idea of contrasting old and new was natural, with this man whose hands worked the wood and built the inside of these buildings. His reflections were very interesting and revolved around the fact that craftspeople were driven out of the construction industry in the early 1970’s and most of the villages which have become monuments of ugliness used to be architectural jewels. The craftspeople were driven out by building codes which got increasingly rigid (along with lots of other things) and the know-how they took with them has been lost in the depths of time along with the beauty of our towns and villages.

Quebec villages have been covered over by tons of vinyl and cheap clapboard; the dressing that used to be on the buildings, the ornamental architecture has been wiped out. With Louis, we intended to use archival photos to reconstitute some of the buildings, which had been abandoned out of ignorance or lack of funds, and give back their character to the villages and towns. He proposed to show us the extraordinary heritage that was buried and only needed surfacing.

But it didn’t take long after we were on the ground, to realize that the idea of renovations would be insignificant in the tidal wave of large surface stores and accompanying real estate development that was washing over the area.From the ground, the urgency of looking at the impact of overdevelopment on local populations was obvious. This development is exacerbated in the Laurentians by flourishing recreational tourist development that is almost a caricature. The Disney dream seems to be the blueprint for American-style urban development, producing a high-end tourist industry, which not only develops on the margins of the world, but attacks local populations who cannot survive the hyper inflated property values.

Property taxes in some areas are a pure reflection of speculation. It’s because a small portion of property sales in a given area can be used to set the tax rate for all residents. Our property taxes are totally regressive and out-dated and they transfer money from the poor to the rich, the exact opposite of income taxes.In this regard, these taxes are a magnificent expression of neo-liberalism, where “you take money from the poor – they don’t have much, but there are a lot of them.

At the heart of the film, there is a story of a stubborn grocery store owner and a well-known artist in Val David, fighting to maintain the local community. Can you tell me their story? Do they represent the desperate last gasp of a vanishing way of life, or is there really some hope for the future? 

René Derouin, an internationally known artist who trained with the Mexican muralists in the 1950’s, comes out of his workshop to place art into the centre of his community. There is a grocery store in the central square of the village (a small Metro store) owned by Jacques Dufresne, the grandson of the original grocer family whose ancestors founded Val-David. When René Derouin learns that the owners of Metro headquarters in Montreal were pressuring Jacques Dufresne to move his business out of town to the side of the highway to compete with the large box stores, he thought of resisting the move through art.Both men knew that if the grocery store moved, life would be drained from the town.

Derouin made Jacques Dufresne a proposal to create a mural that would circle the food store like a belt (450 feet in length), a piece of art that would integrate nature and the community. The artist would be bringing art out of the museum. So he creates a work inspired by northern fauna and the Laurentian flora of Marie-Victorin (the father of Quebec botany). The very centre of Val-David will be marked by a work that symbolizes connection with the land, a sort of DNA of the Quebec nation and lasting symbol for its future. I would say it is not so much an attempt to preserve a bygone way of life as to find a modern way (Derouin is definitely a modern artist) of responding to the tidal wave of box stores and shopping centres. I know that René Derouin was seeking a way to prevent Quebec being turned into merely folklore in future, something of the past and apart from the real world. He dreamed that the mural project on the Metro store would become a trigger for development by local merchants and have a domino effect that would bring the village into the future. The project would be a way of putting art at the centre of development, the opposite of the dominant economic model that builds around Power Centres and anonymous housing projects whose aesthetics are based on uprooting and separation. Beyond art in a strict sense, René Derouin dreams of brining back the public square. Let’s not forget that the spread of Power Centres is also a privatisation of public space, it’s reducing humans to their function as consumers and the world as a place strictly for trade.

In conclusion, I would say that the two parts of the film represent two paths of resistance to overdevelopment: the path of art, and the path of mobilizing the people, two paths that depend on each other because they carry the same idea- the future of culture and community – the question of life in society.

 

Last fall I posted part one of an interview with my friend Ali Kazimi on 3D and its potential for documentary. Here is part 2. Ali is an award-winning filmmaker and most recently author of Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru – An Illustrated History (www.undesirables.ca). He is an associate professor in the Department of Film at York University, where he has been researching stereoscopic 3D digital cinema since 2008.

Ali Kazimi.

I feel 3D is appropriate only for certain kinds of documentaries that have both very controlled shooting parameters, such as nature, performance or travel with healthy if not hefty budgets especially for post production. Ken MacNeil from Creative Post in Toronto, likes to point out that finishing a stereoscopic 3D (S3D) film is akin to creating a Digital Intermediate for a film shot on 35mm film. i.e. one has to use a very high end S3D capable system to do the overall colour correction and stereo-grading. The colour grading ensures that both cameras are matched as closely as possible, the stereo grading involves fixing the geometrical issues between lenses, the alignment between cameras and determining where the screen plane will lie – i.e. what will be in front of the screen and what will appear behind it.

I take it there is a real learning curve involved here ? You can’t just improvise.

A fundamental knowledge of S3D basics combined with basic knowledge of human perception is essential. For example one of the things that cannot be fixed in post is the depth in shot – this is determined by the Inter-Axial (IA) distance between the two cameras, hence the IA determines the depth in a given shot, in simple terms the greater the IA the more the depth (note: if one pushes this too far you get miniaturization, an effect specific to S3D). What one can adjust in post-production is the point at which both cameras converge – Convergence determines where the screen plane lies. If your depth, as determined by the IA has not been calculated properly, the scene may be unwatchable and the only way to fix it would be either to loose one of the camera images and keep it in 2d or to go for a 2D to 3D conversion.

And how accessible is the equipment ?

Currently at the lower end there are many tools both in terms of cameras and post-production that are making it S3D more accessible. I have been playing around with the new Sony HDR-TD10 S3D consumer camcorder. It is the first affordable true HD camera, with 1920×1080 resolution for each eye. There is now a prosumer version, HXR-NX3D1, but unfortunately the codec used by Sony will only work on their proprietary Vegas Pro system, there are complicated workarounds to edit the material on other NLE software such as FCP, Avid, or Premiere.

On the one hand it is amazing to have these tool, on the other hand it, I go back to the steep learning curve necessary to learn stereoscopic 3D, it would be a mistake to think that this camera can be used to shoot an entire film in the same way that a 2D prosumer camera such as the Sony PD150 or the Sony Z1U was rapidly adopted for docs in the past. The new S3D cameras are good for many kinds of shots, but filmmakers will also need to keep using mirror rigs – i.e. two cameras mounted at 90 degrees with a partially silvered mirror at 45 degrees in between them. I have also seen the Sony shoulder mounted TD 300 camcorder – it offers greater control but again is limited by the fixed Inter Axial (IA) distance – the distance between the two cameras.

A documentary package for S3D production could consist of a Genus Hurricane mirror rig with a two Sony EX3’s and at a Sony TD10 or NX3. Of course, this is already two cameras more than a 2D package.

This sounds quite complex. Is it really compatible with the kind of flexibility and agility we associate with typical docs ?

I do think it is an exciting time for documentaries and the possibilities S3D offers, however I do feel it will be sometime before we start seeing lower budget films that offer more than just depth, in which the true potential of S3D is exploited. At the moment most S3D films need to work on both 2D and S3D screens. Many including myself feel that S3D on its own requires a different language – slower editing pace, wide angle lenses, more movement, deep focus. Pina is a great example of this, and Wenders has said that the film was designed with only S3D in mind and does not work in 2D, I have to agree with him.

Given the dismal state of documentary financing in Canada today, it is unlikely that anyone would make a film solely designed for S3D. Realistically you are looking at a budget that is significantly higher. Unlike the US and Europe where there are now dedicated S3D television broadcasters, in Canada there are none. Bell and Rogers have been running test channels for the past couple of years with the same compilation reels endlessly looped.

I have met several people who are eager to jump into S3D productions, they are typically focused on rigs and workflows, I do have to keep reminding them that they cannot bypass the fundamentals. Our 3DFlic research project at York has been renewed for another two years, so while I continue to explore content, form and technology for S3D docs, we will also be holding seminars, workshops and the second stereoscopic 3D conference next year.

 

 

The other day I went to see spring arrive at the Montapen falls north of Joliette, an hour and a half’s drive from Montreal.

Dear subscribers and other readers,

As you may or may not have noticed, with the overwhelming influx of messages which afflicts most of us, my blog has not been active for about six weeks – except for an old post which went out the other day. The immediate reason for this was a nasty malware-infection which has now been cleaned up thanks to my friends and colleagues Kim Gjerstad and Barry Greenwald and our hosting service WHC. However, it was time for the blog to change anyway. I am facing some serious health challenges, and will not be able to write as frequently as I used to. There was a time when I attempted to cover most significant developments in the world of documentary as well as presenting some of my own work, posting every week. From now on, I will write less frequently, and will focus on issues which are very close to my heart, or on people with whom I have a special relationship.

One of my upcoming posts will deal with La grande invasion, (the great invasion) a film about the devastating impact of real estate development gone wild in the Laurentians north of Montreal. Also coming soon, an interview with my dear friend Ali Kazimi about 3D and documentary – he is an authority on the subject and we have been fine-tuning this interview for several months.  And I will have a chance to report on the editing of my own film on the troubled youth of Montreal North.
All the best
MI

Thank you to Sally Rylett for helping with this post.

Jacques Leduc

This past weekend I went to some screenings at the annual Rendez-vous du cinéma québecois and caught up with some documentaries I missed last year. The RVCQ offers a dazzling combination of riches: fiction and docs, animation and multi-media experiences, screenings, workshops, panels and round tables. My friend and constant co-worker Martin Duckworth was impressed by a workshop with Montreal filmmaker Jacques Leduc.

Jacques Leduc began working as a cinematographer and director in 1965. His debut as a director was with the short Documentary Chantal en vrac (1965). Leduc followed this with his first feature fiction film two years later, Nominigue… depuis qu’il existe (1967) and then his first feature documentary film Cap d’espoir (1969). For the next two decades in the 70’s and 80’s, Jacques Leduc continued to work films with the NFB. During this time he collaborated on the NFB film Chronique de la vie quotidienne(1978), a series of 8 films. These varied in length from 10 to 82 minutes, in a cinema vérité style of observing the lives of ordinary people. He left in 1990 to become a freelance filmmaker, soon making the film La vie fantôme (1992) that won the Best Canadian Film at the Montreal World Film Festival. Since then he has been collaborating with other filmmakers both as a director and a cinematographer.

Here is what Martin has to say about the workshop:

Rendez-vous with Jacques Leduc was an hour of nostalgia for the end of a golden era (late seventies) when it was possible to get a film programmed at l’ONF with a proposal of a page and a half, and then take a year to make it. A time when there was a collective conscience among Quebec film-makers of a culture to celebrate. A time when the candid-camera style that started with Lonely Boy had reached its peak in the films of Gilles Groulx and Pierre Perrault, leaving room for blending it in with some of the more controlled “cinematic” style then being introduced in Quebec features–dollies, cranes, long takes. A time when documentary film crews could easily blend with crowds, free of the fear and suspicion that has tied documentary crews these days to the laborious task of getting people to sign release forms. The collectively signed films that were shown prior to the discussion (“Chronique de la vie quotidienne”) were born in the tavern where Film Board personnel went for lunch. Jacques Leduc coordinated ideas, crews, locations and editing, and was grateful for the support given by producer Jacques Bobet to a production without a script or completion schedule. One of our most original directors, Robert Morin (Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur (1992),Quiconque meurt, meurt a douleur (1997), Operation Cobra (2001)), credited the series with inspiring him to start up a video cooperative which has been important to many Quebec filmmakers. Fiction director Louis Bélanger (Nightlight (2003), The Timekeeper (2007), Route 132 (2010)) talked of how moved he was by the respect that Leduc obviously had for his characters. And DOP Pierre Letarte who worked for many years at the NFB stressed that it was not the equipment or the shooting style that gave the series its humane quality, but the close relationships that the crew established with the characters.

Rober Morin

Louis Bélanger

Angela Davis interviewed by Swedish Television. ( SVT)

Last week I went to another excellent screening at Cinema Politica’s home base at Concordia University, now only one of their 75 chapters on campuses across this continent and in Europe. I saw a terrific film, The Black Power Mix Tape 1967-75 which screened last year at Sundance and Hot Docs. And I had a different experience from all the other 600 people in the audience.

The Black Power Mix Tape 1967-1975 is made with archives from Swedish Television’s reports from the United States from 1967 to 1975. At the time, Sweden was a very progressive country. The Social Democrats were in power, Olof Palme was prime minister. Sweden officially opposed the war in Vietnam and supported justice for the Palestinians. Swedish television’s reporting from the U.S. was focused on poverty, the movement against the war and the emergence of the Black Power movement – to such an extent that U.S. some U.S. media spokesmen denounced the coverage as ‘anti-american.’ The reporters investigated the Black Power movement, obtaining behind-the-scenes footage with larger-than-life characters like Elridge Cleaver and Angela Davis, as well as rare footage of internal activities in the movement.

For the fist three years that these stories were broadcast, I was living in Stockholm. I was active in the mobilisations against the Vietnam war and generally involved with the student movement. Seeing the footage and hearing the voices of the Swedish reporters the other night was like a time travel experience for me, rediscovering something I experienced 45 years ago. The names of the journalists wouldn’t mean anything to people outside Sweden, but to me they were household items.

The filmmaker, Hugo Göran Olsson, made a very interesting choice – which justifies the ‘mixtape’ part of the title. He asked some current-day hip hop artists and song writers and a few other cultural activists to comment on the footage, the Black Power experience and its relevance to black people and others in the U.S. today. You don’t see them, you only hear their voices. The choice of interviewees was not obvious – he could have asked university professors or journalists – but it adds a very interesting layer to the film, bringing it up to date in a socially critical way while letting the archives remain the main attraction. Excellent !

Thank you to Sally Rylett for helping with this blog.

Former judge Andrée Ruffo speaks out for docs.

A recent Vancouver Sun article sums up the crisis of the long-form documentary in Canada. Cutbacks everywhere, shrinking budgets and most of all diminishing broadcast windows. Outside of the National Film Board and the arts councils, the whole Canadian funding system is based on acquiring a broadcast license. That’s the key which opens the door to other funding agencies. As networks turn increasingly to entertainment-oriented, cheap-to-produce ‘reality shows’, there is less space and less money for the kinds of docs that investigate and question the real world instead of inventing hokey competitions and survival challenges.

A March 2011 report from the Documentary Organization of Canada examined these trends, showing there had been a six-year decline in doc funding. The situation is worse in English Canada than in Quebec, because this province actually has a cultural policy, a real film culture and some invaluable institutional support notably from SODEC. In addition to the public broadcasters the Astral-owned ‘Canal D’ puts serious money into a handful of long-form documentaries every year.

Nonetheless, the most creative response to the crisis has come from Montreal. A small group of filmmakers, calling themselves ‘Documentary’s G7’, some of them members of DOC’s Quebec chapter, have created a campaign called ‘J’aime le Documentaire’ – I love docs. In addition to using social media for networking, they have made a series of ten public service messages for use on television, during festivals and on the web. These ‘spots’ – quite elegantly made in black-and-white by experienced ad director Richard Leclerc on a minimal budget – feature well-known Quebecers who state their heartfelt support for documentaries. Drawn from a wide spectrum, they include among others singer Chloë Saint-Marie, human rights lawyer Julius Grey, and – cleverly – politicians or former politicians from every major political camp in Quebec. ‘They may disagree on everything else’ says G7 member Patricio Henriquez, ‘but they all agree documentaries have a key role to play in the way we perceive social and political developments and issues. This shows that documentaries can have a unifying effect in society, at least here in Quebec.’ In addition, people who were attending the Rencontres doc fest last November were invited to state their support for the form, resulting in another slew of passionate statements for use on the web.

The ‘I love documentary’ campaign is supported by a series of industry organizations and networks as well as Canal D which has been broadcasting the spots since before Christmas. The ads will also be shown before some films (fiction and documentary) at the upcoming Rendez-vous du cinema québecois.

Thanks to Sally Rylett for help with this blog post.