Karina Goma.
Un coin du ciel (translates as ‘a corner of the sky’ but there is no english version yet) is the latest documentary by the young filmmaker, Karina Goma, produced by Virage Productions. It introduces us to the corridors and the offices of the community clinic in Park-Extension, one of the most cosmopolitan districts of Montreal. I will have the occasion to see it later at Ex-Centris, but in the meanwhile I asked my assistant Dijana Lazar to review it for us:
“Karina’s film allows us to discover a very different aspect of Montreal and the life of its immigrants. The subject of thisfilm are two social workers from the Parc Ex CLSC, Helene and Tassia who work assiduously to improve the daily life of their clients who are often victims of injustice and isolation, overpowered by problems of integration, living in rat infested residences, dealing with landlords who are insensitive to their requests. We see these people in front of our eyes, anxious and timid: Lourdes, a young Sri- Lankan woman who is pregnant with her second child; an old lady who waits with dread to be expelled from her apartment and an Armenian father-son duo. We follow their dubious destinies throughout the sinuous corridors of the CLSC, and into their often dilapidated residences, their places of worship, places of comfort and communion. Unquestionably the CLSC plays a crucial part in the life of all these characters and one hopes that Karina’s very human film will manage to break down some of our prejudices and favour compassion.”
Karina Goma
Another interesting fact is that this film comes out right in the middle of the controversy over the ‘accomodements raisonnables,’ in Quebec – this is a debate about what special measures should be taken to accomodate immigrants and their culture and religion. The film was deposited to the commission which has been set up to hold hearings on the subject, the Bouchard-Taylor Commission, in Laval on last 15 November. I put a question to Karina on this subject.
“Your film is now seen in the context and light of the debate over ‘reasonable accommodation’. Was this your intention? Are you happy about this or not?”
“The research for this film began more than three years ago at a time when nobody spoke about any reasonable accommodation. During filming a controversy over prenatal classes broke out: men were allegedly excluded from these classes for religious reasons. I was devastated, because it is not at all the reality which I had witnessed while shooting. Finally in order to get the local women out of their isolation the CLSC decided to replace the traditional theoretical courses with multilingual meetings which were moderated by immigrant women in the district. In the tumultuous context of this new “scandal”, nobody really took the time to check the very particular context in which these meetings took place. In a flurry of shocking headlines the initiative of the CLSC was largely condemned. This was very painful for the workers involved because after years of effort they had developed a way of working in which they believed in and which seemed to be giving concrete results to the very vulnerable clients. As delays are sometimes very long in releasing documentaries, the film opens now just as the debate becomes hotter than ever in Quebec. It is a coincidence, but I think that the timing is ideal. I hope that the film will allow the audience to discover these people who have to reinvent life often under very extreme conditions to find new ways of living together.”
Don’t miss this documentary which will be shown at l’Ex-Centris from the 7 till 13 december 2007.
(Thanks to Dijana Lazar, and to Jeanne Pope for the translation.)
