‘At the Crossroads,’ the last shoots

With my friend and colleague Martin Duckworth I am just now doing the last days of shooting for our film ‘At the Crossroads’ ( working title.) For three and a half years we have been following the conflict surrounding the proposed Rabaska liquefied natural gas port in Lévis, Qué. It would be located on the south shore of the St.Lawrence river, opposite l’Île d’Orléans, famous for its natural beauty and historical significance. To the economic élite and the construction workers of the area, this $ 800-million project represents manna from heaven. But many residents of the Beaumont village and the eastern part of Lévis want to protect the agricultural, residential and recreational nature of the area, and for three years put up a strong fight to stop the project. They found allies in several large environmental organizations, but In the end it seems they lost, as the government has given an official go-ahead to the project. Rabaska has yet to negotiate its supplies of natural gas though, and there are two rival LNG projects in Quebec – so perhaps all is not all decided yet.

The film will allow us to throw some light on certain recent social debates in Quebec, notably regarding ‘l’immobilisme,’ – the supposedly unjustified resistance of Quebecers to all major economic projects – and the so-called NIMBY ( not in my back yard) trends.

I am co-directing with Martin – he does camera and I do sound. The film is entirely and NFB ( french program) production, which has many advantages. The film is financed over a four-year period, and we a minimal crew we have been able to follow all the twists and turns of the Rabaska story as well as some related political developments. This long shooting period has allowed us to become very close to our main characters. We have been able to have in-depth discussions with our producers Yves Bisaillon and Johanne Bergeron about the character and story development throughout the process, aided by the fact that we hav done five periods of editing since we started shooting. It’s one of those high-risk projects where you have no idea how the story will end – just my kind – and the NFB is one of the few places where you can still find support for this approach.

Recently we filmed one of your main characters, Yves St-Laurent, with well-knowf folk musician Yves Lambert. They played ‘Le Tour de l’Isle,’ a song about Île d’Orléans by Quebec’s most popular singer-songwriter Félix Leclerc. ( See photo above.)

When we filmed the last demonstration agains the Rabaska project in front of Quebec’s National Assembly, my friend Simon Bujold shot this little video:

[youtube 6AxfxSEI8rY]

As film projects go, this one is very similar to some of my previous films, following a conflictual situation over a long period of time. But making this one together with Martin has undoubtedly brought other qualities to the film, which will be released later this year.