Other directors’ completed films – Page 5 – Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints

Canada’s shame: H2Oil.

This is about a film which was nominated in three categories at the recent Rencontres internatinales du documentaire de Montreal, and which I saw at Cinema Parallèle the other day. Very much à propos, as the Copenhagen climate change conference enters the real negotiating stage. The film, H2Oil by Shannon Walsh (Loaded Pictures), is about the incredibly wasteful and polluting oil sands industry in Northern Alberta and its impact on both people and the environment. It struck me how similar this film is to my own first films, somewhere midway between a journalistic ‘dossier noir’ and a dramatically structured film. The footage of the tar sands is depressingly impressive, and some of the characters are excellent, including a doctor who shows real civil courage and some very touching aboriginal people from the most affected community, Fort Chipewayan.

I asked Shannon a couple of questions.

Shannon Walsh, the director of H2Oil.

· This is a huge subject which one would think would attract a lot of television journalists and filmmakers – have there been other films?

I was really shocked that there weren’t really any feature length films on the subject. There had been a doc aired on CBC called “Tar Sands: The Selling of Alberta” while we were still filming, and there were a couple of pro-industry pieces that had been done, but there really wasn’t much. I felt a lot of responsibility to try to tell the story in as complete a way as I could without losing the human dimension because so many people I met had no idea what was happening in the tar sands.

· And how did you get the funding to do yours in what I presume to be a competitive context?

I think we were in the first wave of projects coming through on the subject looking for funds, but to be honest it is such a complex and difficult subject to tackle. With the help of some supportive initial private funding we made our first trips out to Alberta and put together a short demo that I think reflected the film we wanted to make. That demo I think was a big part of how we set ourselves apart and were able to show that we could handle the subject matter with a sensitive approach.

· Excellent animation, how did you work on that?

I really wanted to find a way to get across some of the tough informative details in a fun and engaging way. I loved the work James Braithwaite had done on “I Met the Walrus” and I thought it would work for H2Oil, so we got in touch with him to see if he was interested. James brought in the excellent animators Dale Hayward and Sylvie Trouve, and we brainstormed together around the content I wanted to put in each of the three animations. I had basic points of what I felt needed to be put together in the animations then I set about writing the scripts. James did the initial drawings and Dale and Sylvie brought them to life. We met several times to tighten and revise the sequences, as the initial drafts became more formal drawings, and were finally. It was amazing working with such talented, smart creative people who really understood what I wanted to do.

· Which were your biggest challenges?

There were a lot of challenges: Getting access to the government and industry. Trying to tell a rounded story that still got to the heart of the issues. Weaving all these very complex technical details, and making an argument without being didactic and losing the human story….END.

RCI, the International arm of the CBC, has announced a competition called Roots, calling for videos under 8 minutes. Sounds like a good challenge ! Rest here: http://roots.rcinet.ca/

Thanks to Jessica Berglund for the help with this post.

Bananas!*

During the Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal which just ended, I saw a number of really excellent documentaries. Over the next few weeks I’ll tell you about a couple of them, not just because of their qualities as films but because they are making a difference, having a real impact. To start with, here is a Swedish film which I already saw in Stockholm a few months ago, Bananas!*, by Fredrik Gertten.

It tells the outrageous story of the banana plantation workers in Nicaragua and Honduras who have been made sterile by exposure to the pesticide DBCP (which goes under several brand names including Nemagon) and the flamboyant L.A. lawuer Juan ‘Accidentes’ Dominguez who takes their defense. He does so without any funding, at his own expense, choosing a group of only 12 workers as a test case. The film has real suspense, following the ups and downs of the legal case. I was at the edge of my seat, dying to see how the law suit was going to end. Well shot, well edited, and with judicious use of archives and court room footage, this is a really important film.

The film has its suspense, and so did the release of the film. Dole, the company running the plantations, put enormous pressure on the filmmakers and the L.A. film festival where the film premiered last June. The company managed to have the film removed from competition, but didn’t manage to have the screenings canceled. It then sued the filmmakers, surely a grave public relations mistake. There was an uproar among documentary filmmakers, and the producers filed an anti-SLAPP motion in the U.S. (A SLAPP is a ‘strategic lawsuit against public participation’ intended not to right a wrong but to force the defendants to spend more time and money than they can afford….) What also made a difference was the reaction in Sweden, where the main medical journal (Läkartidningen) examined the health impacts of DBCP, the federation of Journalists and the Swedish Film Institute condemned the law suit as a threat to freedom of expression, the hamburger chain MAX and major supermarket chains like ICA put their relationship with Dole into question. All this pressure led to Dole withdrawing the law suit on Oct. I5th.
You can read a detailed chronology of all these developments on the Bananas!* web site, complete with the director’s twitter messages.

Thanks to Jessica Berglund for help with this post.

Small Giants take on big challenge.

Maxime in Les Petits Géants.

Normally I would write this in French, but many francophones who read this blog will already know about this film, and it deserves to be widely distributed. So here goes…

Les Petits Géants ( The Small Giants) is a documentary about children from low-income neighborhoods who take on the challenge of performing Verdi’s opera The Masked Ball. ( the expression ‘on the other side of the track’ applies nicely here, as this is across the tracks from upscale Westmount) The film was directed and shot by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and Émile Proulx-Cloutier, two young Quebec filmmakers – Anaïs is far from unknown though, having successfully directed both documentaries and fiction – and was the closing film at the annual Rendez-vous du cinéma Québecois last winter. The film follows five boys, 10-12 years old, through the rehearsals to the final performance, but also spends a lot of time with them in their families. The strength of the film lies here, in the terrific closeness to the characters and the seemingly complete access to their domestic environments. Having seen their family contexts which feature all manner of cultural handicaps, poverty and emotional deprivation, we completely understand that the discipline and self-confidence required to perform operatic roles in front of an audience don’t come easy. There are some very moving and sometimes funny moments when the youngsters express their insecurities, their dreams and aspirations.

Émile and Anaïs

I saw the film at the theatrical debut at the Cinéma Parallèle in Montreal, where it’s still playing.

In the discussion afterwards the filmmakers answered questions. Someone asked about the extreme close-up framing often used in the interviews with the guys. They explained that their whole objective was to see the experience from the point of view of the kids, or at least very close to them – which is also why the camera often stays on their faces while we hear adults giving instructions or opinions off-camera. I asked them why they followed five boys and no girls, something I found surprising given that there were some very interesting-looking girls in some of the rehearsal shots. Anaïs and Émile explained that they had discovered that in this particular age group, 10-12 years, girls are a lot more self-conscious and controlled than the boys. They found it much easier to have access to the boys’ emotions, and didn’t want any political correctness concerns come in the way of finding the five best characters for the film.

The film was produced by Amérimage-Spectra.

Thanks to Jessica Berglund for the help with this blog post.

Tusarnituuq: the MSO goes to Nunavik

Kent Nagano directs throatsingers Taqralik Partridge and Evie Mark
(credit: Robert Fréchette)

The other day at Cinéma Parallèle I saw a really excellent new documentary on the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra‘s visit to three Inuit communities in Nunavik. Tusarnituuq! Nagano in the Land of the Inuit was directed by Félix Lajeunesse and produced by Katarina Soukoup. It’s a moving account of the preparations for and the realization of this exceptional concert tour and of Nagano and his musicians encountering the Arctic and Inuit culture. The real strength of the film is in the characters from the young Inuit throat singers to famed MSO conductor Kent Nagano whose unassuming charm makes for a compelling screen presence. The editing by Marie-Christine Sarda is excellent. I put a couple of questions to the director and the producer.

Felix, this shoot was a very concentrated one, just a few days. Was that difficult? How did you prepare?

Answer : It definitely was a very intense shoot! I knew from the start that most of the 52 minutes film would have to be shot in just four days. So I tried to figure out in advance what «moments» or scenes were absolutely essential for the characters and story of the film. By imagining those moments in advance, I knew I would get a better sense of what to focus on during the actual shooting, and what sacrifices I could make. As an example, I knew that four days was a very short time for M.Nagano and the musicians to adapt to the North and the Inuit culture. So I spoke to my producer Katarina (who was also producing and organizing the Tour itself) and we both agreed that it was necessary, as early and often as possible in the Tour, to bring Kent Nagano and the musicians somewhere far out on the land (with Inuit guides), away from their schedules, rehearsals and instruments. Because I knew from my own previous Arctic experiences, that when you travel into the emptiness and grandeur of the Arctic with Inuit people (whether it’s the first time or whether you haven’t done it in a while), something quickly changes inside you. Time, space and light as you knew them cease to exist and you need to raise your awareness, open-mindedness and sensitivity to fuse with this new and powerful reality. I knew these moments would somehow make the characters of the film «come out» and it would help in bringing together the Inuit and OSM musicians. I worked with my director of photography and soundman to make sure we would be ready to film these moments properly when they come.

The full-house at the first concert in Inukjuak (photo: Robert Fréchette)

Katarina, you had almost all the key players on board, this must have taken quite a bit of time?

Answer : I found out about the tour while I was working with Avataq Cultural Institute. In addition to producing documentaries for Catbird, at the time I was also organizing a new Nunavik Arts Secretariat for Inuit artists in northern Quebec through Avataq. Avataq is a non-profit organization for the preservation and promotion of Inuit language and culture in Northern Quebec and the OSM approached them to help organize a tour of Nunavik about 2 ½ years ago. The idea of making a documentary about the tour came to me almost instantly – I knew that an artistic collaboration across cultures such as this one would be a very, very special encounter and felt it was vitally important to bear witness and share it with a wider public through the medium of film. I gathered up a group of talented collaborators, including Félix, who are all experienced in filming in the Arctic (and more importantly, working with Inuit) and we started brainstorming about how to make the film. The financing for the documentary, however, was quite tough, probably a reflection of how difficult it is to finance arts documentaries in these times. I started pitching it about 6 months before the tour began and knocked on every door you could imagine. We actually didn’t close financing until our documentary was at the rough cut stage, which meant Catbird took a huge financial risk in going ahead with the shoot with no guarantee that we would be able to finish the film. It made for quite a few sleepless nights! But ultimately what made me take that risk was the strong, driving belief that this cross cultural moment HAD to be documented and shared no matter what. And I hope our audiences find that it was worth it too.

Our financers include Radio-Canada and ARTV (the first broadcasters to become attached to the project), as well as Rogers Fund, SODEC, APTN, Filmoption International, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, the Kativik Regional Government, and tax credits. It’s a mix of standard and non-traditional doc financing, again I think a reflection of how creative doc producers must be these days in raising the financing for their films.

Thanks to Jessica Berglund for the help with this post.

This trade union knows how to use film and video!

Still from the film ‘Final Offer’ directed by Sturla Gunnarsson

I recently had the opportunity to co-direct a 25-minute video for the Canadian Auto Workers with my wife Jocelyne Clarke. This is one of the very few commissioned pieces I have worked on in my 30 years of doing audiovisual work, but the Auto Workers is one organization I am pleased to work with. Not only does that union have a strong commitment to social justice, but it knows how to use film and video for educational purposes. The leadership of the union has also over the years shown an extraordinary openness to documentary filmmakers, not being afraid of letting them film life as it really was. This is evident in Sturla Gunnarson‘s excellent 1984 film Final Offer (NFB) which documented not just an important strike but the birth of the CAW as a Canadian Union, breaking off from the ‘international’ (US dominated) UAW. Another example is Barry Greenwald‘s terrific film The Negotiator (Barna-Alper 1995) which followed CAW president ‘Buzz’ Hargrove through some very difficult negotiations. And in Quebec, Louise Lemelin and Hélène Pichette made the excellent Troc: Made in Quebec which documented the fight against the closing of the Kenworth plant in Ste-Thérèse for Radio-Canada. I had an opportunity to talk to former CAW president Bob White, the main character of Final Offer, about the union’s attitude towards documentaries. If everyone shared his opinions, we would have an easier time making films ! Video below the photo.

Interviewing Bob White, President of the Canadian Auto Workers

Thanks to Jorge Bustos-Estefan for help with this blog.

Excellent doc: Malls R Us

An image from Helene Klodawsky’s documentary ‘Malls R Us’

Last week I had a chance to see Malls R Us, an excellent new documentary by an excellent Montreal filmmaker, Helene Klodawsky. Helene has made some terrific films, my favourite being No More Tears Sister, a story from Sri Lanka which beautifully illustrates the notion that ‘the personal is political.’ Not in a didactic or sloganeering kind of way, but just by telling a personal story set in the context of civil war and exile. One of the most interesting things about that film is the way colour has been manipulated through chemical treatment of the actual film stock.

Here’s a trailer for Malls R Us.

Malls R Us (produced by Ina Fichman of Instinct Films and Luc Martin-Glousset of Point du Jour) is about shopping malls, and the film gets inside the malls, from North America to Dubai, India and Japan, in every conceivable way. Rather than standing on the outside looking in – or spitting at them for that matter – the film takes us inside the mall not just physically but mentally, inside the heads of the people who conceive, design and build malls as well as the people who use them. One way Helene does that is by interviewing an impressive cast of key characters (kudos for convincing them), the other is by capturing some revealing conversations in the mall context. The film is also very thoughtful, about the deeper meaning of the prevalence of malls. Are they the cathedrals of modern times or – as author Ray Bradbury suggests in the film – today’s version of the town square? Or are they monuments to an era dominated by consumerism to the detriment of higher values? In her narration Helene takes care not to hit us over the head with any ready-made conclusions, which actually makes the film scarier, in a deeper and more subtle way. I asked Helene to talk about her creative process and editorial choices.

Helene Klodawsky

In 2006, while editing Family Motel (an alternative fiction film on a Somali refugee family’s journey into homelessness), I read the initial research on a new project being developed by Instinct Films. Writer Harold Crooks and researcher Terri Foxman were working closely with producer Ina Fichman on her idea about the global spread of shopping malls. I soon signed onto the project as director. Right from the start, there were many challenges as the film had been developed and sold as an international coproduction with many themes, contrasts, characters and locations. I needed to find a way to tell the 70-year-old story of these huge temples to consumerism, describe why malls hold such appeal for the billions of people who visit them, as well as provide a critique of their worldwide proliferation. Added to this was the complexity of getting into to malls to shoot. Think of gaining access to a prison; most of the time it was that difficult, and hence we were extremely limited in what and when we could shoot.

Early on I decided to focus on characters that were intensely involved in the world of malls – whether out of passion or despair – rather than intellectuals or social critics who observed malls only from a distance. I felt it was important that my intended audience (those who both adore and despise shopping centres) listen directly to those people who are fully committed to bringing malls to every corner of the globe. I knew I would have only a few days in each location and hence decided to construct a highly stylized post-modern collage made up of mini portraits of each character alongside malls that represented an issue or struggle. Wherever we shot I was surprised by what we found. For example, who would have thought that Science Fiction guru Ray Bradbury would be a proponent of malls, or that young men travel the US mourning the loss of once thriving, but now dead, malls? I am most proud of capturing the little known anti-mall protests in India – as in most of the world, mall developments seems to be a done deal, quietly accepted by most of the population. Audiences tell me how much they appreciate the complex reading that Malls R Us provides – waking us up to ways in which culture and the environment are being shaped by the everyday places that dot our cities and suburbs.

Thanks to Jorge Bustos-Estefan for help with this blog.

Thought-provoking! Lech Kowalski and the ‘post-doc’ age

An image from Lech Kowalski’s ‘Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?’

Last week I saw the most creatively radical documentary I have ever seen, East of Paradise (2004) by Lech Kowalski. It breaks every convention of story development. The first half of the film is made up of an interview with Kowalski’s mother, about the horrors she experienced as a young girl at the end of the Second World War, in Russian-occupied Poland. Then he cuts to a medley of his own films of junkies on the New York underground scene, filmed over the last couple of decades. And what’s the link? The extreme. That becomes clear in the film, towards the end. Kowalski was here in Montreal for a retrospective of his films at the Cinémathèque Québecoise and had a chance to elaborate. To Kowalski life is real when you’re at the extreme limits of what can be tolerated, and that is what throws light on the rest of our existence. He explained how the horrors his mother had experienced set a sort of standard against which, it seemed, all his own experiences had to be measured. This led him to search out, in his own life and work, some extremely harsh realities. So in a sense, the totally unorthodox structure of his film was totally logical. At the discussion after the film the son of a holocaust victim talked about how he totally identified with this psychological dilemma, and brought up the question of a ‘survival gene.’ Kowalski totally agreed, he had received that also from his parents. After all they had been through to survive, he would not have the right to waste his own life, to become one of those junkies you see dying of overdose or AIDS in his own films.

Lech Kowalski [Photo: Jocelyne Clarke]

Kowalski believes that we are in a ‘post-documentary era’ where reality is too complex to be dealt with in an ordinary film, especially since film production and distribution are largely controlled by vested interests who are set against free creativity and analysis. He has created a web site called Camera War TV to create a new kind of documentary experience. I think this is a great concept, even though I found some of the films on the site less than impressive.

A fascinating encounter. And during the coming month we will have the time to see more of Kowalski’s films. D.O.A.: A Right of Passage (1980), Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie (1999), Gringo: The Story of a Junkie (1987), Rock Soup (1991) and two films on Eastern Europe: The Boot Factory (2000) and On Hitler’s Highway (2002).

There is an excellent interview with Kowalski [in French] on the Cinémathèque’s web site.

P.S. I am sure you saw the British clip on YouTube about Susan Boyle, the ‘unattractive’ woman singer whose performance brings down the house in a resounding victory over prejudice (represented by the attitudes of a talent-show jury). A wonderful little film with important issues, suspense, a terrific main character, excellent character development, a surprising turn-around, an uplifting outcome, reminiscent of classical stories like the ugly duckling and Cinderella. What more can you ask of a doc?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Thanks to Jorge Bustos-Estefan for help with this blog.

Black Wave – l’héritage désastreux de Exxon Valdez

Manifestation en août 2006, réclamant que Exxon nettoie les plages et qu’il paie pour les dommages.

Un des meilleurs films que j’avais vu aux Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal au mois de novembre sera aussi présenté cette semaine au Festival des Films sur les Droits, aussi à Montréal, et sera également diffusé à Radio-Canada la semaine prochaine. Le film est le produit d’un travail d’enquête de longue haleine, réalisé par Robert Cornellier dans le cadre de l’excellente maison de production Macumba International – dont je vous reparlerai au cours des prochaines semaines. Black Wave raconte la choquante histoire de l’impact environnemental dévastateur de l’accident du pétrolier Exxon Valdez en Alaska et la lutte des communautés affectés pour des réparations et une compensation adéquate. Je me suis entretenu avec Robert Cornellier.

Cette histoire est choquante. A-t-elle été bien couverte par les médias ? Aux États-Unis notamment ?

Il y a eu une grande couverture médiatique au moment de la catastrophe en 1989. Des journalistes et des caméras du monde entier se sont rendus sur les lieux pendant quelques mois. Puis cette histoire est tombée, peu à peu, dans l’oubli. Il y a eu un regain d’attention, principalement en Alaska, au moment du 10e anniversaire. Quelques bons articles faisant un bilan des conséquences ont été publiés. Puis c’est tombé dans l’oubli. J’ai commencé à couvrir cette histoire en 2004, lors du 15e anniversaire. Riki Ott et un groupe de citoyens de Cordova ont alors organisé une conférence de presse et quelques événements à Washington DC pour attirer l’attention sur leur cause, mais il n’y a pratiquemment pas eu de couverture. À peine quelques lignes provenant d’agences de presse. Finalement il y a eu une petite attention apportée par les médias lorsque la cause a été entendue à la Cour Suprême. Mais aucun papier d’analyse ou reportage de fond sur cette question. Pourtant les conséquences de ce jugement sont très importantes pour l‚avenir. Les citoyens américains viennent, ni plus ni moins, de perdre toute forme recours contre les compagnies pétrolières en cas de déversement pétrolier.

J’ai beaucoup aimé le film, seulement j’avais l’impression qu’on racontait beaucoup des événements du passé plutôt que de les vivre au moment ou les choses se passaient. Les événements se sont déroulés sur quelle période, et tu as tourné sur quelle période ?

J’ai commencé à travailler sur cette histoire en janvier 2004. La catastrophe datait déjà d’il y a 15 ans. À Cordova, le village de pêcheurs où nous avons tourné, les gens ne voulaient plus parler de cette histoire. Ils voulaient simplement reprendre leur vie en main et tourner la page sur le passé. Et la saga judiciaire était rendu au niveau de la Cour d’Appel (9th Circuit Court), et traînait depuis plusieurs années. La difficulté qui s’est posé, c‚est qu’il ne se passait pas grand chose. Le tournage de Black Wave a débuté en août 2006 avec la manifestation de bateaux juste en face du village. Ce fut la seule qu’il y a eu au cours des deux années du tournage. J’ai été constamment à l’affût d’événements. J’ai fait une douzaine de voyages en Alaska. Nous sommes allés pour le carnaval, pour la fête du 4 juillet. À chaque fois que j’apprenais que quelque chose allait se dérouler dans le village ou ailleurs, je m’y rendais. Il faut dire aussi, que du mois d’avril jusqu’au mois de septembre, toute la vie s’articule autour de la pêche. Le village est alors très tranquille. Puis au cours de l’hiver, une grande partie du village se vide, parce que beaucoup de pêcheurs et leur famille vivent ailleurs où ils gagnent leur vie parce qu’à Cordova il n’y a rien. Ce fut donc un réel défi de parler de cette histoire et d’essayer de la rendre vivante, parce qu’il ne se passait pas grand chose.Comme il y a eu beaucoup de déplacements, il fallait aussi faire des choix pour essayer de garder les coûts de production le plus bas possible. Il y a une partie du tournage où j’étais seul, c’est-à-dire que je réalisais, faisait la caméra et le son. Au cours de ce tournage j’ai réalisé à quel point c’est difficile de parler d’événements qui se sont déroulés dans un passé récent mais qui ne sont plus dans l’actualité, tout en essayant de les rendre le plus vivant possible.

Equipe: Une partie de l’équipe de tournage à Cordova: de la gauche: Robert Vanherweghem, dir. photo; Riki Ott; Paul Carvalho, co-producteur et scénariste; Robert Cornellier, réalisateur et co-producteur.

Thanks to Jorge Bustos-Estefan for help with this blog.

8, la fiction au service de l’engagement

J’étais invité à l’ouverture du 4ème Festival de Films sur les Droits de la Personne de Montréal il y a quelques jours mais je n’ai pas pu y aller. Mon proche collaborateur Franck Le Coroller s’y est rendu à ma place et nous fait le résumé suivant.

Affiche du film 8

La salle était pleine à craquer. On aurait pu s’attendre à voir un documentaire en film d’ouverture, genre de prédilection pour l’engagement et la justice sociale mais c’est une compilation de 7 courts métrages de fiction et d’un documentaire qui était à l’honneur.

Les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement (OMD) : un plan clair qui s’est probablement effacé peu à peu de notre mémoire. Voilà déjà 9 ans que 191 gouvernements ont adopté officiellement un plan visant à éliminer la pauvreté dans le monde d’ici 2015. LDM Productions a eu la fabuleuse idée de convoquer 8 réalisateurs de renom et leur a laissé carte blanche pour traiter chacun d’un de ces 8 objectifs. Ce film s’adresse à tout un chacun mais vise surtout à rappeler aux gouvernements leur engagement vis-à-vis des plus démunis de notre planète. À mi-parcours, les objectifs paraissent malheureusement bien loin.

Une magnifique séquence d’ouverture nous rappelle les étapes ayant mené à l’adoption de ce plan depuis la seconde guerre mondiale avec notamment la transformation de la Société des Nations en l’ONU et la dégradation accélérée de la condition humaine de par le globe. Des images d’archives des dirigeants de ce monde sont projetées sur un corps maigre et nu. Le ton est donné : ce film vous rentre dans le corps.

La plupart des courts métrages, tournés un peu partout sur la planète, abordent leur objectif à travers le portrait d’une personne. Le journal d’une petite fille, le rêve d’une autre, les pensées d’un petit garçon, la maladie d’un homme, le sort d’une femme enceinte prennent le singulier pour parler d’un universalisme à résoudre. On est pris aux tripes dans les histoires de ces personnes. Un sens de la réalité sait effacer toute trace de misérabilisme. Ces petits moments magiques qui nous accrochent dans un documentaire sont habilement et subtilement mis en scène. Le documentaire c’est « le traitement créatif de la réalité », nous disait John Grierson, ne serait-ce pas valable aussi pour la fiction engagée?

Dans SIDA, le seul documentaire, Gaspar Noé nous emmène dans cette maladie et toutes celles qu’elle convie. Le traitement visuel épuré (un enchaînement quasi total de plans fixes, la nuit) met l’accent sur la voix off de l’homme que nous voyons, seul. Tout comme dans Irréversible, rien n’est épargné. La réalité brutale de cet homme nous contant son histoire est hypnotisante : ses maux, son combat, ses conseils, ses regrets et sa solitude n’ont d’égale que la triste puissance de ce virus dont la propagation doit être enrayée au plus vite, ne l’oublions pas.

8 met aussi en lumière les rapports Nord-Sud, cruciaux pour améliorer le sort de tous. Dans Le rêve de Tiya d’Abderrahmane Sissako, l’instituteur demande à Tiya pourquoi elle ne dit pas plus fort le premier objectif du millénaire qu’est la réduction de la faim et de l’extrême pauvreté. Tiya répond : « Parce que je n’y crois pas. La réduction de la pauvreté, ça passe par le partage et on ne partage pas. » Un rappel urgent et efficace. Wim Wenders dans Person To Person termine le film avec une salle d’information cynique prise d’assaut par ceux qui ont des solutions, continuant ainsi la vague d’espoir et d’engagement indispensable pour aller de l’avant. Les sujets de l’information sortent des écrans de montage et refusent qu’on ne les voit que dans la misère. Ils agissent déjà (par le micro-crédit entre autres) et convient les médias occidentaux à les suivre. C’est une superbe pirouette cinématographique de Wim Wenders pour exprimer le besoin de partenariat Nord-Sud.

Certains verront peut-être dans 8 un film de propagande mais il fait surtout l’état des lieux sur une situation qui nous concerne tous. On ne peut pas rester indifférent à notre sort commun. Et s’il y a une promesse que nos gouvernements devraient tenir, c’est bien celle-là, surtout en contexte de récession mondiale.

Depuis 2000, le gouvernement du Canada a réduit sa participation financière vouée aux Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement alors qu’il avait promis de l’augmenter jusqu’à 0,7 % de son PIB.

8 [site officiel du film]
Festival de Films sur les Droits de la Personne de Montréal [site officiel]

Merci à Jorge Bustos-Estefan pour l’aide avec ce blogue.

A couple of links: Age of Stupid, Slumdog Millionaire

I am screening a ton of rushes, not much time for writing. But I thought I’d pass on a couple of interesting links.

An image from the documentary ‘The Age of Stupid’

First, about the ‘crowd-funded’ documentary The Age of Stupid, by British documentarian Director Franny Armstrong and Producer Lizzie Gillett. Film completed, their aim over the coming months is to “turn 250 million viewers into activists, all focused on the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, December 2009
where the successor to the Kyoto Treaty must be finalized.”

I am familiar with Armstrong’s previous work, because she was one of the co-directors of McLibel, about the young activists in the U.K. who sued McDonald’s. During the same period, I made two films about attempts to unionize McDonald’s in Quebec (see my web site) and of course Morgan Spurlock made Super Size Me.

Making-of film (50 minutes) [here]

Article [here]

(Thanks to Mark Hamilton and the Doc list serve.)

A frame from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

And now for some fiction, both acclaimed and controversial. Slumdog Millionaire is without any question the most successful film of the year, taking home numerous Oscars, including best film, Golden Globe award in the same category. It’s such a household word by now, I won’t describe it. Personally I liked it a lot, for its clever structure and great camerawork and editing. But I have close friends who are documentary filmmakers from Bombay, and they were not so thrilled. The sent me the following articles:

Mitu Sengupta: “Slumdog Millionaire: a Hollow Message of Social Justice” [here]

Jeremy Seabrook: “Betraying India’s poor” [here]

Aarundhati Roy: “Caught on Film: India ‘not shining'” [here]

(Thanks to Ali Kazimi and Anand Patwardhan.)

Thanks to Jorge Bustos-Estefan for help with this blog.