{"id":703,"date":"2009-10-27T11:47:53","date_gmt":"2009-10-27T15:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/?p=703"},"modified":"2009-10-28T12:18:52","modified_gmt":"2009-10-28T16:18:52","slug":"small-giants-take-on-big-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/2009\/10\/27\/small-giants-take-on-big-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Giants take on big challenge."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo1_Les_petits_geants\"<\/a>
\nMaxime in Les Petits G\u00e9ants.<\/em><\/p>\n

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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…<\/span><\/p>\n

Les Petits G\u00e9ants<\/strong><\/span> ( The Small Giants) is a documentary about children from low-income neighborhoods who take on the challenge of performing Verdi\u2019s opera<\/strong><\/span> The Masked Ball<\/a>. ( the expression \u2018on the other side of the track\u2019 applies nicely here, as this is across the tracks from upscale Westmount) <\/span>The film was directed and shot by Ana\u00efs Barbeau-Lavalette<\/a> and \u00c9mile Proulx-Cloutier<\/a>, two young Quebec filmmakers – Ana\u00efs is far from unknown though, having successfully directed both documentaries and fiction – and was the closing film at the annual Rendez-vous du cin\u00e9ma Qu\u00e9becois<\/a> 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.<\/strong><\/span> 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\u2019t come easy. There are some very moving and sometimes funny moments when the youngsters express their insecurities, their dreams and aspirations.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Pet.G\u00e9ants<\/a>
\n\u00c9mile and <\/em>Ana\u00efs<\/em><\/p>\n

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I saw the film at the theatrical debut at the Cin\u00e9ma Parall\u00e8le<\/a> in Montreal, where it\u2019s still playing. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the discussion afterwards the filmmakers answered questions. Someone asked about the extreme close-up framing<\/strong><\/span> 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<\/strong><\/span>, something I found surprising given that there were some very interesting-looking girls in some of the rehearsal shots. Ana\u00efs and \u00c9mile 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\u2019 emotions, and didn\u2019t want any political correctness concerns come in the way of finding the five best characters for the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The film was produced by Am\u00e9rimage-Spectra<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to Jessica Berglund<\/a> for the help with this blog post.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maxime in Les Petits G\u00e9ants. 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 G\u00e9ants ( The Small Giants) is a documentary about children from low-income neighborhoods who take on the challenge … Continue reading Small Giants take on big challenge.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdoc.net\/magnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}