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Legend / Légende / Leyenda
[e]=in english [f]=en français [s]=en español
[s.t.f]=sous-titres français [e.s.t.]=english subtitles
[Q]=questions/preguntas
2 MARCH / MARS / DE MARZO
13:00 - 14:30
Une rencontre avec visionnement de film d'interventions avec l'artiste engagée Annie
Roy de l'Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable (ATSA). [f] [Q:f+ e]
15:00 - 16:30
"Film, Politics and Public Space": a workshop with ezra winton (überCulture Collective) and Sergeo Kirby (Communications, Concordia). [e]
17:00 - 17:15
Screening of The Strangest Dream, directed by Katrina Cunliffe (Fine Arts, Concordia). [e]
17:20 - 18:00
Projection de Tourisme: vers un futur social et solidaire, réalisé par Éléonore Létourneau et Alexandre Leblanc (cinéastes). [f]
19:00 - 20:00
"Sampledelia: Turntables and Sonic Force", with tobias c. van Veen (Communications, McGill). [e]
20:30
VERNISSAGE (with / avec / con tobias c. van Veen)
3 MARCH / MARS / DE MARZO
14:30 - 16:00
The State of Art in Activism Today and Future Artivist Strategies: A Roundtable Discussion,
with Mr. Brian Morel (English Studies, McGill), and MANY MORE.
Preceded by
The Making of Art in the Public Realm - Process, Considerations, Joys &
Challenges, with Pamela Cantor (Art Matters, Fine Arts, Concordia):
17:00 - 18:30
La musique country, un exemple de culture de résistance, avec Robert Laplante (Communications, UQÀM). [f]
18:30 - 20:30
Projection exclusive du film Raymundo [s, s.t.f.] avec une présentation de
Danièle Lacourse de la Fondation Alter-Ciné. [Q:f+s+e]
Proyección exclusiva de la película Raymundo [s, s.t.f.] con una presentación de Danièle Lacourse (Fundación AlterCine). [Q:f+s+e]
20:45 - 22:45
" Critical World " : Penser la mondialisation à travers la musique, avec Professeur
Bob White et Marcel Savard (Anthropologie, Université de Montréal). [f] [Q: f+e]
4 MARCH / MARS / DE MARZO
13:00 - 14:30 Room 101
Mont-Royal Avenue Verte: Public Activism for a Car-Free Avenue Mont Royal, with Owen A. Rose. [e] [Q: e+f]
15:00 - 17:00 Room 303
Meeting Les Lucioles, videoactivists / Une rencontre avec projection de courts métrages avec le Collectif Les Lucioles, vidéastes engagé(e)s. [f+e] [Q:f+e]
18:30 - 19:15 Room 101
The "Special Period": An Imperfect Time to Renew "Imperfect Cinema",
with Professor David Douglas (Film Studies, Concordia). [e]
19:30 - 20:30 Room 101
Screening of Big Noise Tactical's This is What Democracy Looks Like [e], co-hosted by the MESS (McGill Environment Student Society). Preceded by a short by / Précédé par un court du Collectif Les Lucioles.
21:00 @ CAFÉ PETIT CAMPUS [ 5$ ]
Music / Musique / Musica (hiphop, reggae, rai, etc.) + Performances / Prestaciones: [e+f+s+arabic]
Syncop
Vagabond-Squad
Prefecture
Lupianza Zox + Sambou + Ibrahim + Stardo
Eric Rivest + Jess
Afrobado
Matt Wiviott
Mark Mann
+
ART EXHIBIT everyday
EXPOSITION D'ART tous les jours
EXPOSICION DE ARTE todos los dias
Ainina
Dilbar Combernous
Chris Dyer
Dominique Henri
Isabelle Mainville
Tarik Marc
Etienne Martin
Marie-Christine Meunier + Dominique Janelle + Maxime Loubert-Olijnyk
Allison Moore
Juliana Moncayo
Darryl Nunn
Hest One
Michelle Riendeau
Mariama Salha
J. A. M. S. (José Arnulfo Munive Sánchez)
Sandrine Simbi
Abhimanyu Sud
...
2 MARCH / MARS / DE MARZO
13:00 - 14:30
Une rencontre avec visionnement de film d'interventions avec l'artiste engagée Annie
Roy de l'Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable (ATSA). [f] [Q:f+ e]
Visionnement de films d'intervention à l'appui nous discuterons de l'approche d'ATSA à joindre l'art et le changement social :
ATSA de 1997 à 2001; Attention: Zone Épineuse; Les Murs du Feu; Possibilité d'un nouveau film sur l'État d'Urgence.
L'Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable (ATSA:www.atsa.qc.ca), fondée en 1997 par les artistes
Annie Roy et Pierre Allard, crée des installations événementielles qui transforment et questionnent
le paysage urbain en l'ouvrant aux débats de société et en incitant à l'action.
Parmi leurs nombreuses activités mentionnons les réalisations: États
d'Urgences (hiver 98-99-02-03), des camps de réfugiés urbains en plein centre-ville
montréalais ; Parc industriel (été 2001), un faux site archéologique fait de rebuts proposant
une réflexion sur la société actuelle de surconsommation ; À vos marques, une installation à l'AmericanCan
sur le culte du travail et de la performance, Les Murs du Feu ( d'août à novembre 02), soirée
incendiaire et trajet piétonnier sur l'histoire du Montréal incendié maintenant en exposition permanente
au Musée des pompiers auxiliaires de Montréal; Attention : Zone Épineuse (oct. 02), intervention sur le Mont-Royal
sur la précarité des patrimoines écologiques et sa série Attentat ( no.1-2-3 et 4) contre la la production de
véhicules ultra polluants de l'industrie automobile pour la consommation de masse.
15:00 - 16:30
"Film, Politics and Public Space": a workshop with ezra winton (überCulture Collective) and Sergeo Kirby (Communications, Concordia). [e]
ezra winton is co-founder of überCulture Collective (www.uberculture.org ), a grassroots,
non-profit organization committed to the public reclamation of the
cultural sphere. überCulture Collective is a group concerned with the damaging displacement of humanist cultural expression, which is increasingly making room for a globalized commercial culture industry based on greed and profit. Among überCulture's main concerns and focuses
are the issue of loss of public space and accessibility to media. ezra is also doing a double
major in Communications and Political Science at Concordia University. He started überCulture one year ago with
Rob Maguire, who now does the Paul Martin spoof site.
ezra will talk about his experience promoting political art and the
necessary relationship to public space. He is the co-organizer of the
popular film series, cinema politica, at Concordia University, which
screens political films specializing in narratives largely ignored by
mainstream media. ezra will discuss issues of accessibility, the
concept of "public space" and the potent vehicle of art as realized in
film to facilitate discussion and debate.
Sergeo Kirby is a Communications student at Concordia University and
the director/producer of the recently screened documentary "Student
Politics." (http://cutv.concordia.ca/cutv.jsptarget). He will discuss the details of making a student
film about politics, including the issues of impartiality, fairness, and accessibility. The film - which
details last year's post-Netanyahu Concordia Student Union election - was heralded as a success by the
500-strong audience of Concordia students two weeks ago.
17:00 - 17:15
Screening of The Strangest Dream, directed by Katrina Cunliffe (Fine Arts, Concordia). [e]
The Strangest Dream is a short ten minute video and is Katrina's first cinematic work. Done
in the earliest stages of George Bush Jr's active war in Iraq, the piece is an attempt at staying true
to the "Golden Rule", while wishing that George was anything but well and healthy, Katrina felt hypocrisy in
such hatred as she wished for George's introduction into enlightenment. In wishing for George's delivery from
his need to use fear mongering, aggression, oppression, and violence, Katrina also wished for his own delivery
from the feelings of hatred. In the eerie ten minutes of the Strangest Dream, Katrina, as a dreamer, is able to
do what she wishes George (and all other power trippers for that matter) where able to do: practice the Golden Rule
and treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. In a perhaps naïve and oversimplified reading of what is
needed to solve the issues of global politics of today, The Strangest Dream manages to leave
us with a hopeful portrait of what human condition is capable of: Love.
Katrina Cunliffe was raised on the West Coast of Canada and moved a
lot throughout her childhood. She is now living in Montreal and finishing her BFA at Concordia. Katrina has also
been involved with the Fibres Student Association. She hopes to continue working in the field of fibres/textiles,
and to be a positive influence on the ethically unhealthy economy of textile manufacturing, while also continuing to
work with fibres as an art form.
"When people relate, beauty can be created. Art is vessel through which humans can relate to each other
longitudinally through time and laterally through space and across cultural differences. Beauty is created in a
moment of relating when understanding is reached. This is how I wish to participate in the genre of art: art as a
vessel for human expression and communication. Through this vessel, minds and hearts are touching and reverberating
across time and space, together because they have shared in an experience. Be it experience of the Sistine Chapel,
Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach, or a child's rendering of his or her own family together under an iconic
sunshine; all are sacred in their striving towards the experience of creation, or, in other words, towards the essence of life."
17:20 - 18:00
Projection de Tourisme: vers un futur social et solidaire, réalisé
par Éléonore Létourneau et Alexandre Leblanc (cinéastes). [f]
24 minutes; Réalisation: Alexandre Leblanc, Éléonore Létourneau
Caméra: Éléonore Létourneau; Son: Alexandre Leblanc; Montage: Jean-Luc Dumaresq; Recherche: Fanny Lebrun, Deborah Antoine.
TOURISME: VERS UN FUTUR SOCIAL ET SOLIDAIRE est un documentaire sur le premier Forum International sur le tourisme solidaire et durable qui a eu lieu en
France en septembre 2003, dans la région de Provence - Alpes - Côte d'Azur.
Diplomée du baccalauréat en communication, profil cinéma, de l'UQÀM, Éléonore Létourneau
a deux documentaires et quelques courts métrages de fiction à son actif. Elle est aussi rédactrice pour la revue de cinéma sur internet (www.cadres.ca). Elle voit le cinéma comme
un moyen de susciter la discussion en donnant au monde un reflet subjectif.
19:00 - 20:00
"Sampledelia: Turntables and Sonic Force" with tobias c. van Veen (Communications, McGill). [e]
Performing the art of connexion-in sound-with music that speaks rhythm
not lyric-alien technologies, or an areferential, non-representational framework-with sound that
speaks of its web, not its content-while stealing the samples to force that content to its form-generating
feedback from speaker to audience-in linking contexts across the globe-a mobility is given to tactical
interventions-that spurn 'travelling concepts' (Mieke Bal)-Thus: the craft of the turntablist is uniquely suited
to developing a narratological pathway (cue DJ Spooky)-for thought to travel as 'sampledelia'
(rewind Kodwo Eshun)-always as feedback to the movement of the body (scratch José Gil)-hear, records will
be mixed of the 'AfroFuturist' genealogy, Detroit techno, post-dub, and beyond to glitches, clicks 'n'
cuts-improvising an interactive dialogue of words and wax, speaker and audience-the following-has been a
cut-up-this talk, is a performance-and will demonstrate its points-with turntables-The point? 'Sampling as the
necessity from which all production arises' (thanks, Steven Shaviro)-all to a tune of remixing the map-charting the open
territories of 21C 'art' & 'activism'.
[tobias c. van Veen] is a sound & net-artist, techno.turntablist, and
writer. He has been enmeshed with musikal resistance culture since 1993, curating, DJing,
performing and provoking via interventions & events, sounds & words. Hailing from Vancouver, BC,
tobias was intricately involved in the West Coast anarcho-techno scene as founder of the Projekt &
techno.ca's technoWest.org. >>tobias holds editorial and columnist positions for several arts, music and politics
publications including FUSE, e|i, Capital, Dustedmagazine.com and Discorder. He has freelanced for The Wire, the
CBC and Austria Kunstradio. :: His tactical media, performance & net.art have surfaced on CTheory.net,
120seconds.com, Rhizome.org, Javamuseum.org, thisistheonlyart.com, Juniradio.net, at the Centre for Contemporary
Culture in Barcelona, Steim.nl in Amsterdam, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver. :: A DJ set still resides
on Betalounge.com. He is author of the 2003 Canadian Electronic Music Directory and is currently writing a book
on the politics of sound and postsubcultures. Although he can be found in the halls of McGill's Department of
Communications, his blog resides at http://www.quadrantcrossing.org/blog .
3 MARCH / MARS / DE MARZO
14:30 - 16:00
The State of Art in Activism Today and Future Artivist Strategies: A Roundtable Discussion,
with Mr. Brian Morel (English Studies, McGill) and MANY MORE. [e]
What is the state of activism in art today?
What type of aesthetic strategies could be devised to rethink activism in art?
Moderator:
Brian Morel (artist, AV technician, building director, McGill)
Panelists:
tobias c. van Veen (DJ, writer & 'catalyst', McGill)
Chris Dyer (artist, activist)
Darryl Nunn (artist, activist, Concordia)
Owen A. Rose (architectural intern, activist, McGill)
Andrew Mark (musician, activist, McGill)
Michelle Riendeau (artist, Concordia)
Pamela Cantor (Art Matters Festival, Concordia)
Matt Wiviott (musician, activist, McGill)
and more....
Preceded by "The Making of Art in the Public Realm - Process, Considerations, Joys &
Challenges" with Pamela Cantor (Art Matters, Fine Arts, Concordia): [e]
Come together collectively to discuss different areas of consideration in
the making of an artwork that is situated in the public realm and meant to
interact and empower the community (or not).
Pam Cantor is a studio Arts major at Concordia Univesity trying to unite art and social change.
She likes interdisciplinary art, the environment and people.
Brian Morel has worked extensively as an Audio Visual Consultant producer. Early in his career he was employed by the
Canada's Ministry of State for the Urban Affairs and helped create a state of the art multi media
interactive environment using computer technology to stimulate the effects of Urban Policy various situations in Canada. He also produced documentaries in Netherlands, Greece, Turkey and India which were later used as research documents for the latter project.
Brian Morel co-produced several Ethnographic diaporamas such as River Road and Rail, which is used
pedagogically in Quebec's French and English schools and won an award of Merit from the Institute for Media
and Technology in Education. He was also a technical coordinator for Earth Peace Two, a large multi media work
involving music, dance and lighting design commissioned by the International Physicians for the Prevention of
Nuclear war. He has also collaborated on the multi media presentations Celebration for the Planet Earth, which
was the closing week ceremony for Quebec Environment week.
Recent projects include the conception and development for Cossette Communications internal
multi media communications structure and the visual concept for a Place des Arts presentation of
Jewish music. Brian Morel teaches film, TV and multi media production in McGill's Cultural Studies
Program media centre which he designed and developed.
17:00 - 18:30
"La musique country, un exemple de culture de résistance" avec Robert Laplante (Communications, UQÀM). [f]
À travers des exemples nous verrons comment la musique country à servi de ciment pour la création d'une identité sudiste au lendemain de la Guerre de Sécession, si le temps le
permet nous verrons si le même modèle s'applique aux Premières Nations.
Robert Laplante termine présentement un doctorat sur la musique autochtone au département des Communications à
l'UQÀM. En plus de diriger la salle de nouvelle de Radio Centre-Ville, il est collaborateur régulier pour les
cahiers Livres et Arts et Spectacles pour le quotidien La Presse et pour certaines émissions de la radio de
Radio-Canada. Robert Laplante enseigne aussi l'écriture journalistique à l'UQÀM.
18:30 - 20:30
Projection du film Raymundo [s, s.t.f.] avec une présentation de
Danièle Lacourse de la Fondation Alter-Ciné. [f][Q:f+s+e]
RAYMUNDO
Un film de Ernesto Ardito et Virna Molina
(127 minutes, Argentine)
" Ces peuples possédaient beaucoup de livres et de manuscrits, remplis des mensonges du diable. Alors nous les avons tous brûlés ". (Diego de Landa, évêque espagnol)
Ainsi débute le film " Raymundo ": par un rappel en images d'animation de la destruction culturelle que les Conquistadores espagnols ont fait subir aux peuples pré-hispaniques. Cinq cents ans plus tard, les dictatures militaires latino-américaines ont suivi l'exemple.
Ce long métrage documentaire brosse le portrait de la vie et de l'oeuvre de Raymundo Gleyzer, cinéaste argentin kidnappé et assassiné par la dictature militaire en Argentine en 1976.
Raymundo Gleyzer, journaliste, photographe, caméraman et
réalisateur, a participé à des films qui ont marqué le cinéma d'Amérique latine dans les
années 60, comme " L'heure des brasiers " de Pino Solanas et Octavio Getino. Influencé par Fernando Birri et Santiago Alvarez, Raymundo Gleyzer a lui-même créé le mouvement " Cine de base " en Argentine, un cinéma orienté vers les travailleurs, les paysans, les peuples indigènes, les marginaux. Il a réussi à mettre sur pied un réseau visant à rendre le cinéma accessible aux plus démunis en présentant des films dans les quartiers populaires, les usines, les syndicats, rejoignant
parfois des populations de villages reculés où l'on ignorait même ce qu'était un film.
Raymundo Gleyzer a aussi sillonné l'Amérique latine. Sa caméra a donné une voix aux paysans sans
terre du Brésil (" La terre brûle ", 1964), aux paysans et aux étudiants mexicains (" Mexico, la révolution congelée ", qui se termine par des images inédites du massacre d'étudiants à Tlatelolco en 1968, ce qui vaut à Raymundo Gleyzer d'être déclaré persona non grata par le président mexicain Echeverria, et son film interdit tant au Mexique qu'en Argentine).
Quand l'étau se resserre dans son propre pays, Raymundo Gleyzer continue
de filmer, caméra au poing, souvent dans la clandestinité. " Don't forget, don't forgive " dénonce le massacre d'opposants de gauche par les forces de l'ordre à Trelew. Avec " Ils me tuent si je travaille et si je ne travaille pas, ils me tuent ", il lève le voile sur les conditions de travail inhumaines qui détruisent la santé des travailleurs dans une usine de métallurgie. En 1972, il réalise " Les traîtres ", une fiction où les acteurs sont de vrais
travailleurs, et qui trace le parcours d'un chef syndical corrompu.
Après le coup d'état militaire de 1976 en Argentine, Raymundo Gleyzer rejoint la liste des 30,000 " disparus ". Des survivants du " Vesubio " racontent avoir vu Raymundo dans ce camp de concentration où il a été sauvagement torturé. Plusieurs voix, dont celles de Francis Ford Coppola, Elia Kazan, Jack Nicholson, se sont élevées pour obtenir sa remise en liberté. En vain. Personne n'a plus jamais revu Raymundo. Sa femme et son fils de quatre ans, menacés à leur tour, ont pu s'exiler aux Etats-Unis
grâce à l'appui de Bill Susman, producteur de quelques films de Raymundo.
Afin de sauver ses films de la destruction, les amis de Raymundo les ont acheminés clandestinement hors de l'Argentine. Sa femme, Juana Sapire, a préservé les négatifs, copies, lettres, photos et autres documents pendant plus de 30 ans.
A travers la vie et l'oeuvre de " Raymundo ", c'est toute une page du cinéma révolutionnaire et des
luttes de libération d'Amérique latine qui nous est aujourd'hui révélée. Les réalisateurs Ernesto Ardito et Virna Molina, qui font partie de la nouvelle génération de cinéastes argentins, nous font découvrir dans leur film ce que ni la CIA ni les dictatures latino-américaines n'ont pu détruire: la mémoire, les idéaux et le courage de dire la vérité.
Danièle Lacourse est une cinéaste québécoise qui a réalisé des documentaires
dans diverses régions du monde: Amérique centrale et du Sud ("Nicaragua, la guerre sale", "Le choc des
Amériques"), Mexique ("Le rêve d'Alonso"), Corne de l'Afrique ("Le pays interdit", "Nuit et silence"),
Rwanda ("Chronique d'un génocide annoncé"), etc. Il y a trois ans, elle a mis sur pied la Fondation Alter-Ciné (http://www.sextans.com/altercine/)
à la mémoire du cinéaste Yvan Patry décédé en 1999. La Fondation accorde une bourse annuelle à un ou une jeune
cinéaste d'Afrique, d'Amérique latine ou d'Asie pour l'aider à réaliser un film. Elle appuie en particulier les
documentaires axés sur la défense des droits humains, qui ne craignent pas d'aller à contre-courant et de prendre parti pour les plus démunis, et qui nourrissent
une réflexion et un débat sur le monde actuel et les possibilités de le transformer.
Danièle Lacourse présentera brièvement les objectifs de la Fondation Alter-Ciné, ainsi
que le film "RAYMUNDO" qui s'est mérité la première
bourse accordée par la Fondation en 2001.
20:45 - 22:45
" Critical World " : Penser la mondialisation à travers la musique, avec Professeur
Bob White et Marcel Savard (Anthropologie, Université de Montréal). [f] [Q: f+e]
Collaboration artistique sur l'internet, cette présentation vise à explorer l'engagement
politique des artistes et intellectuels à travers " critical world ", un projet de recherche qui
aborde les aspects politiques et
économiques du phénomène de la mondialisation à travers la " world music ".
Bob White est professeur adjoint en anthropologie à l'Université de Montréal où il donne
des cours au sujet des médias, la culture populaire et la sphère publique. Actuellement, il gère des projets
de recherche sur la
musique du monde, la réception de la musique Africaine et la sphère publique.
4 MARCH / MARS / DE MARZO
13:00 - 14:30
Mont-Royal Avenue Verte: Public Activism for a Car-Free Avenue Mont Royal, with Owen A. Rose. [e] [Q: e+f]
In June of 2002 a committee of local citizens in the city of Montréal's Arrondissement
Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood was formed. The members came together because of a growing
preoccupation with the number of cars, noise and air pollution, and the stress that follows. In response
to this situation, our committee developed a set of common sustainable values and proposed a project for
a car-free street. The cause is to publicise the urban possibilities of sustainable living and actions
in our community using the transformation of Avenue Mont-Royal, our vibrant residential shopping street,
into an example of sustainable urban renewal as
a pedestrian street with access for bicycles, inline skates, and ecological public transit.
The project consists of turning Avenue Mont-Royal into an urban
car-free street along its entire length. We propose that it be redesigned for electrified public transit,
a bike and inline skate path, the planting of more trees, new urban street furniture, and full-time pedestrian access with only a limited number of traffic intersections. Already, the majority of local residents access the street by foot. In the heart of the plateau, Avenue Mont-Royal is actually the centre of this "urban village". With its new vocation centred on the person instead of the car, Avenue Mont-Royal will strengthen a sense of community place that reflects our culture and our ability to participate as democratic citizens. Evidently the project would set a focus on reducing air and noise pollution and start the process of setting local examples of how we can improve our environment locally whilst responding to global issues, such as the Kyoto Protocol. For the first time in 2003, Montréal participated in the International Car Free Day on 22 September. This one-day event lowered the concentration of some car
pollutants by 40% according to the City's pollution monitoring agency!
The Comité Avenue Mont-Royal verte (www.montroyal-avenueverte.org) began the process in June of 2002 by circulating a public petition
to collect signatures in support of requiring the City of Montréal to hold public hearings on this subject.
We collected 18 500 signatures, one of the biggest car/pollution related petitions ever
signed on Le Plateau. The neighbourhood's population is just over 100 000 citizens.
Owen A. Rose, M.Arch, B.Comm. Member of the Comité Avenue Mont-Royal verte
(www.montroyal-avenueverte.org), Owen is an architectural intern at SMITH VIGEANT architectes in Montréal.
Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, he has been living in Montréal since 1996. Owen completed his professional Masters of Architecture at McGill University in 2001. At McGill he began developing his knowledge of sustainable design with the concept of ecosensuality.
His ideas continue to evolve on his website at www.ecosensual.net.
15:00 - 17:00
Meeting Les Lucioles / Une rencontre avec projection de courts métrages avec le
Collectif Les Lucioles, vidéastes engagé(e)s. [f+e] [Q:f+e]
Venez rencontrer Les Lucioles et en apprendre plus sur leurs vidéos et tactiques.
Les Lucioles will set up
an interesting screening and posible discussion on either the subject matter of the videos or about video activism, as well as the Lucioles model.
The videoactivist collective Les Lucioles (www.leslucioles.org) has been producing, filming,
screening and distributing short activist videos since september 2002, with a total of more
than 150 videos in circulation. The collective holds regular (quasi-monthly) screenings at l'Alizé to screen their videos and those of others.
Members of the collective can be seen regularly in demos, at actions, at conferences and events, capturing scenes that actively challenge the status quo as perpetuated
by mainstream media.
18:30 - 19:15
The "Special Period": An Imperfect Time to Renew "Imperfect Cinema",
with Professor Dave Douglas (Film Studies, Concordia). [e]
Since the earliest days of the Cuban Revolution, filmmakers have striven to refashion Cuban cinema
not only in accord with the political and theoretical ideals of the revolution, but also with practical
regard to the abilities and resources of that nation. Filmmaker Julio Garcia Espinosa
articulated a model for Cuban cinema through this call "For an Imperfect Cinema" in 1969.
The advent of the "Special Period" in the early 1990s brought with it new challenges
to Cuban filmmakers: the challenge to maintain their vital role to represent the Cuban people's experience amid conditions
which placed their very ability to produce films in question.
With the introduction of digital video cinematography, the economic prohibitive that had severely undercut Cuban film production for the last decade has been eased, and Cuban images are returning to the screen. Among these new voices, Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti's Nada Mas
(Nothing More), suggests that new Cuban cinema maintains its connection to Espinosa's "Imperfect cinema" as it responds to the contemporary needs of Cuban society.
David Douglas is currently an Assistant Professor and the Head
of Undergraduate Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema of Concordia
University. Since coming to Montreal in 1990, Dr. Douglas has taught primarily in areas of Film History,
Canadian cinema and Third World Cinemas at both Concordia and McGill University. In 1992, he took the first of four trips to Havana Cuba, to attend the Festival Internacional del Neuvo Cine Latinamericano. During this and subsequent trips, he further visited the production facilities of ICAIC, and most recently, the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV de San Antonio de los Banos. His current research is focused upon the relationship between new Cuban cinema and the currents of social and political evolution underway in Cuban society during the last decade.
19:30 - 20:30
Screening of Big Noise Tactical's This is What Democracy Looks Like [e], co-hosted by the MESS (McGill Environment Student Society). Preceded by a short by / Précédé pas un court du Collectif Les Lucioles. [tba]
72 minutes, September 2000, Produced by Seattle Independent Media Center and Big Noise Films; Produced and Directed by Jill Freidberg
and Rick Rowley. (http://www.thisisdemocracy.org/)
With more cameras on the street than any other media organization, the Independent Media Center (IMC) coordinated
hundreds of media activists and collected more than 300 hours of video footage during the WTO protests. THIS IS WHAT
DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE, a co-production of the IMC and Big Noise Films, weaves the footage of over 100 videographers
into a gripping document of what really happened on Seattle's streets. The film cuts through the confusion and tear gas
to paint an intimate, passionate portrait of a week that changed the world. With narration by SUSAN SARANDON and
SPEARHEAD's MICHAEL FRANTI, and with a driving soundtrack including RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, DJ SHADOW,
DJ MUSAKA, and COMPANY OF PROPHETS, THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE is the first documentary to
capture the raw energy of the WTO protests, while clarifying their global and historic significance.
A New Production Model:
In the weeks leading up to the WTO protests, there was this sense that Seattle was going to be huge" says Democracy co-director, Jill Freidberg, "and we knew we couldn't count on the corporate media to accurately represent the events of the week and the issues at stake. So the Independent Media Center was created to provide an infrastructure through which 100s of media makers could offer different perspectives on the events of the week, using satellite broadcasts and the internet to disseminate print, audio, and video journalism around the world."
People were obviously hungry for an alternative- we received over 1.5 million visits to our website (www.indymedia.org) that week," adds Freidberg. " It marked a turning point in independent media collaboration that has changed the way communities tell stories and link struggles."
100 Cameras in the Street:
THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE is the unique product of that historic media convergence, edited from over 350 hours of video footage. "The WTO protests were probably the most videotaped event in history," says Big Noise Films founder, and Democracy co-director, Rick Rowley. "With over 100 videographers, we had more cameras in the street than any corporate news agency could possibly mobilize. This amazing collection of activist video footage gives the film a scope and intimacy that the corporate media could never achieve."
An Untold Story:
Out of a sea of footage and multiple narratives, THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE weaves an elegant, powerful story that leaves the viewer feeling hope. "We set out to tell a story of empowerment and resistance," says Rowley. "We've all heard again and again about random violence and broken windows, about protectionist trade unions and naive hippies. Even as activists, we turned Seattle into a story about repression and police violence. With 'Democracy' we wanted to tell a story of the power we have when we come together, a story of people standing up against the repressive machinery of the system?and winning."
But 'Democracy' is hardly a sugar-coated trip down memory lane. Interviews with a cross-section of Seattle participants reveal fundamental differences in tactics and ideologies. "People felt powerful in Seattle, because they witnessed a kind of unity and solidarity that we don't often see in this country" explains Freidberg. "There's a reason for that, there are reasons why people have a hard time coming together, and we felt it was very important to shed light on the tensions and divisions that surfaced between the different groups protesting in Seattle. Only with an understanding of those divisions can people start to understand the complexities of solidarity and really begin to build a movement for social and economic justice."
21:00 @ CAFÉ PETIT CAMPUS
Matt Wiviott loves music. Even though he abandoned its academic study to pursue that of architecture, he is
still devoted to music as an outlet for artistic expression and creative relaxation. At age four he was introduced to the cello, but he has since delved into the mechanisms of instruments as exotic and diverse as the Indian Sitar and the Chinese Zither. Improvisation has always been his musical priority and
he feels lucky to have been born in Montreal, a city that is open to the avant-garde.
Past summers have taken Matt Wiviott on canoe trips in Northern Quebec and treeplanting in Manitoba. Life has
taught him that the key to happiness is open-mindedness and self-acceptance. That is the message he wishes to convey
in his unconventional and often bizarre music. Oh yeah, and he protests against unjust war and civil rights violations.
The world is a large, ambiguous place and it can often seem overwhelming to the point of creating disinterest.
We must never forget that each and every one of us is completely enmeshed in it. We all have a vested interest
in the health and well being of humanity as a whole.
Current events seem to indicate to Matt Wiviott that a societal pathology is surfacing and revealing
its grotesque visage. Now is the time to recognise what is wrong and combat it with truth, justice, and art.
ARTISTS / ARTISTES / ARTISTAS
Dilbar Combernous est d'origine indienne et a vécu en Inde et au Kenya, parmi d'autres pays. Elle
n'est pas une photographe professionelle et fait de la photo en tant que passe-temps. Son aspiration est de transmettre, à travers la photographie, des images actuelles pour montrer la diversité des paysages, des costumes traditionnels et des modes de vie.
Chris Dyer (www.positivecreations.ca) lived in the crazy city of Lima, Peru till the age of 17 where he experienced much,
from street gang warfare, to surfing, to travelling around this beautifull country complete with beautifull
beaches, mountains and amazonian rainforest. Coming to live in peacefull Canada was a huge culture shock but gave
him the means for a personal growth that eventually led him to a more progressive life away from his destructive
past. Having treeplanted for 3 summers, and hitchiked around different places like, Mexico, Hawaii, and Guatemala,
he has learned a lot about the realities of life. Today he is a full time artist based in Montreal and strives to
perfect himself before he can try to perfect the entire planet.
"I try to use my art as a means for a positive message. Visual expressions have a lot of power and I use the talent
I've adquired through the years to pass on what I have learned. I believe that the true evolution of humanity will
come after some degree of awareness of not only all of our earthly brothers, and respect for mother nature, but also
in the realisation of our true selves as souls. Once we start acting as divine beings, we shall all respect each
other and share the wealth of our planet without any kind of division. In my paintings I stress the importance
of meditation and ethical living as a means for this human evolution towards soul to happen."
Dominique Henri est étudiante à McGill au département des Études Françaises et voyage depuis l'âge de 16 ans. La photographie pour elle est une
extension des rencontres uniques qu'elle fait lors de ses voyages.
Isabelle Mainville est finissante en Arts Plastiques au Cégep du Vieux-Montréal et souhaite continuer ses études en Arts visuels. Le tableau intitulé "Dénuement" dénonce la malnutrition et les famines qui
affligent les pays en voie de développement, ainsi que les victimes mutilées des mines antipersonnelles.
Etienne Martin (www.etiennemartin.com), peintre autodidacte, est né à Ste-Adèle le 6 octobre 1977 et
commence à peindre en 1997. Son travail repose sur l'exploration du support et du sujet, contrastant, sensuelle.
Les tableaux exposés ont été peints lors d'événements politique et social (début de guerre en Irak, découverte
du corps de Che Guevarra, etc.), expression, information, filtré sur support.
Marie-Christine Meunier et Dominique Janelle (+ Maxime Loubert-Olijnyk) sont deux amies,
éloignées par des voyages, rapprochées par le projet d'exposer une oeuvre
ensemble qui parle du voyage et d'éloignement. Toutes deux sont sensibles à la nature de toute chose. Le projet
se décrit ainsi: une photo pour parler, un texte pour illustrer, un face à face, deux réalités.
The art work of Allison Moore challenges and explores social
controversies, conventions and the sacred nature of media popularized icons. In her second year at
Concordia University's Fine Art Program, Allison has participated in over ten shows in the last year; exhibiting
a variety of work including video, photography, installation, drawings, paintings, and sculpture in and around Montreal.
Her work stems from a facination of icons in popular culture and the
meanings attached to specific mass-produced images popularized by the media. She pushes the symbolic
connotations of particular icons and re-appropriates them to alter the context and suggest new meanings. These icons are socially, politically
or religiously instilled. The work relies on a conceptual basis rather then material. Allison tackles
her art in the similar fashion of a research assignment, finding information relevant to the ideas explored and
using highlighted data to further push and develop conceptual plans.
She challengesher audience's perception on the edge of transgressional art.
Last spring, Allison Moore installed a painting of George W. Bush with the twin towers projecting out of his pants as a large erection. Twelve feet by twelve feet, the painting was installed in the Mezzanine of Concordia
University's
main Hall Building, just four days before Bush declared war against
Iraq.
"Action/reaction" is the raw video documentation of interviews and
reactions to
this political art intervention displayed during Concordia University's
art
festival, Art Matters. In the midst of a large scale international
protest
against the Bush administration, this political intervention was on
display at
the core of student activity in the most public of spaces, creating a
forum for discussion at Concordia University, at the hub of student traffic
Juliana Moncayo who studied Visual Art/Fine Arts at Universidad
Javerlana in Bogotá (Colombia) brings you "Introspection of the Colombian Human Quality". Through this project, Juliana
proposes a method of searching her identity through the observation of the other; taking the appropriation of
that one like mirror of herself, of her culture and her values, throught the process of the portrait. "I looked for identity in some of the values that
people, from diverse status and social conditions, who live in Bogotá share. I did not try to represent anybody. I looked into myself for the
characteristics that the image of these people projected."
Darryl Nunn graduated from Sheridan College's "Illustration" program in 1999, and from Concordia
University's "Painting & Drawing" BFA in 2002. Currently, his main focus are research into alternative, low/no
toxicity artist materials, and his full time job @ the People's Potato Project Collective.
Darryl is interested in examining a forward vision for the relationship between activism and art. The use of activism in art could most publicly be
tied to specific "events" (i.e. protests, marches, workshops…). In this role the merger of art and
activism is at its most visible state; advertiser, entertainer, educator, instigator… are among the many ways
we see this merger taking place. But on what level(s) do they interact outside of the specific "event" and extend
into the everyday lives of its participants? Darryl wants to look at art as something that through its practice and its
product can readdress and reinvent itself based on a new set of needs.
Hest One has been a graffiti artist since 1989, when he started in Paris (France). He has in Montreal since 1999, and still uses street and canvas
to express a social, political, and spiritual involvement. This work is the continuity of his personal expression.
Michelle Riendeau, qui étudie présentement en enseignement des arts à Concordia, avant de
s'intéresser aux arts appliqués, a étudié le stylisme et le patronisme dans le domaine vestimentaire.
Après quelques années sur le marché du travail, elle a décidé de
faire un retour aux études. Elle a fait un certificat au département d'Arts plastiques de l'UQÀM. Cela lui a donné envie de porter plus loin les frontières de mes connaissances et de mes expériences artistiques. Michelle a fait
une exposition solo le 4 février 2001 à la Casa Obscura (Montréal). "La créativité est la forme de
communication que je prévilégie, car elle me permet d'utiliser différents médiums pour concrétiser mes idées.
J'aimerais beaucoup présenter de nouveau mes oeuvres à un public dans le but de connaître leurs avis,
de recueillir leurs commentaires qui me permettront de poursuivre ma démarche artistique."
J. A. M. S. (José Arnulfo Munive Sánchez) presenta "OLLIN" (mouvement en Nahuatl), una exposicion de pinturas
y una pseudo-performancia (pintura en vivo). La composition des œuvres et de ses supports, intitulés 'Mouvement: matière, temps et espace', est caractérisée par
l'utilisation de matériaux recyclés. Ceci se traduit par un engagement
pour
la protection de l'environnement. L'emploi de ces matériaux consiste
en un
message sous-entendu qui promeut la récupération. Cette pratique se
perçoit
par la présence de formats et de techniques toujours différents.
Les thématiques possèdent aussi une diversité d'approximations ou de
corrélations selon le cas, en utilisant des rhétoriques sociales, des
allégories précolombiennes méso-américaines, des inspirations de
caractère
mexicain et des dénonciations sociales. J. A. M. S. a catégorisé tous ces
aspects
comme étant des "abstractions figuratives", qui se relient avec des
lignes
ou formes dynamiques, en prenant en considération les traits et la
spontanéité de la chromatique (abstractions de l'énergie). Grâce à ces
éléments, il y a du mouvement dans ses compositions.
"Appréciation (concept):
La vie est le point de relation de tout être vivant, dont la forme se
construit, se transforme et se recrée en lui. Donc, dès l'instant même
de sa conception, cet être est le résultat direct de ses expériences
constantes. J'interprète cette dynamique comme un fluide dans lequel
je ne
suis qu'un exécutant. Un instrument de la vie dirais-je."
Abhimanyu Sud grew up in Toronto, went to University in
Connecticut and now lives in Montreal. In each of these places, he has been active in a variety of political and community projects, all
of which have focused around youth engagement. Being in America for several years helped Abhimanyu's political reach and understanding gain kinds of qualities that
are not easily found in Canada, since social movements there often have a wholly different character than
in this country. Having the chance each year to celebrate Dr. King's
birthday and legacy was one of the more influential of such experiences in America. Abhinamnyu brings you "Dr. King used to get down".
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