Category: Arts

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World Press Photo exhibition opens in Montreal

3—Gumda, Nepal. Saturday, May 09, 2015: Nepalese villagers look on as they watch a helicopter picking up a medical team, dropping aid at the edge of a makeshift landing zone on May 9, 2015 in the village of Gumda, Nepal. On the 25th of April, just before noon local time, as farmers were out in fields and people at home or work, a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, killing over 8,000 people and injuring more than 21,000 according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Homes, buildings and temples in Kathmandu were destroyed in the 7.8 magnitude quake, which left over 2.8 million people homeless, but it was the mountainous districts away from the capital that were the hardest hit. Villagers pulled the bodies of their loved ones from the rubble by hand and the wails of grieving families echoed through the mountains, as mothers were left to bury their own children. Over the following weeks and months, villagers picked through ruins desperate to recover whatever personal possessions they could find and salvage any building materials that could be reused. Despite relief teams arriving from all over the world in the days after the quake hit, thousands of residents living in remote hillside villages were left to fend for themselves, as rescuers struggled to reach all those affected. Multiple aftershocks, widespread damage and fear kept tourists away from the country known for its searing Himalayan peaks, damaging a vital climbing and trekking industry and compounding the recovery effort in the face of a disaster from which the people of Nepal continue to battle to recover.

Displaying the best photos of the year, the World Press Photo exhibit returns for its 11th edition

Open since August 31, the World Press Photo exhibition captures the most remarkable major events of 2015. The 11th edition of the exhibition displays photos of events such as the November Paris terrorist attacks and the devastating earthquake in Nepal.

The exhibition of award-winning photos is showcased across 100 cities in 45 countries reaching a global audience of four million people each year, according to the World Press Photo website.

“The Montreal edition is one of the most popular amongst the hundred presented around the world,” said Matthieu Rytz, president of the Montreal event, during the media opening on August 30. “Our privileged relationship with our visitors speaks volumes about the Montreal community’s curiosity and level of involvement in the evolution of our societies.”

The image Hope for a New Life won the 2016 World Press Photo of the Year. The black and white photo of a Syrian man passing a baby through the sharp razor wire frontier between Serbia and Hungary was taken by Australian photographer Warren Richardson.“The jury chose this image for its simplicity, power and symbolism,” said Francis Kohn, Agence France-Presse (AFP) Photography Director and Jury President. “[AFP] believe[s] it contains almost all the components that define the refugee situation. At once somber and timeless, it defines reality classically, in the most noble terms. This photo speaks to us of anguish, vulnerability and hope.”

Like all images, it tells a story. It was taken at night, the only time the group of refugees could attempt the dangerous crossing into the next country—this is the story behind the blurriness of the photo, Kohn explained.“He couldn’t use the flash,” said Kohn. “He did what any professional would do. Indeed, technique is also adapting to the circumstances.” Kohn said the photograph was never sold or published. The full story of the man or the baby is not known, however, Kohn said Warren Richardson was still in contact with the group and had been informed that they had made it safely to Germany.

The World Press Photo exhibit features photos of protests in Paris. Photo by Corentin Fohlen.

A picture that truly stopped me in my tracks was the image of a young girl, gripping the cold metal bars of a fence in a Serbian refugee camp, her face covered by a thin film of floating plastic, staring into space. Another child in the background stares unapologetically at the camera, at us, and then, we are confronted with the truth behind the gaze of both children. This photograph was taken by freelance Slovenian photojournalist Matic Zorman and won the first prize single in the people category. It made me think of a child playing and making the best of her situation. Over the course of their dangerous journey towards an uncertain future, they have seen, felt and experienced everlasting traumas. I was captured by this image, struggling to define it between comedy and tragedy. The story behind the image left me hoping for the family’s safe passage to a better home, but fearing that as news coverage of the refugee crisis decreased, so do the chances of a better life for these children.

The eight categories of the World Press Photo exhibition are spot news, general news, contemporary issues, daily life, nature, people, sports and long-term projects. Depending on the category, entries could be single shots or multi-image projects.

On the upper level of the venue four complementary exhibits reveal diverse stories, some of which have unique ties to our city.  I am not from outer space tells the stories of newly-arrived Syrian families in Montreal, while In Search of Billions Lost, Oxfam-Québec addresses the issue of tax havens. Viewers can witness daily work of foreign correspondents, detailed by the ICI RDI – Quoi qu’il arrive. The Festival du Nouveau Cinéma’s Cartes blanches series supports six to eight film directors in the free expression of a topic of their choice.

Founded in 1955, World Press Photo is a non-profit organization with headquarters in Amsterdam. According to their website, the foundation is committed to developing and encouraging the highest standards in photojournalism and documentaries worldwide.

The World Press Photo exhibit will be showcased at Marché Bonsecours until Oct. 2, 2016. For more information visit their website.

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Canadian identity resonates in new film

The Northlander features an all Canadian cast.

Renowned Métis director Benjamin Ross Hayden brings his distinctly Canadian film home to Canada

After a few hurdles and a lot of phone calls, the all-Canadian film The Northlander made its North American debut on September 2 at the Outremont Theatre in Montreal. The Northlander was entered in this year’s Cannes Film Festival as a part of the Perspective Canada category.

Set in the year 2961 after nature has reclaimed the land, a hunter named Cygnus must journey through a desert valley to protect his people from a band of invaders. Along the way he must find the key to his people’s existence, and return from the journey with a purpose that he finds along the way.

The Northlander was written, directed and produced by Benjamin Ross Hayden, the youngest Canadian filmmaker to be accepted into the Telefilm Canada Micro-Budget Production Program as a director, writer, and producer.  The film is a futuristic epic that features an all-First Nations cast, something Hayden cared deeply about.

“It was very important to have a cast who are representative of the characters in the story,” he said. Seemingly by “coincidence based on serendipity,” Hayden added, all of the actors had previously worked together on the Canadian television series Blackstone, and therefore already had chemistry. Lead actor Corey Sevier worked alongside executive producer Adam Beach on the film Path of Souls, written and directed by another Canadian,  The Northlander’s executive producer Jeremy Torrie.

Even the inspiration for the film comes from Canada. “The film is inspired by a distinctly Canadian event, the 1885 Battle of Batoche, … where Louis Riel challenged the colonial ways of life,” Hayden said. “This same struggle is reflected in the film.” Principal cinematography took place in the Alberta Badlands near Montana, where Riel took refuge before returning to lead the Métis rebellion of the 1880s.  

An unmistakably  Canadian story, the film explores the theme of identity, something that Hayden said he believes is important to Canadian cinema. “Canadian cinema is unique in the fact that it has three strong sectors of cultural cinema: Anglophone, French Canadian and Aboriginal cinema,” said Hayden. According to Hayden, Canadian cinema has the ability to strike a unique chord on an international level. “We can connect to Hollywood because we have a commercial and cultural film industry,” he said. “Images are worth a thousand words, and films help to explore what makes Canada distinct, in the sense of Canada’s own identity.”

One of the reasons that Hayden chose Montreal for The Northlander’s North American premiere also ties back to Louis Riel. Hayden said due to Riel’s significant impact on Montreal’s history and culture, the film will resonate with those who see it. Just like how Riel fought to protect the Métis people’s identity, the lead character, Cygnus, fights to discover his own people’s identity and keep it alive.

“It makes sense to have the North American premiere in Montreal because it is one of the oldest cities in Canada, and it was all a part [of a] journey,” Hayden said. The journey that he’s referring to reflects the basis behind the film which is the, “Metis identity, exploring the journey that is part of the legacy of that culture.” This is one Canadian film where “eh” is not the punch line of every joke.

This film isn’t just another futuristic-themed low budget movie filmed on a video tape in someone’s backyard. The quality of the production was just as important to Hayden as the story. Having studied film production and film studies simultaneously, Hayden said he feels he can now create, “thought provoking cinema, with a mindfulness of both the art form and the craft.”

With The Northlander backed by Canadian film industry hard hitters Adam Beach and Jeremy Torrie, it was made not only to explore cultural identity, but to display the beauty and capabilities of Canadian-produced cinema. This level of production quality is not new to Hayden since his previous short film, Agophobia premiered at over 20 film festivals worldwide  including the Cannes Film Festival.

The Northlander has a few more stops at other film festivals this fall. It will be screened at the ImagineNative Film Festival, which runs from October 19 to 23 in Toronto, as well as the Feratum Film Fest from October 5 to 9 in Tlalpujahua, Mexico. Hayden has an agreement with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to screen the film on the network for the next three years. It will also have a limited theatrical release next year in major Canadian cities.  After the theatrical release, The Northlander will be released digitally by Spotlight Pictures within the next year.

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Sword-wielding insects run amok at the Redpath

In Pest, insects are the players in intricately designed tableaus. Photo by Tiffany Lafleur

In Amy Swartz’s art installation, bugs are the subjects of intricate tableaus

Monarch butterflies don’t typically have lion heads, right? In Pest, however, lion-headed monarchs are one of the many fanciful and creative characters brought to life by Toronto-based artist Amy Swartz. Moths, butterflies, wasps and bees are just a few of the insects featured in her intricately designed and elaborately illustrated tableaus. At first glance, the insects in her work appear to be displayed like any other museum exhibit, pinned under a glass casing. Upon closer inspection, the differences begin to emerge. Attached to the insects are pieces of figurines, such as doll and animal toy heads. Some hold swords or rifles while others have small limbs glued to their exoskeletons.

Through her work she wishes to encourage the viewer to question our controlling relationship to the planet and to each other, she said. Narratives of conflict and drama emerge as one observes the works more closely. Swartz said she drew inspiration from newspaper images, such as photos of protesters congregating during the Toronto’s Occupy Movement, and of crowds swarming Al Tahrir Square during the protests in Egypt.

Just as in these protests, the insects in the tableaus swarm and congregate, chasing each other in a frozen pursuit. “There are some compositions that are purely imaginary, however they all have basis in some conflict or chase,” said Swartz. “The idea that sometimes you don’t know who is chasing whom, or in some cases, kissing or attacking, is also interesting to me.” One of the most appealing parts of the tableaus is how, in many of the scenes, there is no clear emphasis on a single subject. Instead, the different players in the tableau come together to depict a scene of action and drama. In order to truly appreciate the work, the viewer must ensure they have noticed the diverse parts that compose the whole.

The way in which the overall chaos of the scene comes together to form a cohesive whole is reminiscent of the masterworks of French Romanticism art. Such masterpieces as The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault or Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix come to mind, where visual harmony can be seen in a chaotic scene. Swartz’s work uses the same complexity of action and drama, but with insects and toys as subjects.  

Pest had humble beginnings, such as with the creation of Moth Man, which features the the head of an army man attached to a dead moth. “It felt so stupid and so right at the same time, and from there I was compelled to create more absurd characters,” said Swartz. This isolated incident was the precursor to the swarms of redesigned insects that make up the tableaus.

The strength of the pieces lie in the details. The strange disposition is what initially catches your attention, as the insects are not all cleanly laid out as in other typical entomology displays. Instead they are jumbled, placed one on top of the other, fighting for the viewers’ attention.

Swartz will be giving a talk about her work at 11:30 a.m. during the exhibit’s last day, on Sept. 18 at the Redpath Museum. The museum is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

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Fashion: your own personal art

From off the runway and into the closet, fashion is a powerful art form

Choosing what to wear has been a lifelong struggle for most people, but for some, getting dressed is a form of art. Whether it’s subconscious or not, a person chooses what they wear carefully. They may only search out little gems in second hand stores or only buy things off the runway. Some colours may make a person look sallow, or a pattern may be too busy. This is similar to the way a painter chooses the colours for a painting’s background in order for it to best complement the subject. It can be a meticulous process.

Just like different styles of art, fashion has many different forms of its own. From classic to haute couture, each design is always part of a bigger picture. Fashion shows display a designer’s work, and all the pieces come together to bring to life the designer’s theme. The theme can be interpreted in as many ways as a Picasso painting. The colours and cuts chosen by the designer are always open to interpretation. Some may wear the skirt as a shirt or others a scarf, but all of the pieces are used to convey a person’s emotions and personality, two things that almost all art is based on. The body of a person is their personal art gallery. Although some people have taken their art galleries to another level.

Everyone’s closets are their own form of an art gallery. While displaying their favourite pieces there is usually a happy medium between organization and chaos. A new trend featuring custom built closets have become a new form of the personal art gallery. Harper’s Bazaar recently featured Kris Jenner’s closet, which is completely dedicated to her Birkin bags. These bags, which are all handcrafted and take over 18 hours to make, are coveted by hand bag enthusiasts worldwide. Costing over $23,000 for a brand new bag, each one is a valuable art piece displayed proudly on its owner’s arm or in their custom-built closet. Some of these closets have their own Instagram accounts and flood fashion-lovers’ Pinterest pages.

Whether or not the closet items were designed in an atelier in Paris, a department store, or an eclectic thrift store, each item was at one point a part of a designers’ vision and dream, and they become a part of every wearer’s personal style and vision. It becomes a part of a person’s own art gallery both at home and when they are wearing it on the street.

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A summer film to soothe the soul

Together, Masao and Kikujiro embark on an unlikely adventure.

Kikujiro draws parallels between a boy’s quest and the transition to adulthood

Kikujiro (1999) is an essential summer movie, but it’s all about when you decide to watch it. This summer was a time for me to break away from the last few years of stressing over adapting to adulthood. Watching Kikujiro at this time in my life really validated what I was going through.

Kikujiro is about a little boy, Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) who embarks on a journey with his elder neighbour Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano). Together, they have a very random, yet life-changing summer adventure. The movie pulls you in with the innocence and sadness of young Masao, but it takes you on a trip that lets you reflect on the value of the people you meet throughout your life. Written and directed by Takeshi Kitano, who also stars in the film, Kikujiro was entered in the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

The sad tone of the film is balanced by the light-hearted nature of Kitano’s character, and the bizarre encounters he and Masao have along the way. As a viewer, you are introduced to a rather despondent nine-year old boy who lives with his grandmother.

When his summer vacation begins, Masao has nothing to do and no one to play with, since all of his friends go on trips with their parents. Masao doesn’t know much about his parents—the only thing his grandmother tells him is that his mother is working hard. One day, he stumbles upon a picture of his mother. Written on the back of the picture is an address in Toyohashi, several hundred miles away. He decides to take a trip to meet her.

A lowly neighbourhood thug, Kikujiro becomes Masao’s companion. His wife, a former neighbour of the boy, convinces him to accompany Masao on his trip.

Their trip starts off a little shaky, with both parties forced into travelling together. After winning a bicycle bet, the pair stumbles into several messy situations, such as hitchhiking after their taxi breaks down, that help the two grow closer.

Watching this movie, I realized there are special people you meet that can change your life and how you view yourself. Regardless of how you feel about this movie, Kikujiro perfectly captures a pivotal journey in the characters’ lives. Kikujiro reminded me of my childhood, when I was a bored kid living in the city with a working parent, trying to find any way to amuse myself. The film also reflected my current situation, as I struggle to transition into adulthood.

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A case for sport as art

Florence Yee

Art is all around us – even in athletics

Another edition of the Summer Olympic Games has wrapped up, and with it, the greatest athletes in the world return to their home countries.  Some are proudly weighed down with gold, silver or bronze medals around their necks and hard-earned international recognition.

Graphic by Florence Yee

The sacrifice, perseverance and motivation required to qualify for any international competition cannot be underscored. A lifetime of training and conditioning goes into qualifying for races that only last the time it takes to blink three times. At such high levels of competition, an athlete’s physical capabilities are typically bragged about: extreme strength, agility and power.

However, another athletic quality that is just as important, yet not fairly mentioned, is the artistry.  Although arts and sports might seem like polar opposites, they do go hand in hand to some degree. In sports such as swimming, what distinguishes a first-place finish from the second spot on the podium can come down to technique.

In gymnastics, synchronized swimming and even rowing, the performance becomes something akin to an art form. Rowers must be in perfect synchronicity with each other in order to be efficient. Gymnasts must wow the judges with the precision of their performances, but also with the creative aspect of them. Synchronized swimmers must deliver a spectacular performance—while submerged and holding their breaths.

These athletes have made something excruciatingly difficult and physically demanding seem easy, just as ballet and theatre do. No one would contest the artistically physical aspect of a ballerina. Therefore, sports should be recognized for their physical artistry as well.

 

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Overlooked art in a creative city

Montreal’s infamous street art has become a core part of its culture and identity.

A painting on the side of a flower box is one of the many displays of creativity found in Montreal’s Gay Village. Located on the corner of Rue Amherst and Ste. Catherine Street, the ghostly and haunting quality of the characters’ faces draw in passing pedestrians.

The painting was created by artist Aleksandra Panic during Amherst en Arts, an event where local artists gathered along Amherst street to display and sell their work. A number of artists, including Panic, painted the sides of the flower boxes located along Amherst Street. According to Panic’s website, her paintings distinct characteristics include the “folkish elements and primitive shapes” along with the “dramatic contrast between primitive, generalized body and detailed face.”

The primitive ghost-like beings, contrasted with the bright red and orange background, make for a piece that is open to many forms of interpretation. The characters’ faces bring to mind old renaissance books of saints and demons, or of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. The different textures and shapes of the characters create a deeper and more three dimensional effect. The brush strokes along the edges of the characters’ hair make it appear wispy and tangible. There is almost no shading or shadows except on the two characters’ faces, which gives them a mysterious aura. However, the bright background makes the characters appear less sinister and perhaps even hopeful. The red and orange gives a warmth to the whole painting and contrasts with the facial features. The dichotomy of the mural makes me want to know more about the characters depicted, to observe, talk and reflect about scene. Like most paintings, it sparks a conversation and a discussion about my interpretation. Luckily, such art is publicly available in many places across the city, having gained in popularity with addition of the art fairs taking place in various Montreal boroughs, like the Gay Village. All you need to do is pay attention.

Check out more of the painted flower boxes along Amherst Street this fall. To see more of Aleksandra Panic’s work look on her website, or on her Facebook page called: aleksandrapanicartist. You can find some more of her street art at Plaza St Hubert.

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Dekalog: The human condition, dissected

Each of the ten episodes of the miniseries loosely revolves around one of the Ten Commandments.

A Polish masterwork makes a stop by Montreal’s Cinéma du Parc

This September, Cinéma du Parc will be showcasing Krzysztof Kieślowski’s newly restored 1989 Polish TV drama Dekalog, a miniseries which presents a timeless look into ageless aspects of the human condition. Janus Films has finally delivered a restoration to this masterwork that will now be screened for a month at Cinéma du Parc in collaboration with the Festival du nouveau cinéma.

Filmed in 10 separate hour-long segments, Dekalog is a quintessential European epic in cinephile circles alongside the likes of Sátántangó (1994) and Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).

But rest assured it does not demand to be viewed like a regular TV show. Despite being a television series,  it functions as 10 individual short films. Each part is connected by theme only, not by linear narrative structure. At Cinéma du Parc, each ‘episode’ is screened during five two-hour blocks over the span of three weeks.

The miniseries’ director is two-time Oscar nominee Krzysztof Kieślowski.

It is also worth noting that while the series is themed around the Ten Commandments, a strong or weak connection to religion is not required to enjoy these works. The themes serve only as inspiration to 10 intimate portrayals of everyday life.

A two-time Oscar nominee, the late Kieślowski is a giant in Polish cinema. He holds the distinction of being one of the most revered directors of his time, with Sight and Sound naming him the second greatest director of the modern day in 2002. Kieślowski’s prime years were in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s in which he directed, in addition to Dekalog, the Three Colors Trilogy films (1993-1994) and The Double Life of Veronique (1991). Despite being remembered for his narrative works, Kieślowski cut his teeth in the field with 21 documentary credits to his name before his transition into auteur cinema.

The screenings should serve as a welcomed alternative to those starved for an art house cinema fix in the wake of the summer blockbuster season. It also presents a great introduction to the style of European Art Cinema and even post-Cold War Eastern European Cinema as many of the episodes, such as Part V: Thou Shalt not Kill (1990), feature allusions to anxieties of a post-Cold War society. 

Cinéma du Parc will be releasing their scheduled list of screenings each week on their website.

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Fandom at its finest

A Mecha Charizard. Photo by Tiffany Lafleur.

Thousands gather at Otakuthon to celebrate everything Japanese

A Pokémon trainer faces off against a team rocket duo while an eager crowd snaps some pictures. Pyramid Head stands near the far wall, holding a very confused baby while parents look on amusedly. Three Deadpools form a line and dance a jig while moving through the audience.

Welcome to Otakuthon, the largest anime convention in Quebec and the second largest in Canada. According to their website, this year, over 21,000 people attended the three-day convention, held at le Palais des Congrès from Aug. 5 to 7.

Otakuthon’s focus is on Japanese culture, both modern and traditional. With a full schedule of events, there’s something for everyone to enjoy, from the hard-core anime fan to the casual enthusiast. With live panels, video game demos, film screenings and special guests, it’s impossible to do everything. The events are as diverse as they are numerous. On the Saturday of the convention alone, convention attendees could sit in on panels about Japan tourism, the evolution of the Pokémon games, fanfiction, bento art and sushi modelling, to name a few.

“There’s a comforting sameness to these conventions,” said Chris Cason, voice actor and guest panelist. “The accents might be slightly different, but once you walk through the door you go ‘oh there’s a Goku, there’s a Naruto,’ it feels the same in a kind of unifying way that I really like.”

Montreal’s Otakuthon featured hundreds of cosplayers. Photo by Tiffany Lafleur.

It’s also a chance for fans to meet special guests, including those behind some of the most iconic character voices, such as Cason, who played Mr. Popo in DragonBall Z and Gluttony in Fullmetal Alchemist, or Eric Stuart, who played Brock and James in the original Pokémon series, and Seto Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh!

“It’s pretty amazing to feel like I am part of pop culture history. You can ask a six year old what a Pokémon is and you can ask your grandparents and they will know,” said Stuart, who gives panel discussions on voice acting as well as on direction and adaptation. “I’ve been told numerous times by the fans, ‘you’re the voice of my childhood,’ which to me is very humbling and very flattering, and I definitely don’t take that for granted.”

One of the special events on Saturday was a concert by L’Orchestre des Jeux Vidéo, a Montreal-based orchestra dedicated to playing video game soundtracks. During their 90-minute concert, the orchestra paid homage to some of the most iconic franchises. The soundtracks from Sailor Moon, the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the Pokémon theme songs, both from the anime and the Gameboy games were just some of the scores played by the symphony. As conductor Jonathan Dagenais very accurately pointed out: while music in video games is mostly invisible, it serves to guide you through the emotional journey, reminding you to feel happy, sad, or maybe hint that a boss is in the room.

Over 21,000 people attended Otakuthon this year. Photo by Tiffany Lafleur.

The most remarkable aspect of the convention was the time and meticulous effort some attendees put into their cosplay outfits. Cosplaying, which is the practice of dressing up as a video game, movie or book character, is part of the integral fabric of anime conventions such as Otakuthon.

Face and body paint, prosthetics, and LED lights were just some of the products cosplayers used to recreate beloved characters, either truthful to the original design or with a creative twist. A particularly impressive group of cosplayers dressed as mechanic versions of Pikachu, Blastoise, Venusaur and Charizard from Pokémon. The costumes, which were painted and designed to look like metal plating (think something out of Transformers) included LED lights and voice boxes, so that when they spoke their voice was amplified above the din of the gathering crowd.

For the fans, Otakuthon is a way to express their love of a particular anime or character. For the special guests, it’s a way to see that their work is indeed appreciated.

“When you’re recording, you might as well be doing it in a closet,” said Cason. “Then you come here and it’s the theater aspect to it. It’s really a humbling and rewarding experience.”

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Segal Centre debuts The Producers in Yiddish

Mel Brooks’ classic Broadway show celebrates its 15th anniversary

You’d think there would be no way of making Mel Brooks’ work any more Jewish, but the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre did just that—by translating The Producers, arguably the American filmmaker’s most celebrated work, into mame-loshn. The resulting show, a co-production with the Côte-Saint-Luc Dramatic Society, had its world premiere at the Segal Centre on June 19.

Initially written as a film, The Producers came out in 1967 and, despite the controversy it caused, won an Oscar and became a comedy classic. Almost 35 years later, Brooks re-wrote it as a musical, adding catchy songs, longer scenes and some of the self-referential humour that was a staple of his famous parody movies. The musical conquered Broadway and this year is celebrating its 15th anniversary.

The story centers on an unlikely partnership between Max Bialystock, a slimy has-been Broadway producer, and a neurotic accountant named Leo Bloom, who devise a scheme to make a fortune from a flop show. The action is quick, the humour is sharp, and the musical has admirably lost none of its potential to offend. It is especially shocking to consider that The Producers, the plot of which essentially involves two Jews putting on a pro-Nazi show out of greed for money, was written a mere 20 years after WW2. The show-within-the-show, titled Springtime for Hitler—also the title of the wonderful theme song—is meant to be in the worst possible taste, so how do you mock poor taste without succumbing to it? The answer is, maybe you shouldn’t shy away from it—or, as Brooks himself once put it, you should “[rise] below vulgarity.”

The show is fully orchestrated and features a large cast of professional and nonprofessional performers alike, some of them actual Yiddish-speakers and others just apt mimics. Sam Stein and Mikey Samra star in the lead roles, with Alisha Ruiss as an exuberant Swedish blonde and Jonathan Patterson—also the show’s choreographer—often stealing the spotlight as Roger De Bris, a fictional theatre director that may be the worst to have ever lived, but is surely not the least memorable.

The Producers runs until July 10 at the Segal Centre. Tickets start at $45. Most of the show is in Yiddish, with English and French supertitles.

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Art and architecture: why beauty matters

Graphic by Florence Yee.

Thoughts on modern architecture inspired by the BBC documentary Why Beauty Matters

If you had asked someone who lived between the years 1750 and 1930 what the purpose of art was, they would probably have answered: beauty. Today, society seems to have forgotten that. The documentary Why Beauty Matters, a BBC documentary with Roger Scruton, explores the different ways in which beauty is what makes life worthwhile, and how we are losing the meaning of what beauty really is.

Graphic by Florence Yee.

Dada art was the very beginning of art that was not meant for beauty. It was created as an anti-war movement and most art pieces were targeting the bourgeois nationalists and colonialist interests because they were thought to be the cause of the war. In 1917, Marcel Duchamp presented his upside-down urinal and called it art, with the purpose of making fun of the entire system that had been installed to judge if something was really art and what was allowed to be called “museum art.” Unfortunately, the public misinterpreted the message Duchamp was trying to convey, and instead understood that everything could be art if we said it was.

This was the beginning of making art pieces that intended to be shocking and not beautiful. Art was no longer primarily about the interpretation of something, but now could be literal objects presented as art, something we had never seen before. For example, Damien Hirst’s famous piece called A Thousand Years (1990) is a glass box containing a dead cow’s head being devoured by thousands of flies. This is supposed to portray the cycle of life—birth, reproduction and death. Flies feed on the dismembered cow head, reproduce and die in the glass box. It is quite shocking to see, not beautiful or pleasing to the eye at all.

If you look at architecture, it appears that this line of work has also taken a wrong turn since the ‘60s. Walking around in the city, you notice ugliness on every street corner. In the ‘60s, many architects became impatient with the beauty and detail of a structure and started building primarily for use, seemingly deeming beauty useless and tossing it completely aside. This resulted in grotesque concrete structures popping up all around the world. Many of these buildings were later abandoned or had to be demolished because no one wanted to live in them anymore. They were simply too ugly for anyone to buy them, like the CN fruit warehouse in Montreal, which still stands but is left abandoned.

After demolishment, a new modern structure would be built in its place, only to be considered hideous again within 50 years. Modern is only modern for so long—it always outdates itself. The only buildings that remain timelessly beautiful are the ones where architects paid attention to detail, such as the Molson Bank building on St. Jacques Street in Old Montreal, the Ernest-Cormier building on Notre-Dame Est or Le Place d’Armes Hotel on St. Jacques. No one would ever dare demolish these beautiful monuments. They are all examples of the type of architecture that modern architects have given up on, in the sense that they won’t ever try to replicate this type of architecture due to the extra time and money it takes to make. In the long run though, it seems more profitable to build something that will always be found beautiful and that will last longer than to build a monument which is built for immediate use and that no one will care if it is demolished 30 years later. The Laurentian Hotel, which was situated on René Lévesque Boulevard, is a perfect example of a building demolished shortly after construction, even though it was perfectly usable. Armchair architectural critics claimed it to be “hopelessly dated and very ugly.”

During a Ted Talk, artist Theaster Gates talked about beauty, pointing out that “people act differently around beautiful things.” He explained that “if you’re in an environment where there’s a bunch of waste on the ground, it’s easy not to care for that place, to add your filth to the existing filth. By making a place beautiful, which often means simply peeling back the layers of what is already there, we remove the distractions.”

When we remove beauty from an object, that object soon becomes useless. Use is in need of beauty to survive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it’s safe to say that some beautiful things are appreciated by everyone.

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Arts

Ten big stories in a small package

La Voce tells the surreal story of a pig butcher who falls in love with his favourite stripper.

At the Phi Centre, Not Short on Talent gives Canadian film a place to shine

Short films often present relatable characters, interesting plots and engaging stories that aim to hook the viewer and ignite their interest. Except that, unlike features, shorts have only a fraction of the time to do it. Every second of every shot counts.

La Voce tells the surreal story of a pig butcher who falls in love with his favourite stripper.

At the Phi Centre, Not Short on Talent brings together 10 successful short films produced by Canadian talent from across the country and exhibits them on a loop for all to see.

“You have to look at the big picture,” said Danny Lennon, film curator at the Phi Centre and programmer at Prends ça court!. “It’s a year-round screening event, so 10 films per month. And it’s just another excuse to show brilliant work that’s being made in Canada right now that, even if the Internet exists, and even if festivals exist, lots of people don’t get to see.”

The films are varied in their genres, themes and visual styles, and yet the one common aspect across all films is their powerful message. This month’s selection happens to highlight multiple works from Quebec artists.

“We’re showing the films, but it’s also an initiative with Téléfilm Canada,” said Lennon. “It’s also the people behind the film that we want to showcase. The directors, the director of photography, the editor, everything. It’s not only the film as a whole, it’s the people behind it.”

La Voce by David Uloth is a story of a pig butcher who falls in love with his favourite stripper. It is a film that subtly edges over the line of surrealism, weaving a realistic story of lost love and hopelessness with abstract themes of slowly losing one’s identity. A must-see for the cinephile that enjoys stylized works and reading between the lines.

La Voce tells the surreal story of a pig butcher who falls in love with his favourite stripper.

On the other hand, Maurice, by François Jaros, crashes the viewer back to reality. When Maurice is given only a few months to live, he must continue living the time he has left while embracing his own impending death. He opts to choose a day to end his life so that he doesn’t become a burden for his children. Jaros was the winner of the Best Fiction Short Film award at the Gala du cinéma québécois 2016.

Maurice follows a man who must live his life with the knowledge that he only has a few months to live.

In She Stoops to Conquer by Zack Russell, a struggling actress dons a mask for a talent show, and keeps it to go clubbing. There, she meets her doppelganger, and engages in a strange dance. Her identity begins meshing with the character she portrays, and the audience is left wondering who is really calling the shots. Russell won for Best Live Action Short Drama at the Canadian Screen Awards 2016.

Lennon believes it is important to highlight local talent, because it remains obscure to many.

“The short films, there’s so much content right now in the world that it gets lost. So we’re bringing that content to one place, there’s not a zillion films, there’s 10 films,” said Lennon.

The films are being shown from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. Admission to the exhibition is free.

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