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Gareth Edwards on success, failure and not giving up

Rogue One director delivered final film keynote speech at the SXSW Festival

When Gareth Edwards was a child, he knew exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up—he wanted to join the Rebel Alliance and help blow up the Death Star. But then his parents told him Star Wars was actually a lie, created by film. Having to change his career path, Edwards decided to become a professional liar himself and make movies.

His name might sound familiar. Maybe it’s because his first film, Monsters, which premiered at SXSW in 2010, did so well, considering its low budget. Or maybe it’s because he directed Godzilla in 2014.

But if his name is familiar, it’s probably because of his latest film,  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which grossed over US$1 billion worldwide and was nominated for both Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects at this year’s Academy Awards.

Edward’s success is indisputable, but it’s not like he took the express lane from dreaming about filmmaking to being at the helm of multi-million dollar mega-blockbusters. That’s something the director continually stressed during his keynote address at the SXSW Festival on March 13. It wasn’t a straight line to success, and he nearly gave up many times along the way.

For all of his current success, Edwards remains humble. And funny. He’s a geek who grew up to direct the franchise he grew up with and who worked hard to achieve what he has. During his keynote, he spoke about the hectic nature of filmmaking, the unforgiving tight shooting schedules and of accidentally walking onto the wrong set. But the main point he wanted to stress to the audience was to continue working towards your dreams and goals until you achieve them.

Edwards said he wanted more than anything to emulate the trajectory of his hero, Steven Spielberg. He had a checklist he wanted to follow: make films with Dad’s camera, get into film school, make a professional short, direct his first movie.

But when he didn’t get to check that last step of directing his first movie, Edwards felt as if he had failed. So he bought the new supercomputer of the era, running on the high-tech Windows 95, and started tinkering with visual effects (VFX) software.

“I did lots of these silly things like animating dinosaurs and robots and putting them in my parent’s driveway,” said Edwards. “And I’d go for job interviews in London and try to get directing work, and they would watch my short films and be very unimpressed. And then suddenly these robots and dinosaurs would turn up at the end and they’d go ‘well what are these?’”

The animations baffled the studio representatives. They were paying exorbitant amounts for professionals to create these realistic, ground-breaking animations, while Edwards could make the same high-quality productions at a fraction of the cost in his bedroom. What initially started out as a fun experiment soon turned into a career. He soon earned a reputation at the BBC as the kid who makes graphics in his bedroom.

Although working in VFX allowed him to work in the movie industry, it also made him idle on his goal of directing a film. His fear of failure made him play it safe, and so, for a time, Edwards concentrated on buying the newest software upgrades, getting the latest lens and, ultimately, postponing his dream.

But in the end, his fear of failure was met head on with his fear of never having tried. And so, with funding from a studio in London which specialized in low-budget feature films, Edwards launched into making his first feature, Monsters, which screened at SXSW and launched his career as a filmmaker. He was eventually was picked up by Legendary Entertainment.

Edwards shared a handful of funny stories during his keynote address, such as the time he rushed onto the set of Planet of the Apes instead of Godzilla, or how he was late to almost every meeting with potential production companies post-Monsters.

But perhaps one of the funniest stories he told was of how he picked the name for a planet in Rogue One. While on break at a well-known international coffee chain, the barista misspelled his name, writing ‘Scarif’ instead of ‘Gareth’ on his cup. And thus, the military planet in the third act of Rogue One was named.

Edwards also admitted to giving himself one cameo in Rogue One. At the end of the film, when Vader is wreaking havoc on the ship and killing everyone in sight, one guy runs down the hall, and pulls down a lever which launches a ship away, saving the entire rebellion. That guy was Edwards.

But for all of his jokes and quips, Edwards was serious about one thing: “Never ever, ever listen to anybody who tells you something is impossible, because if you never give up, you sometimes can join the Rebel Alliance and help blow up the Death Star.”

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Virtual reality @ SXSW

Displaying the best and brightest upcoming VR artists, companies and installations

The Positron Voyager chair rotates and tilts, allowing for the sensation of movement.

The buzz around virtual reality and immersive technologies has been building in recent years as more companies and individuals embrace this new frontier. There is a scramble to see who can make it to the forefront of the medium, by creating ever-more poignant VR stories, more immersive technology and more impressive experiences.

The Virtual Cinema at the SXSW festival displayed some of the most innovative game-changers in this budding industry. Included in the exhibition was NASA’s Mars 2030, in which the participant becomes an astronaut exploring the red planet’s rocky terrain.

Montreal-based company and industry leader Felix & Paul Studios was also in attendance, displaying several new works. These included Miyubi, their first immersive narrative experience, and Dream of “O,” a fantastical visual journey featuring Cirque du Soleil’s famous Vegas show, O.

Though the Virtual Cinema exhibition had many works from well-known creators, there were also many newcomers: artists who knew the stories they wanted to tell could only be told through the VR medium.

Fistful of Stars is one such work. You are a space voyager floating in the infinite sea of stars in the Orion Nebula, and get to witness both the birth and death of a star.

“When I first started thinking about this piece, I wanted to make people feel as if they were going on a journey through the cosmos, and I wanted to make them feel as if they were floating in space,” said Eliza McNitt, the director. “Virtual reality was the only way for me to be able to tell that story.”

The work, which had its world premiere at SXSW, incorporates movement that shatters conventional immersive boundaries. It does this by coupling a VR headset with a Positron Voyager Chair, which rotates, spins and tilts to give you a sense of complete weightlessness.

It makes you feel as if you are actually floating in space rather than simply witnessing space.

Whereas Fistful of Stars eloquently and masterfully used the technological aspect of the medium to tell its story, Notes to my Father grips the audience and emotionally invests them in the piece.

This heart-wrenching story tells the tale of a woman whose marriage to a stranger was arranged by her father. Except, when the marriage fell apart, she was sold to an Indian brothel, unbeknownst to her father. Notes to my Father is a story of grief, love and reconciliation between a father and daughter. It is an emotional journey through pain, heartbreak and, ultimately, forgiveness. Despite having a close relationship, neither father or daughter has ever spoken about what happened to her. Yet deep down, both know. Their silence speaks volumes to the pain they both feel.

Notes to My Father is a heart-wrenching story that perfectly uses the VR medium’s empathy-enabling capabilities.

Director Jayisha Patel said empathy is crucial in having an authentic, captivating experience. VR puts the viewer right into the setting, and so this complete immersiveness into the story creates an emotional bond between the viewer and the characters.

“I’d love for different survivor-led organizations to be able to see this and connect, so we’re planning on doing that,” said Patel, who specializes in narratives about women, women of colour and gender violence. “I’d like to reach out to survivor-led organizations in the U.K., U.S. and Canada and get them to create a dialogue.”

VR is a strong medium for its empathy-inducing abilities because, as a viewer, you are part of the story instead of just a passive onlooker. When watching a film, if a character looks at the camera, it makes it seem as if they are looking in your general direction. But with VR, when a character looks at the camera, they are looking right into your eyes, because the camera is in fact a character in the story.

Both Fistful of Stars and Notes to my Father use the VR medium to its utmost potential. Though both pieces couldn’t be more different, they both fully and masterfully conduct their storytelling in an immersive and interesting manner that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer in different, but no less meaningful ways.

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Using technology to shape and understand the future

An image from NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism by Ashley Baccus-Clark, Carmen Aguilar y Wedge, Ece Tankal and Nitzan Bartov, an official selection of the New Frontier Art program at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | image by Hyphen Labs.

 Immersive technologies and emotional responses can help us plan ahead

How can we prepare for the future when we don’t know what we’ll face? Enter speculative design: designing products, services or scenarios to address future challenges and opportunities.

Sci-Fi by Design: The Speculative Revolution, a panel discussion at SXSW on March 15, addressed the need to design for the future, today.

Moderated by Phil Balagtas from GE Aviation, the panel consisted of Ashley Baccus-Clark and Carmen Aguilar Y Wedge from Hyphen-Labs, a speculative design company, and Jake Dunagan from verynice, a global design-strategy consultancy.

“We have advanced as a civilization so far that we might be able to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs and deflect an asteroid if it were coming towards us,” Dunagan said. “That’s an amazing accomplishment. But I think the big problem is that we are the asteroid.”

Eliciting an emotional response is the most effective way of getting people to seriously think about the future, said Dunagan. Hyphen-Labs and verynice both do this, but with different approaches.

Hyphen-Labs uses immersive technology to present possible futures. In the real world, products are often designed with a demographic in mind. Their latest VR work, Neurospeculative Afrofeminism, challenges today’s designers to consider wider demographics by developing virtual technologies and designs that take into account the security, protection and visibility of, in this particular work, black women’s bodies. Their designs include earrings that record police altercations and scarves that thwart facial-recognition technology.

In contrast, Dunegan fights against apathy and dismissal of the future by using installations that present hypothetical futures in an attempt to emotionally invest people. One such project, set in in Hawaii, invited people to drink from water coolers containing various levels of plastic, representing ocean plastic levels in 1990, 2000 and the forecast for 2030.

The future might seem intangible, but we can use speculative design to start thinking about it now and ensure we steer towards a brighter future.

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From Montreal to Austin: Felix & Paul talk VR

Felix & Paul Studios, held a panel discussion at the SXSW festival in Austin on March 14

The first time Felix & Paul Studios was at the SXSW festival was back in 2014, where they screened Strangers, one of their first virtual reality projects. Since then, the Montreal-based studio has become a leader in immersive storytelling.

Co-founders Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël, along with chief content officer Ryan Horrigan and director of sound design Jean-Pascal Beaudoin, held a panel discussion on March 14 on virtual reality (VR) production.

Their studios have become experts in cultivating presence-based storytelling, which, as Raphaël pointed out during the panel, doesn’t just ‘happen’ because you have the technology. A 360-degree film isn’t inherently immersive because it is 360 degrees. It is immersive because of the way the visual and auditory elements work together to make you feel present in the story.

“The first step, and the most important one, is to position the viewer inside of the scene,” says Lajeunesse. “The way we place the viewer inside the scene will create the relation to the characters, to the story, so that’s really the most vital decision we have to make on set.”

In order to cultivate the abstract notion of ‘presence,’ a cornerstone of successful immersive works, the panelists spoke about building a bond between the audience and the narrative, making the viewer part of the film rather than a static spectator.

One of the challenges with 360-degree cinematography is that there is no single frame, since you can look around. However, there is composition, which can be separated into near field, mid field and far field. These fields add depth to the visual aspect of the medium. According to Lajeunesse, the objects in near field are the most crucial, as they make the viewer feel integrated in the scene.

One of the complexities of immersive film is the audio component. In order to be successful, the audio aspect of a work must be taken into consideration at the beginning of the process. In VR, sound cannot be an afterthought, and must be totally integrated into the production.  According to Beaudoin, sound is a pillar of the VR experience. Without good sound, the notion of presence is lost.

Interested in seeing some of Felix & Paul Studios’ newest projects? Head over to the Phi Centre in Montreal, where several of their works are currently being shown. Admission is free.

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Kong: Skull Island is a new take on an old tale

The latest entry in King Kong’s filmography is full of beautiful and gory entertainment

King Kong is one of the most iconic movie monsters, appearing in eight films since his introduction to the silver screen in 1933’s King Kong. His impact is still felt in film—the scene when Kong climbs the Empire State Building has been remade and parodied countless times.

Nevertheless, Kong has come crashing back into theatres with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ Kong: Skull Island, an oddball in a monster-saturated market. There appeared to be no real demand for a new Kong film, especially since there has been no appearance of the character since 2005’s King Kong. But the film may well have revived the old sense of wonder at this true king of the jungle.

The film stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson, and is set during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Jackson) and his troops are called upon to escort an expedition to the newly-discovered Skull Island, a primeval Eden where anything seems possible.

As the war is reaching its peak, there is a race to control this new, untapped island between the Americans and the Russians, both after the valuable resources that might be present. Except, unbeknownst to either party, something big is defending the island. As Packard’s troops enter the island’s airspace, their helicopters are attacked by a 100-foot-tall gorilla in a memorizing action sequence. King Kong grabs helicopters and smashes them against each other, killing half of the crew. The survivors are now scattered around the island without any means to escape.

The film is visually stunning and shot on 70-millimetre film, a practice which is gaining popularity, as it allows filmmakers to create highly-contrasted images. There are a lot of vibrant colours, and the movie seems to be stylistically influenced by 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road’s  action sequences. The directors make the most of the film’s 1970s setting by choosing a musical score of classic rock songs which set a humorous tone.

The film creates a real sense of danger, as some of the main characters are killed off in an unexpected and often gut-wrenching ways. The movie opted for a realistic, more horror-oriented approach to King Kong.

Kong: Skull Island is a film for monster movie fanatics who have been disappointed by the family-friendly approach of movies like Jurassic World and Pacific Rim.

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Bill Nye fights ignorance with reason in new doc

Bill Nye documentary takes a look at the scientist behind the TV persona

Bill Nye the Science Guy inspired a generation of children to pursue science and think critically about the world around them. He made topics that often appear dense and unappealing interesting to a general audience.

But who is Bill Nye? Who is this man who made topics like friction, gravity, chemistry and electricity palatable to elementary school students? Bill Nye: Science Guy, directed by David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg, takes a closer look at the man who made science fun.

Nye noticed in the 1990s that America had a bad relationship with science, and he wished to do something about it. Through his educational science show, he wanted to raise a generation of critical thinkers.

But the end of the show in 1998 left Nye in flux. He was struggling to find where he fit in the scientific community. Anti-scientific sentiment was still strong in America, with climate-change deniers disputing the established scientific consensus. Nye has made it his personal mission to counter the voices that are shaping a generation of scientifically illiterate children.

The film looks at how Nye challenges the core beliefs of science deniers by engaging in debates with them. He does this to try to bring awareness to the general community of climate-change deniers, and hopefully change their minds so they in turn can use their platforms to change the minds of others.

Nye struggled with his image as he attempted to transition from kid’s show host to reputable scientist. The documentary tackles who Nye really is, separating Bill Nye the character from Bill Nye the person.

For audiences familiar with Nye and his science show, Bill Nye: Science Guy is a documentary that allows a peek behind the curtain to see the real person behind the character, and explores where Nye ends and the Science Guy begins. It looks at how pained Nye is at the rising scientific illiteracy in America, and how he has made it his personal mission to turn it around and bring science back to the masses by eliminating one dissenting voice at a time through logic and the scientific method.

Bill Nye: Science Guy premiered at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas on Mar. 12.

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Drawing a line between truth and fiction in marketing

Drib spins an original tale with a truthful core by embellishing the details

Amir Asgharnejad is a Norwegian Internet performance artist. Or, at least, that’s what he calls himself. He’s more of a provocateur who likes to see how far he can push boundaries.

His videos, in which he instigates physical conflicts with people who are usually much bigger and stronger than he is, typically end with him getting beaten and bloodied.

His Internet fame led to him being called by an advertising and marketing company to help promote Drib, an energy drink. Drib, directed and written by Kristoffer Borgli, tells the story of the events that followed. Facts and embellishments intermingle to create a hilarious docu-fiction that brings the audience right to the middle of the pretentious L.A. marketing world. The film premiered at the South by SouthWest Festival in Austin, Texas on March 12.

In the film, Asgharnejad, who plays himself, agrees to become a spokesperson for this international, American-based ad agency. To him, this becomes the stage for his next great performance. To them, it means capitalizing on the Internet trend of stupid stunts going viral. Their target market is boys aged 13 to 17, and they are positive that Amir holds the key to this demographic. Creative director Brady Thompson (Brett Gelman) has a vision for the energy drink campaign. Describing energy drinks as something that loosely keeps a balance between immortality and collapsing from exhaustion, he flies Asgharnejad over from Norway to take part in the project.

The film makes a farce of the marketing agency and the God complex of creative director Thompson, who keeps insisting Asgharnejad is not ‘part’ of the corporate world—his line of work just happens to be ‘in’ it.

The story is a meta-satirical analysis, poking fun at the unglamorous reality of marketing, but also poking fun at itself. It is a movie filming people filming people, told from Asgharnejad’s point of view. Because of this, there is a slight slant in the ridiculousness, as the characters involved are all over the top. The clients are hard to deal with. The actors are finicky. Thompson’s protectiveness over his creative work is overwhelming. Drib tries to not take itself too seriously, yet the ‘seriousness’ of the situation is what’s funny.

One of the challenges of the film was working with Asgharnejad—a point made clear by breaking the fourth wall to let the audience know. Whenever he felt Borgli’s vision was taking the film in a direction he didn’t agree with, Asgharnejad would improvise and change his lines or actions—the outtakes of which are included in the film. This makes Drib not only a movie about Asgharnejad’s experiences, but his stubbornness as well. It also serves to remind the viewer that, although the core story is true, there were creative licenses taken.

For more information on Drib, visit their website.

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Colossal: The real monsters are inside

Premiering at the SXSW film festival in Austin, Colossal is an original take on the monster genre

Colossal is, at its core, a monster movie. But it doesn’t take long for the film to break away from the conventional monster shtick and veer off in a totally unpredictable direction. It is directed by Nacho Vigalondo and stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis.

When a gigantic monster appears out of thin air in the heart of downtown Seoul, the world watches helplessly as it destroys everything in its path. The United Nations calls for an international ceasefire of global conflict while the world’s brightest minds convene to decipher what it is they are facing.

With the world watching and holding their collective breaths waiting for the monster’s next attack, washed-up party girl Gloria (Hathaway) notices something odd: she can somehow control the monster on its inadvertent destructive path. Gloria’s shock is quickly overtaken by guilt at the loss of life that she is somehow, inexplicably, responsible for.

When she finally realizes she is at the helm of all this havoc, she tells her childhood friend Oscar (Sudeikis). Together, they have fun making the monster dance and fool around, confusing the millions glued to their televisions watching.

The tone during the first part of the film is light-hearted, in line with your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. But it quickly takes on an unexpected dark tone for the second half.

The film’s strongest assets are its characters, their development and their relationship with one another. While Gloria slowly lifts herself out of the darkness of her old habits and alcoholic tendencies, Oscar embraces his vices, slowly allowing them to take over.

Colossal opens in theaters this April.

Colossal can’t be classified in any one genre. It flows between comedy, science-fiction, action and drama in a fluid manner that leaves audiences on their toes and unsure of what to expect. It is this unpredictability that makes the story so gripping. At times, it is extremely funny while, at others, immeasurably dark.

The monster might be the obvious villain, but in reality, it is a projection of smaller, internal conflicts that have snowballed into bigger issues. Opening in theaters in April, Colossal is an original movie with stellar performances by Hathaway and Sudeikis.

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Chagall: Where colour and music meet

Exhibition at the MMFA melds the visual with the auditory

Music had a deep influence on Marc Chagall. The Russian-French artist was an early modernist in the late 19th to early 20th century. He was versatile both in style and medium, creating paintings, sculptures and even stained glass.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) takes an overarching look at Chagall’s illustrious career in Chagall: Colour and Music. Featuring 340 works of art, the MMFA has combined interactive elements with classic exhibition spaces to immerse visitors in Chagall’s art.

According to the museum, the exhibition is the largest ever devoted to Chagall in Canada. And considering how prolific the artist was, it requires a lot of time to go through. The exhibition space is massive. In order to truly understand the different influences in the artist’s life, it’s worth taking the time to read the museum descriptions to really appreciate the artwork on display.

There is quite a variety of artwork to see. In his lifetime, Chagall produced sculptures, paintings, drawings, and costumes for ballets and operas. He even dabbled in stained glass and tapestry making. It seems as if no medium was out of his reach.

No matter which piece you look at, regardless of when in Chagall’s career it was produced, the work is always unmistakably Chagall. The essence of the artist’s style—be it in the integration of geographic shapes, the vivid colours or the appearance of movement—is always present to some degree. Even going from a flat canvas to a three-dimensional sculpture, his works still bear his signature curves and geometric patterns. Through his versatility there is also familiarity, and it is interesting to chart the changes Chagall went through over the span of his career.

As you go through the exhibition, you learn that Chagall had several muses he drew upon for inspiration. Of his muses, music and colour were consistent. Music had a powerful effect on Chagall, and moved him deeply. Another one of his other influences was religion. His Yiddish and Jewish roots were very important to him, and had a profound impact on his creations, evident in his depictions of traditional Yiddish culture.

Music was such an integral part of Chagall’s artwork that the MMFA took it into account when putting together the exhibition. There is music playing in most of the rooms, the kind Chagall might have been listening to while he painted. Most of the tracks are traditional Yiddish and Jewish scores, or classical music. The audio adds depth to the pieces. Instead of simply viewing the end results, we are privy to a small part of the artistic process.

In his works, Chagall, like Picasso, explored canvas space, texture and colour. Though Chagall’s style was whimsical and often childlike, his work also communicated deep messages of longing, or fear during the World War II when he sensed Jews were beginning to be hunted and persecuted.

Chagall: Colour and Music is on display at the MMFA until June 11. Tickets are $15 for visitors under the age of 30, and $23 for visitors aged 31 and over. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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The Wild Characters of Alana Barrell’s art

New exhibition gives viewers a peek into the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic

On a wet and windy night in Montreal, a lively gang of 60 have come to bathe themselves in the effervescence of Alana Barrell’s artistic imagination. Upon stepping into her vernissage at the Centre d’Apprentissage Parallèle (CAP) gallery, the viewer is greeted by the rolling-eyed stares of Une Girafe, Un Rhino and Leopard, large multi-coloured paintings which are heartening and slightly disturbing. They act as ideal introductions into Barrell’s world of Wild Characters.

Barrell was diagnosed with a severe form of paranoid schizophrenia at the age of 15. Her sense of self is poignantly displayed in a series of self-portraits which evolve in a way that represents her journey through her treatment and therapy. Each piece focuses on one segment of her life living with Schizophrenia. It begins with her treatment in the Early Psychosis and Schizophrenia Spectrum Program at the McGill University Health Centre, followed by her experiences at the Atelier D’Artisan du Centre-Ville and the CAP program, which ended in her presenting her first solo exhibition.

In the first piece, Autoportrait, the artist presents her face as half-masked, half-uncovered, with the whole visage rendered in a very raw and indistinct style. The second piece, a painting, titled Moi, retains the image of the facial split in terms of colour, but presents a more natural expression with the mouth fixed intently in steely confidence, and the eyebrows arched with a certain wry humour. An ink composition, beautifully and confidently executed, stares softly at the viewer with a hand supporting an almost symmetrical face, hair cascading unfettered.

In total, there were roughly 50 pieces included in the exhibition. Finally, in Woman, an ink composition, it’s the viewer who becomes unsettled, as their voyeuristic experience is shattered and the self-possessed artist stares intently into their minds.

The artist herself, clad in an indigo dress and sporting bright pink lipstick, seemed effortlessly at home with her vibrant pieces and unselfconsciously posed for photographs with the press and public alike. Barrell described herself as both “excited” and “proud” to display her first solo exhibition, but was loath to elaborate on more analytical questions regarding her artistic process.

Yvon Lamy, an art therapist at CAP, described such reservation on Barell’s part as typical of an artist who, when her peers were attempting to dissect the underlying significance of her works, would simply say: “I just did it because it was beautiful.”

Barrell was born in South Africa in 1983, and grew up there as well as in Brunei, Ethiopia, Singapore and Canada. The influence of Ethiopian art is particularly apparent in her use of vibrant colours, depictions of religious relics and rendering of large, almond-shaped eyes. The pieces could be described as naïve art, as Barrell received no formal training, relying instead on her raw artistic talent. This makes for a unique style and a powerful artistic identity which remains in the mind long after leaving the exhibition.

Above all else, Wild Characters is a passionate, refreshing and totally unpretentious collection which excites the viewer and leaves the public hungry to see more from this evolving artist. The show runs at CAP gallery, 4865 Saint-Laurent Street, until March 31.

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Films to fight cultural ignorance

The FIFEQ aims to give a voice to the voiceless through film

It is easy to settle into the rhythm of your life and forget that other ways of life exist. One way to stay open-minded about other people and their ways of life is to learn through books, the news or through an international film festival.

The International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec (FIFEQ) aims to give a voice to cultures and communities that may not otherwise have one. The films display unique parts of the human experience, and show the daily lives and struggles from people living around the world.

“It’s an opportunity to learn about other cultures and people that you were unaware of before. FIFEQ shows movies that you likely won’t see anywhere else,” saidAlizé Honen-Delmar, a FIFEQ coordinator. This year, FIFEQ received more than 250 film submissions from filmmakers all over the world, of which the team chose over 30 of their favourites and organized them by theme.

The 14th edition of the festival will take place in Montreal between March 12 and 20 at a variety of locations, but mainly at Concordia, Université de Montréal and McGill. Concordia will be hosting a portion of the festival on March 17 and 18, from 2:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

Concordia will be hosting two blocks on March 17: Ethnography of Objects which is comprised of films exploring the symbolic meaning of inanimate objects to various people and cultures; and Sink or Swim, which includes films about people living on boats, islands and anything else involving water.

The March 18 blocks at Concordia will be Going Through the Motions and Beyond Borders.

Going Through the Motions tells stories of rituals in different cultures, and Beyond Borders showcases films about the lives of migrants and refugees.

The screenings will be at the J.A de Sève Cinema in the Library building (LB 125), where there will be coffee and tea, as well as catered vegan food available. Entrance and the food at FIFEQ are free, and the festival is open to the entire student body and the general public.

Honen-Delmar’s favourite movie is in the Beyond Borders block. It’s about illegal border crossing in three different places: Mexico and the U.S., Morocco and Spain, and Zimbabwe and South Africa. “It’s interesting to compare the border tensions between different countries, and I think it’s especially relevant today, given current border tensions in America,” she said.

Lots of Monsters, which will screen at Concordia on March 18, is a short documentary centering around the Loch Ness Monster.

“As a film studies student, I love movies, and I also think being a volunteer is good because you can learn so much from the people you work with, and can share important information with others in the student community,” Honen-Delmar said.

In the past, FIFEQ has shown films on topics such as immigration, war refugees, religion and spirituality, and various other anthropological topics. If you’ve ever been to a Cinema Politica screening on a Monday evening at Concordia, you can expect to see films that are similar in content and subject matter.

According to their website, FIFEQ has been dedicated to “showcasing ethnographic film and visual anthropology” since 2003. They “promote representations of alterity—‘otherness’—that are articulated within an anti-colonial framework, [and] celebrate human agency and the diversity of environments we craft for ourselves.”

For more information, including the titles, times and locations of the films being screened, visit FIFEQ’s website.

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When a compliment isn’t a compliment

Concordia alumna filmmaker tackles catcalling and street harassment

It was the Women’s March on Washington that inspired Concordia alumna Karina Lafayette to begin investigating individual cases of catcalling and street harassment. Currently working as a filmmaker in Toronto, she started a conversation with her friends about their personal experiences and began sharing their stories.

Lafayette said she felt compelled to make something out of the conversations she’d heard surrounding the march and in her circle, and decided to create an online survey. She asked women to describe their worst experiences with catcalling and street harassment.

What began as a few responses quickly grew into over 40 haunting confessions. Lafayette said she was not surprised by how many women responded, given the prevalence of catcalling in modern society. She was surprised, however, by how candidly and openly the participants told their stories.

“Sometimes we’re told it’s supposed to be a compliment,” Lafayette said. She said this could be a reason why street harassment isn’t discussed often or in much detail. To many who do not experience it and to the perpetrators themselves, street harassment is seen as flattery and is not perceived as offensive.  Because of this, explaining how an experience of catcalling can be taken negatively becomes difficult, and the subject itself becomes almost taboo.

Overwhelmed by the number of responses, Lafayette decided to convert the stories into a short film. She was careful not to censor anything—she wanted to accurately portray the reality of being catcalled. Lafayette explained that due to the extremely disrespectful language often used by catcallers, if she had chosen to censor the quotes, it would have taken away from the film’s meaning. “Most of them already contain some type of derogatory term or insult,” she said. “It would be like censoring pretty much the entire film.”

The film, Give Me A Smile, begins with a shot of a woman walking down the street, followed by an image of her doing her hair and makeup, and then one shot—from a bird’s eye view—of her walking down stairs and pausing at a door to go outside. Lafayette’s voice recites her own poem, Eve’s Apple, as the camera continues to follow the woman outside and down a dimly lit street. The poem describes the harmful consequences that catcalling and misogyny can have on a woman’s self esteem. The responses to her survey appear written on the screen: “slut,” “Here kitty kitty…” and “Damn baby girl! Come here, I got what you’re looking for.”

The camera follows the woman down the dark streets, as more catcalling quotes flash across the screen. The soundtrack of rock music gives particularly disturbing and graphic quotes even more of an unsettling air. The film concludes with a shot of the Toronto mural titled “The Awakening,” a simple image of two faces pressed up against each other. Their eyes are closed and their faces wear a solemn expression. The final shot evokes a feeling of intimacy, which provides a link to the vulnerable position that victims of street harassment are subjected to. The music then fades and the credits roll.

Lafayette said she hopes her film initiates a conversation about catcalling and common misconceptions about what it feels like to be on the receiving end. She said she wanted to shed a light on women’s experiences, and allow them to see they are not alone in what they have been subjected to.

“[I want] to show people that catcalling and street harassment in general shouldn’t be taken lightly, because it can relate to many other situations. At the same time, I kind of want to debunk this whole myth of it being a compliment,” she said. “I myself, every time I experienced it, I thought I was in the wrong. But by listening to other people, that’s when I realized that it’s actually a form of bullying.”

Give Me A Smile can be viewed on Lafayette’s YouTube channel, Carus Productions.

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