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Björk Digital debuts in Montreal

Virtual reality is a main component of the exhibition, which is making its North American debut.

Take a virtual reality tour through Iceland with Björk’s newest album, Vulicura

From a dark cave to the vast, rock-covered beaches of Iceland—and all through the realm of music and digital space—that’s exactly what Björk Digital is all about. It is an exhibition that takes the term “audiovisual” to a whole other level.

Björk Digital allows the audience to experience Björk’s music in a unique, singular way. The highlight of the show resides in the virtual reality (VR) installations that make up the biggest part of the exhibition. The Montreal exhibition is the North American premiere of the project, which previously toured Sydney, Tokyo and London.

Each of the five VR installations feature a song taken from the Icelandic singer’s latest album, Vulnicura. They are more than simple music videos: each work offers a new perspective on the artist’s music that is simply impossible to experience anywhere else. For the most part, the installations are each about nine minutes long and can welcome 25 visitors at once.

“Black Lake” opens the exhibition. Using the Oculus Rift, a head-mounted VR display apparatus, and headphones, this installation takes the audience through the depths of a dark cave, where two screens are mounted against opposite walls of the cave. Each screen displays a different angle from which we can see Björk singing and dancing with disheartening emotion—at first sharing the same cave space, then moving to the outside world. “Black Lake” is a good piece to start with: it familiarizes the audience with Björk’s music, without it being overwhelming or too unsettling. The piece is almost peaceful, setting the mood for what is yet to come.

The following installation, “Stonemilker,” consists of a total 360-degree VR experience. In other words, we are immersed in the video. We can see the beach in which the video is set in no matter direction we turn. That aspect is explored heavily in the music video—as the song progresses, Björk keeps moving around the viewers, sometimes even duplicating herself and appearing at two, three or four places at once. Each of these representations of the singer are singular and do not imitate each other in movement—it becomes almost confusing at times, as you don’t know where to look and are afraid to miss something.

The last piece, “Family,” directed by Andrew Thomas Huang, is premiering in Montreal and distinguishes itself from the rest of the VR pieces in the project. The experience is different from the previous four, as “Family” is experienced in pairs rather than groups, and requires the viewer to be standing rather than sitting. “Family” is an interactive VR experience. Viewers are invited to walk around the space and grab things as they come to them, all while the landscape changes and the music progresses. This final piece is, without a doubt, the best of the five.

Björk Digital doesn’t limit itself to VR installations, though. The exhibition also presents Biophilia, a project which involves an app on which Björk’s album of the same name is featured along with educational activities relating each of the 10 songs to a scientific concept. Finally, the exhibition closes on Björk Cinema, a room where visitors are invited to sit on the floor and watch a continuous series of Björk’s previous music videos.

The exhibition, Björk Digital, is one of the various events being held in the city by the Red Bull Music Academy from Sept. 24 until Oct. 24. The exhibition is will be held at the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art until Nov. 12.

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Montreal puppetry lovers unite

Fluffy puppets like this one are going to be surrounding puppeteer Jesse Stong as he creates shows from Oct 19 to 23. Photo by Jesse Stong

Concordia student Jesse Stong will be creating puppet shows for five days straight

Concordia student Jesse Stong is bringing his extreme puppetry show, <3 Puppets (pronounced Love Puppets), to the Mainline Gallery from Oct 19 to 23. For five days, Stong will be living in the gallery and creating performances using puppets. The gallery itself is only open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., however, curious viewers are free to take photos and watch him through the gallery windows after the gallery closes for the night at 11 p.m.

Surrounded by his puppets, his goal is to be constantly creating and exploring his relationship with them—something that he said he hasn’t had time for over the past few years. “These five days are the first in 10 years that I will have to myself to just play with puppets,” he said. “I want to just be able to play with them like I did when I was a kid.”

Stong’s love of puppets first ignited when he was given a puppet at the age of seven. “It was a gorilla puppet,” he said, “At that point I was in love with Jane Goodall.”  Stong added that he just got her autograph about two weeks ago.

Puppets soon became a large part of Stong’s life. He was a shy child but he said he found his confidence with puppets. “If I had a puppet with me, it’s like it wasn’t me onstage,” he said. It’s these memories that Stong wants to reflect on during his time at the Mainline Gallery. Stong wants the performance to be filled with spontaneous creations and come from a genuine, un-rehearsed place.

Therefore, Stong said he hasn’t been preparing for the performance—he’s just been focusing on what practical things he will need, like Tylenol, ice buckets and slings to soothe his arms from the strenuous effort of lifting the puppets all day.

“I don’t want to predict what I’m going to do, so I’m trying not to think about it,” he said. “Maybe I’ll run out of ideas before it’s over, but I want it to keep surprising me.”

Stong said he wants this to be an educational experience for the viewers who will get to observe the creations and a puppeteers love of puppets, as well as the unpredictable outcome along with him. The performance is part of his master’s thesis in art education.
Stong has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Ryerson, as well as a degree in playwriting from the National Theatre School in Montreal. He has created playwriting workshops for the Quebec government and wrote a play, Waterweight, which is currently on tour with Geordie Productions. The play presents the topic of body issues to elementary school audiences in Ontario and Quebec.

For more information about <3 Puppets, checkout the Facebook page or swing by the Mainline Gallery this weekend from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. There will be a cash bar on Saturday night, and if you want to watch Stong end the performance—which he said may involve him simply collapsing into a heap—you can stop by Sunday night at 11 p.m.

Check out The Concordian’s exclusive video of the performance below.

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Diverse Brazilian cinema hits Montreal

A former child prodigy begins teaching violin to youth in Sao Paulo in The Violin Teacher.

Take a look at the upcoming films that will be screening at the Montreal Brazilian Film Festival this week

The 10th edition of Montreal’s Brazilian film festival kicked off at Cinéma du Parc on Oct. 21. The festival runs until Oct. 27 and promises an eclectic lineup.

The festival’s program director, Katia Adler, said this year’s festival will be especially exciting, as the festival will be hosting the first and only Canadian screenings of many of the films.

“Brazilian cinema is doing well,” Adler said. “Our production doesn’t stop growing, with about 150 feature films a year. The festival presents a variety of Brazilian films—there are auteur films, comedies and documentaries. There’s something for all tastes. The public can choose what they prefer to watch.”

While Montreal is home to several annual film festivals, this is the only one that solely showcases Brazilian films. The event is also unique because it has no sponsors and is organized and run by a team of volunteers.

The festival’s opening film, Aquarius, premiered at Cannes and is sure to be one of the festival’s highlights. Directed by Kleber Medonça Filho, this drama tells the story of a retired music writer who refuses to accept a buyout for her old apartment. The film has already received critical acclaim, but it has also incited controversy. Reviews in both The Guardian and Variety commend Sonia Bragaès performance in the film, with Variety writer Jay Weissberg calling her “incomparable.” The film itself has political overtones.

Other highlights this year include The Violin Teacher, which will be released in theaters in Montreal on Oct. 28—Nise-The Heart of Madness, starring Gloria Pires—and Neon Bull, which received an honorable mention at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

The Violin Teacher, directed by Sergio Machado, won the audience choice award at the Sao Paulo Film Festival in 2015. Based on a true story, this musical drama follows Laerte, a violinist who fails his audition with the OSESP Orchestra and has to teach music classes at a public school instead. Variety film critic Guy Lodge praised Lazaro Ramos for his performance, and Alexandre Guerra and Felipe de Souza for their “elegantly ornamented score.”

Neon Bull is a provocative drama. It follows Iremar, a bull handler who hopes to someday become a tailor for women’s clothing. He satisfies his creative needs by creating horse masks and sexy outfits for his bull handling group’s truck driver, Galega. Galega also performs sexually provocative dances for men at rodeos. The movie focuses on the issues that surround this rodeo group, along with their romantic and sexual connections.

Other films at the festival include Jonah , Don’t Call Me Son and A Boyfriend for My Wife. There will also be two documentaries screened: Arpoador and Betinho-Hope on the Line. Depending on the movie and its showtime, subtitles are available in English or French. For tickets and more information, visit their website.

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American Honey: Chasing American dreams in a hopeless place

Shia LaBeouf gives a stellar performance as Jake in this fourth feature film by Andrea Arnold.

One of cinema’s leaders in social realism, Andrea Arnold, returns with an American Indie classic

As the blockbuster season finishes and award season begins, American Honey, the fourth feature film by Andrea Arnold, emerges as an early favourite for number one movie of the year, winning the Cannes prix du jury.

An intimate American road trip movie about a few disenfranchised youths, American Honey provides a fun, sometimes horrifying look at people who aren’t often seen in cinema. It is a simple film in terms of plot, yet it is very complex in terms of character development. It is realistic without being cynical, and sympathetic to its characters without romanticizing the lower-class hero. American Honey is a special film with characters who are not romanticized as heros.

The film follows Star (Sasha Lane), an 18-year-old who is taking care of her dirtbag boyfriend’s two children. A chance encounter at a KMart with Jake (Shia LaBeouf)—in the role he was born to play—opens the door for her to escape her troubled domestic situation. She decides to go across the country with Jake and his ‘crew,’ a merry band of magazine-selling misfits. An intense romance quickly develops between Star and Jake, to the disapproval of their boss, Krystal (Riley Keough). From here on, there is not much plot—it is a mixture of a mundane work-a-day lifestyle and spring break.

Typically Arnold’s films deal with characters trapped in a society packed with symbolism related to a constant desire to be free in nature. ‘The Crew,’ as they are referred, move aimlessly around the country selling magazines while singing along to songs about making money. Star is quickly accepted by the group as one of their own, yet she still seems to not fit in completely. She is an outsider within outsiders.

Viewers who aren’t familiar with Arnold’s work should note going in that she is not a director interested in finite conclusions or plot-based stories. Rather, she is more preoccupied with observing people in the margins of society. Some viewers have been put off by the open-ended nature of her endings as well as the idleness of her plot lines, and American Honey is no different. However, the brilliance of this film is not the end of the road, but the journey itself. This is a road trip movie with no destination, because there cannot be a destination. In fact, Star’s journey is effectively just a circle which ends where it started.

While the cast, besides Lane, is entirely white and mostly heteronormative, interested viewers should be aware that this is not a nostalgic Americana love letter to the past. American Honey is a very critical look at a country built on classism—one which ignores its poor, never granting even a small hope of escaping the cycle of poverty. The film can be described as an epilogue for the American Dream.

American Honey comes to Montreal theatres on Oct.14. It will be playing at Cinema Du Parc and the AMC in limited release. 

Grade: A (4.5/5)

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Women photographers at MMFA

SHE Photographs looks at women through camera lens wielded by female photographers

The first thing you notice when you walk through the SHE Photographs exhibition is the variety of subjects and photographic techniques presented. Everything from still-life photography, to self-portraiture to collage is featured. There are black and white photos and colour ones, lone photographs the size of a wall and some that come in a series, and yet, they all convey a sense of unity.

Each picture addresses a different aspect of being a woman in today’s contemporary society. They grapple with themes such as solitude, old age, relationships and love. The visitor gets snapshots of the artists’ lives and points of view through the photographs, and this creates a very intimate link between the audience and the artists.

Diane Charbonneau is the curator of Modern and Contemporary Decorative Arts at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). She said she believes it is important to have an exhibition that focuses solely on work done by women because it allows us to interact more with the feminine perspective. She said it is essential to look at the subjects women address in photography.

As curator for this exhibition, she went through more than 500 pieces and picked ones that present a vast realm of subjects. According to Charbonneau, she was inspired by all the different themes that women address in their photographs and wanted to showcase a wide variety of photos.

This photo of Mrs. Thérèse MacGuire by Claire Beaugrand-Champagne is part of her series “Old People,” and is featured in the SHE Photographs exhibition.

The exhibition features many artists from Canada, mainly Montreal, and abroad. One artist on display is Geneviève Cadieux, an associate professor of photography at Concordia. Cadieux has been featured in multiple national and international exhibitions. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. Fascinated by the human body, it is the central subject in much of her work. According to her website, she enjoys focusing on very small details and expanding them into larger elements.

Claire Beaugrand-Champagne is another veteran photographer. Her occupation has taken her to many places around the world, including Italy and Thailand. Beaugrand-Champagne said she uses photography as a way to talk about social issues. In this exhibition, a few pieces from her photography series “Old People” and “Women from Montreal” are on display.

Beaugrand is currently working on a project called “Montrealers,” where she goes to people’s houses and photographs them in their environment. She said she believes where a person lives says a lot about who they are.

Everyone takes pictures these days, Charbonneau said, but this exhibition is a chance for us to take a step back and look at the perspective these women offer us. She said photography is so relatable because we recognize ourselves in each shot.

The SHE Photographs exhibition runs until Feb. 19 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

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A night at the museum, Montreal-style

With DJs, funky lights and catering, Chiaroscuro completely changed the mood and tone of the MMFA

Typically, you don’t get to admire contemporary artwork while nibbling on a macaron and sipping a specially-made cocktail. But at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) latest series of events, that’s exactly what you get to do.

On Friday, Oct. 14, the MMFA underwent a drastic transformation from 7 p.m. until midnight for its first Chiaroscuro night. A cultural event designed to attract a younger art-loving audience, the event allowed new and seasoned art enthusiasts to enjoy the museum and its exhibitions, literally in a new light.

Chiaroscuro is a 17th century Italian art term used to describe the play of shadow and light in paintings or drawings. This term perfectly summed up the décor at the museum, as green and blue lights bathed museum attendees in their glow, totally changing the look of the modern architecture of the space. Designed for an 18 to 30-year-old crowd, the event’s aim was to provide a new type of experience in the familiar setting of the museum.

The event, which took place on three floors of the museum, completely altered the feel and mood of the space for the evening. This isn’t the kind of artistic or cultural event that you come to stroking your chin, trying to find the message in the medium. Rather, it’s the kind of event where you gather your friends and head to the museum for a unique experience, which includes music as well as food and specialty drinks.

Bars and food stations were spread out over the three-floor event space, offering sumptuous snacks and cocktails. Photo by Tiffany Lafleur

With different types of catering available, visitors had the choice between popcorn, cake pops, poutine and macarons. Each floor also had a bar, serving three specialty drinks crafted for the evening. The cocktails, mixed by Monsieur Cocktail, a Montreal-based team of mixologists, were inspired by the theme of Chiaroscuro and coyly named the drinks after artists or artworks, like the Shadow of Rodin and the Reflection of the Thinker.

Along with the sumptuous food, there were many musical elements as well. Two DJs spent the evening spinning tunes, giving the museum a lounge-type feel where everyone could mix and mingle between visiting exhibitions.

In addition to the DJs, there were a few other unique musical elements to the soirée. An opera singer drew a large crowd near the stairs of the second floor with her powerful and eloquent performance, as she sang along with the DJs tunes. This demonstration from the Atelier lyrique of the Montreal Opera, an artist-in-residence program for Canadian opera singers and pianist-vocal coaches, is just one example of how Chiaroscuro night offered attendees a completely different experience from a typical museum visit.

As if the music, lighting, food and cocktails weren’t enough to entertain, there were also a few smaller events taking place during the main event.

On the third floor, the mapping collective MAPP MTL projected their work on a wall. Attendees were invited to sit or lie down on the floor to better see the projection of lines and dots intersecting and chasing each other. The hypnotic work, projected in a dark room, pulled you in with its calming, yet engaging movements across the wall. Also on the third floor was a painting activity, where attendees were invited to use fluorescent paint in a room lit only by a black light. These paintings were then assembled into a mural containing the works of everyone who participated.

MAPP MTL used one of the rooms to project their artwork on the wall, while viewers sat on the ground to admire the work. Photos by Tiffany Lafleur

Overall, the strength of the event was in remapping and altering the mood and feel of a museum that most Montrealers are familiar with. These changes let seasoned museum-goers interact in a new way in a familiar space, while giving enough sensory stimulation to those who don’t really consider themselves the museum type.

For those intrigued by cultural events, or even the concept of a cultural event, Chiaroscuro is a must-see. With two more such events planned in the coming year, it will be interesting to see how the MMFA makes each event stand out in its own unique way.  It would be fascinating, in future events, for the museum to fully embrace the chiaroscuro spirit and play with light and sound in the galleries themselves, thus offering attendees not only a different feel to the museum, but a new perspective to artwork they might be familiar with as well.

The dates for the following two events have not yet been released, but keep checking their website for more information at www.mbam.qc.ca.

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Live-action Disney films: A worse idea than you can imagine

Graphic by Florence Yee

A study on the reasons Disney is remaking its beloved animated movies

If you’ve been following entertainment news recently, you might have heard Disney is planning on releasing live-action retellings of its classic animated movies. The first film in this genre was Alice in Wonderland, a 2010 remake which grossed over $1 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Although the Jungle Book exceeded the studio’s forecasted expectations, the recent onslaught of adaptations announced within the last week has left some people dumfounded.

There are now 12 live-action Disney films in the works, including some childhood favorites like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.  Even a Chip ‘n’ Dale adaptation was announced earlier this month, according to mashable.com. In my opinion, these remakes are a ridiculous idea with the sole purpose of increasing the production company’s bottom line. Why is Disney rushing out all of these remakes instead of developing new ideas?

For starters, according to Business Insider, Disney is a risk-averse company, and every time they take a chance with a challenging project, they fail miserably. For example, their attempt at entering the video game business—which, according to the same source, resulted in hundreds of jobs lost and the closing of six video game studios. According to Forbes, movies like Mars Needs Moms and John Carter lost the company upwards of $500 million. It is becoming incredibly difficult to attract audiences with new ideas in a world filled with derivative works, or works based on something that already exists, like a book. Moviegoers want to go see a film they know they are going to enjoy, not risk spending two hours grinding their teeth, Business Insider states.

It is also important to mention that Disney, like any other company, has to have a constant stream of output. The many animators hired by the company can’t remain idle—it would bankrupt the studio. Hence, any project, no matter how absurd, might start production if the executive team believes in its money-making power, as said in Creativity Inc., by Pixar president Edwin Catmull and Amy Wallace.

According to the same book, by adapting their previous works, Disney believes they will attract millennials who have been increasingly avoiding movie theaters. According to an article in The Atlantic, people between the ages of 15 and 30 grew up watching The Lion King on VHS and will go see its adaptation regardless of its quality. This is worrisome as the increase in ticket sales might cause Disney to believe that they no longer need to come up with new ideas—they can just continue to allow one remake after another.

This is not the first time Disney has opted to recycle stories rather than develop something new. The studio has been releasing sequels to their animated films since the late 90s and early 2000s, from Cinderella 3 to Aladdin: The Return of Jafar. At least the company had the decency to release those films straight to video instead of giving them worldwide theatrical releases.

According to Catherine Russell, chair of Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, filmmaking is constantly evolving. Due to its constant transformation, the movie industry should be dominated by adventurous producers, not money-hungry executives.

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Battered: Jealousy, violence, love and redemption

Shawn Campbell, Susan Glover, Gitanjali Jain, and Brett Watson star in this play, opening on Tuesday Oct. 18.

In this new play by Arthur Holden, characters both suffer from and enact violence

Battered, a play focusing on the acts of aggression that occur when jealousy seeps into a relationship, opens Oct. 18. I sat down with Arthur Holden, playwright, and Diana Fajrajsl, director, to discuss how it came together.

This two-act play revolves around two couples. In the opening scene, Bobby Lyons (Brett Watson) and his girlfriend Filo (Gitanjali Jain) are angry at each other and it is soon revealed that Filo’s broken arm was an undesired consequence of their latest confrontation. A judge orders Lyons to get anger management counseling, and he starts his treatment with Eleanor (Susan Glover), a psychiatrist.  However, Eleanor is also facing issues with her lover, Frederick (Shawn Campbell).  Throughout the play, Holden said, everyone commits acts of violence but are also its victims. In spite of this, hints of redemption as the play’s central theme are detectable.

Holden said the play’s title represents the various ways in which people commit acts of aggression against each other. “There are times when we do things physically to each other that we shouldn’t do, never intending to cause damage,” he said. According to Holden, aggression can manifest itself emotionally or psychologically, sometimes deliberately or accidentally, even by simple gestures. “People can [also] say things to one another that leave no physical scars, but that change relationships and personalities forever,” he said.

At first glance, it would appear the story is sourced from the ongoing social discourse about violence against women, particularly those that occur in romantic relationships and marriages. However, Holden revealed that the play started out with basing two characters off of his friends, who are actors. Then, he came up with scenes that captured their performance styles.  Holden explained as the play developed, he decided to add another couple and, again, these characters were based on people he knew. “I was really writing for people, rather than about an issue and, as I wrote, I realized that I had a subject that I liked—guilt and violence are things that matter to me.”

According to Holden, Battered does not seek to deliver a message on violence.  “Along the way, I realized that I was writing about something that has political significance—most stories do ultimately … but I like plays that raise questions more than provide answers.”

Fajrajsl said since this is a newly-released play, it was important for her, as the director, to be as mindful and faithful to the author as possible, and not give the audience a sort of pre-digested meal. She said in preparation for this directing role, she read On Aggression by Konrad Lorenz to help enhance her understanding of the difference between the emotionally-charged forms of aggression that humans display, and the instinctual aggression that manifests in animals. “The actors I am pretty much leaving alone since they actually know more about their characters than I do because they did about three workshops of the play,” said Fajrajsl.  Battered was part of Infinitheatre’s 2014 Pipeline series, where the public was invited to offer feedback on the play.

Battered opens on Tuesday Oct. 18 and runs until Nov. 6 at the Rialto Infinite Studio, 5711 ave. du Parc. Student tickets are $20.

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Stigmas tackled on the silver screen

In Good Words, a film by a former Concordia student, a smooth interview suddenly goes awry when the question of mental health arises.

The Au Contraire Film Festival aims to change negative representations of mental illness through more than 20 works

In film, mental illness has often been used as a scapegoat, or as an excuse for a character to act a certain way. There is a predictable pattern that emerges—characters living with mental illness are often isolated, dangerous or unpredictable. They are dependent on caregivers. These characters find themselves being defined by their illnesses and are at the mercy of their symptoms. This is especially true in the horror genre, where many “evil” or “bad” characters are crazed, deranged, or on the run from the psychiatric hospital.

The Au Contraire Film Festival, a film festival focusing on the theme of mental illness, seeks to change this negative representation of mental illness by challenging the usual narratives surrounding mental illness. From Oct. 25 to 28, over 20 works by filmmakers around the world will be presented at the fourth edition of the festival, which will take place at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Each film defies the conventional understanding and representation of mental illness, and instead offers edgy alternatives. Each work destroys stigmas of mental illness by reclaiming what it means to either be living with mental illness or know someone who is.

Philip Silverberg, the festival’s founder, thinks there are a few gems worth noting in the program. “Our free Youth Awareness Matinée for senior high school students is always a much awaited event, and this year we are featuring an interactive assembly, using short films, to combat stigma,” said Silverberg. “We are also excited by a new program called Animated Minds that features short films that, in some manner, involve animation in the production.”

The festival will open with a monologue by internationally-renowned comedian Christophe Davidson. Drawing on his own experiences with mental illness for the first time on a public platform, Davidson will talk openly about his own struggles, while incorporating a comedic element.

Silverberg considers this comedy routine, followed by the screening of a Patient’s Rites, to be one of the most powerful parts of the festival’s programming. Patient’s Rites is a musical documentary, and tells the story of a patient who spent nearly two decades in a psychiatric hospital after descending into psychosis.

This year, the festival will also feature a short film by a former Concordia student. Robby Reis, a Montreal-based filmmaker and founder of the Montreal film production company Natali Film, graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in film production from Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Good Words, directed by Reis, is a short film that looks at what happens when the subject of mental health comes up in a job interview. The short film will be screened on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.

Since the festival’s inception, Silverberg has noticed a shift in how mental illness is portrayed. “At the local media level, there are increasingly more human interest stories that touch on the positive achievements of those who have mental illness. Although sensational headlines involving fanatic behaviour spike the stigma, on the whole there is a definite trend of acceptance,” Silverberg said.

The festival opens on Tuesday, Oct. 25 with Davidson’s monologue. Tickets for screenings are $10 and can be bought on the festival’s website. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremony days are also available online, although the prices differ.

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Concordia alumni bring a dance show to Montreal

David Albert-Toth and Emily Gualtieri are dancing their way across the city with their show La Chute

Dance, like any art, is constantly evolving, and that’s a driving force for Concordia alumni David Albert-Toth and Emily Gualtieri. Their award-winning show La Chute is currently touring Montreal and being performed at various Maison de la Culture venues until Oct 28.

La Chute’s creation began back in 2009, and Gualtieri said its purpose “has complexified over time.” The show draws inspiration from various sources, like Eugene Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros, as well as a person’s journey through life. “We knew early on that the [character] was not English, and from another time,” said Gualtieri.

“We really wanted to play with ideas of life and identity. Your sense of identity—sometimes in life you’re so sure about it, and then suddenly you’re not. And we wanted to play with it all in one piece, in a non-obvious way,” she said. The character navigates through various stages and emotions, changing abruptly from innocence to anger to fear and vulnerability, all the while on the verge of insanity trying to define his identity.

This character which the audience watches struggle through different emotions and stages has been seven years in the making. Albert-Toth and Gualtieri have been working on La Chute in installments since 2009, and what audiences see today is very different from the original version. “This is version two that you are seeing,” said Albert-Toth.

The original piece was expanded on after being a part of a mentorship program with Canadian choreographer Melanie Demers, who helped morph it into this new show. “We are always thinking about how can we update [the show], and it’s always evolving,” said Gualtieri. “But sometimes you have to go back to that original idea and remember what the idea is,” she added.

While going back and expanding upon the themes of older  shows is something that Albert-Toth and Gualtieri are always doing, they also are always creating new things. They said they are most excited about their new shows that are coming out very soon. “There’s always a desire to reuse old ideas that you’re not quite done with yet, kind of like re-listening to old albums,” said Gualtieri. “I agree,” added Albert-Toth. “It’s like I want to re-watch Seinfeld but I also really want to finish Stranger Things because I’ve only got one episode left.”

Parts and Labour_danse’ show La Chute is currently on tour around Montreal. Photo by David Vilder

The pair recently performed at Concordia’s Studio 7 event, and they said being back at Concordia felt a little bit weird. “Being in an institution again was a little bit jarring,” said Gualtieri. However, they believe it is important for both students and alumni to show each other their work. “We’re all creating and all learning, and it’s important to remember what it’s like to be there,” Gualtieri said. “I want to be more involved with having a discussion [with current students].”

Albert-Toth and Gualtieri officially formed their company Parts+Labour_Danse back in 2011, and since then, their choreography has gained recognition within the Canadian dance community. La Chute won the Audience Choice Award at Toronto’s dance: made in canada festival in 2015, and the duo also won awards for another one of their shows, In Mixed Company.

Visit their website for the various dates and locations of their upcoming performances. All performances presented with the Maisons de la Culture are free.

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Highlights from the Festival du nouveau cinéma

The Student, a Russian film based on a German play, takes a look at religion and atheism in Russia.

Here’s a look at a few of the festival’s films that have stood out so far for their remarkable storytelling

In this second week of the Festival du nouveau cinéma, let’s take a look back at some of the best films screened so far—some of these will be screened again, and all are expected to play in theatres.

American Honey

Undoubtedly one of the best films of the year, American Honey is the worthy winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes—the third such win for English director Andrea Arnold. It is a wild and memorable alcohol-fueled road trip through an invisible America, one of social outcasts and abandoned youth. Don’t let the 162-minute running time scare you away—this is an experience that deserves to be stretched out. For its startling authenticity and social realism, it demands comparison to the Dardenne Brothers’ best work. While it presents characters and situations that often feel all but hopeless, it never loses sight of the light at the end of the tunnel—one that is sometimes just a flicker, but can grow into a camp fire. Also, this film should end the debate on whether or not Shia Laboeuf can act. Spoiler alert: he can.

The Student

This is a rare and important look at religion in Russia—a once atheist country that is no longer averse to embracing fundamentalism when it suits a political purpose. It is odd to realize the film is based on a German play, when everything in it feels topical and adapted to the reality it depicts. A high school student suddenly and inexplicably becomes a Christian fanatic, interpreting the Bible as a call to arms in this tense and staggering story. If the film is somewhat didactic in its approach, it feels not preachy, but well-measured—in fact, much of the dialogue is lifted straight from the Bible—with the sources, such as book and chapter numbers appearing on the screen, and the structure seems to reference the great anticlerical texts of the Age of Enlightenment, something out of Voltaire.

Neruda

Nowhere near an ordinary biopic—or even, perhaps, an ordinary film—this is a fittingly poetic exploration of Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda’s persona and art, depicting an episode of Chilean history through playful, contemplative experimentation with form and content. Luis Gnecco, as Neruda, on the run when Chile outlaws the Communist Party to which he belongs, and Gael García Bernal, as the inspector on his trail, are exquisite in ways that transcend the conventional cat-and-mouse relationship you would expect. The unnatural colours and dreamlike editing create a distinct environment in which truth and fiction overlap in tribute to a larger-than-life character.

Aquarius

Controversial in Brazil, its country of origin, for political reasons that have more to do with the filmmakers than with the film itself, this is a sensitive character study elevated by a career-defining role for aging legend Sonia Braga. A woman refuses to give up her apartment when the building is being bought up by a conglomerate that plans to destroy it. She hangs on to the apartment as a piece of the disappearing world she was once a part of. She knows she will die, and she knows the building will eventually be gone, but she will not allow it to happen on her watch. The accumulation of subtle details and elements of the woman’s life creates a portrait that conjures up feeling and respect for her.

American Honey will be released on Oct. 14. Neruda will be released on Dec. 16. Aquarius will screen again Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. at Cinéplex Odéon Quartier Latin (with French subtitles). Release dates for Aquarius and The Student have not yet been announced.

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Arts

Migrant workers in Canada: the new second-class citizens

Migrant Dreams looks at the inhumane way workers from abroad are treated in Canada

On Oct. 17, Cinema Politica will be screening Migrant Dreams, a documentary exploring the situation of migrant workers in Canada. The topic of immigration has been discussed at length in Canada due to the large number of immigrants accepted into the country. However, there is a difference between immigrants and migrant workers. Immigrants come here for permanent residence, whereas migrant workers come to Canada for seasonal employment. The topic of migrant workers is studied in Migrant Dreams (2016), a documentary directed by Min Sook Lee.

The documentary is set in Leamington, Ont., a common destination for migrant workers as there are several farming companies located in the area. The process begins with so-called agents, individuals hired as middlemen who look for workers to bring to Canada, recruiting foreign workers and having them sign a contract to work as seasonal farmers. These contracts are written in English, a language spoken by only a select few of the applicants who hail from countries like Indonesia, Guatemala and Jamaica.

In Leamington, Ont., migrant workers are threatened with deportation if they do not comply with the demands of their supervisors.

Once the workers arrive in Leamington, they are faced with the harsh reality of life as a migrant worker. They are bullied by their recruiters who demand up to 30 per cent of their weekly paycheck to cover their transportation and rent fees—unaware that these requests are illegal.

The documentary showcases the workers’ abysmal living conditions, including footage of 26 people sharing what seems to be a garage equipped with only three bathrooms. Some of the dorms are infested with cockroaches, and the employees are under constant surveillance by their employers.

However, not all the workers remain silent as their employers benefit from the workers’ naivety and desperation. In the documentary, Umi, a migrant worker from Indonesia, explains how she stood up to her boss and recruiter by renting her own apartment. Although she is now living in better conditions, she is still a victim of extortion. Her hours were reduced to discourage other workers from undertaking similar actions, and her employer still holds the threat of deportation over her head. Her apartment was even been raided by people who were looking for her passport.  Regardless, Umi is forced to continue working for this company, because Canadian law prevents migrant workers from seeking other employment once they’re in the country. Sadly, Umi is just one among thousands of migrant workers being exploited.

This documentary seeks to educate viewers and raise awareness about the extortion of migrant workers. Organizations, such as  Justice for Migrant Workers, promote farm workers’ rights and freedoms, but documentaries like Migrant Dreams are crucial for inciting political and social change as they discuss a topic too often overlooked by mainstream media.

Migrant Dreams will screen at Cinema Politica on Oct. 17 at  7 p.m.

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