March 10, 2022 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The NFB’s Quebec, Canadian Francophonie and Acadian Documentary Studio is collaborating with Nouveau Projet magazine to organize a Creative Lab focussing on the climate emergency. The lab will take place from March 15 to 17 at the NFB Space, in the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles.

• Six filmmakers will take part in the event: Moïse Marcoux-Chabot, Alexandra Nadeau, Vincent Audet-Nadeau, Oana Suteu Khintirian, Maryse Legagneur and Daniel Brière. Following a call for applications, the filmmakers were chosen by a selection committee composed of Nicolas Paquet, independent director and producer; Nicolas Langelier, Nouveau Projet editor-in-chief; as well as Pierre-Mathieu Fortin, producer, and Nathalie Cloutier, executive producer at the NFB’s Quebec, Canadian Francophonie and Acadian Documentary Studio.
• Five participants from various fields were invited by Nouveau Projet to join the lab: filmmaker and author Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, playwright Olivier Choinière, political science researcher Marouane Joundi, interdisciplinary artist Émilie Monnet and Courant Plus logistics company co-founder Clément Sabourin.
• Discussions among the 11 participants will serve to broaden reflection on the role that documentary can play with respect to climate issues, and will be informed by input from acclaimed speakers: Sheila Watt-Cloutier, environmental activist, essayist (The Right to Be Cold) and Inuit rights advocate; Ingrid Waldron,D., professor at McMaster University and author of the essay There’s Something in the Water; Dr. Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, a family physician involved in environmental advocacy as it relates to health; Sophie-Anne Legendre, executive director of the Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement; and François Boutin-Dufresne, economist, lecturer at HEC and managing partner of Sustainable Market Strategies.

A look back at the Narrative Sovereignty Lab

To launch 2022, the first year of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, Mélanie Brière, the newly appointed associate producer at the Quebec, Canadian Francophonie and Acadian Documentary Studio, organized the Narrative Sovereignty Doc Lab, which brought together nine Indigenous francophone artists and creators: Marie-Kristine Petiquay, Delia Gunn, Réal Junior Leblanc, Cédric Gray-Lehoux, Jani Bellefleur-Kaltush, Daphné-Anne Olepika Takpanie Kiguktat, Félix Aupalu, Isabelle Kanapé and Alexandre Nequado. With Soraya Elbekkali as facilitator and the special participation of the great Alanis Obomsawin, the lab enabled these artists to reflect and share their vision and dreams regarding the future of their communities and their filmmaking. What do they want to say and how? The event was held at the NFB Space on February 24 and 25.

Labs for creating and reflecting

The NFB’s Quebec, Canadian Francophonie and Acadian Documentary Studio Creative Labs offer a space for reflection and discussion between documentary filmmakers and experts in other fields. Making room for multiple voices and viewpoints, these cross-disciplinary initiatives aim to generate new ideas and bold proposals. The labs are anchored in the NFB documentary filmmaking tradition of reporting on current social issues and telling stories that resonate with audiences.

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Associated Links

Nouveau Projet

French version here | Version française ici.