Blending video art, documentary and music video, Martin Bureau’s film explores the abuses of Western society, at once ravaged by late-stage capitalism and unable to free itself from it. A visceral image and sound experience, All Things Are No Longer Equal juxtaposes an aesthetic of excess and domination with the measured critical commentary of philosopher Alain Deneault, calling for reinvented forms of collective and local solidarity.
Subverting the Latin proverb ceteris paribus sic stantibus, All Things Are No Longer Equal plumbs the extremes of a world wracked by social, environmental and geopolitical uncertainties that undermine the very foundations of contemporary thought. Existing at the intersection of video art, documentary and music video, this film by Quebec director and painter Martin Bureau is a dizzying riot of image and sound, depicting a Western society at once ravaged by late-stage capitalism and unable to free itself from it. Allegorical visuals set against Érick d’Orion’s musique concrète score make for a furious, visceral viewing experience, offset by the measured critical commentary of philosopher Alain Deneault, who analyzes the abuses of consumerism and explores alternate modes of existence. Grounded in an aesthetic of excess and male domination stretched to the breaking point, the film opens up a space for reflection that’s anything but defeatist, instead calling for reinvented forms of collective and territorial solidarity.
For more than 25 years, my art practice has examined the world through the lens of its geopolitical, social and environmental upheavals.
From painting to cinema, my creative stance seeks a balance between scientific rigour and the poetic freedom that comes with an allegorical and experimental approach to image-making.
With the feature film All Things Are No Longer Equal, I feel I’ve succeeded in creating a work of synthesis, uniting the overarching themes of my work in a hybrid form that combines documentary, video art and music video, strongly imbued with the discipline of painting.
As a director, I hope that this film will contribute to the collective critical response to the social and environmental challenges confronting us, here and now, in this geopolitically destabilized context where the machinery of capitalism is relentlessly perpetuated and, more than ever, viewed as inevitable.
Directed, Written and Researched by
Martin Bureau
Director of Photography and Editor
Émile Bureau
Original Music
Érick d’Orion
Sound Designer
Olivier Calvert
Producer
Nathalie Cloutier
Line Producer
Mélanie Lasnier
Featuring
Alain Deneault
Robbie Kuster
Production Administrators
Sia Koukoulas
Isabelle Limoges
Senior Production Coordinators
Joëlle Lapointe
Chinda Phommarinh
Production Coordinators
Lucia Gauvreau Corak
Alexandra Bourque
Researchers
Jenny Cartwright
Amélie Cusson
Melissa James
Julie Castonguay
Émile Bureau
Drone Operators
Émile Bureau
David Paré
Camera Assistant
Félix Charron-Ducharme
Sound Recordists
David Bellavance Ricard
Théo Couderc
Nady Larchet
Performer
David Bouchard
Gaffer
David Bellavance Ricard
Grip
Félix Charron-Ducharme
Filming for Têtes brûlées
Production Manager
Félix Charron-Ducharme
1st Assistant Director
Romy Boutin St-Pierre
Casting Director
Rodrigue Létourneau
Performers
David Bouchard
Lorraine Côté
Érika Gagnon
Marie Gignac
Jacques Leblanc
Jocelyn Paré
Jack Robitaille
Nathalie Séguin
Camera Operator
David Vachon
1st Camera Assistant
Maxime Boudreault
Key Grip
Charles Hardy
Grip
Éric Cantin
Key Gaffer
Mathieu Huard
Gaffer
Étienne Hébert-Vincent
Rigging
Solution Rig
Rigging Gaffer
Spencer Tremblay
Rigging Grip
Jean-François Faber
Set Carpenters
Atelier Materia Prima
Marc-Étienne Boivin
Geneviève Bélanger
Jean-Philippe Bonnelly
Production Assistants
Jasmin Bureau
Gabriel Mondor
Émile Charron-Ducharme
Alice Charron-Ducharme
Pyrotechnics
Sarah Paquin
Unit Manager
Mélany Gignac
Hair and Make-up
Yana Ouellet
Béatrice Lecomte-Rousseau
Craft Services
Isabelle Gagné
3D Video Post-Production
Studio Élément
3D Animation
Alexandre Castonguay
Alexis Materne
Samuel Noël
3D Compositing
Thierry Roussel-Garneau
Valérie Roussin-Potvin
3D Post-Production Supervisor
Jean-François Dugal
Technical Coordinators
Julien Archambault
Esther Viragh
Technical Support – Editing
Pierre Dupont
Marie-Josée Gourde
Albert Kurian
Patrick Trahan
Translation and Subtitling
T&S Coop
Online Editor and Colourist
Luca Di Gioacchino
Graphic Design
Alain Ostiguy
Musicians
Érick d’Orion
Robbie Kuster
René Lussier
Martin Tétreault
Music Recording
Geoffrey Mitchell
Assisted by
Bernard Belley
Re-recording Mixer
Isabelle Lussier
In his remarks, Alain Deneault refers to
La part maudite, Georges Bataille, 1949
Guérir du mal de l’infini, Yves-Marie Abraham, 2019
Film Excerpts
Beyond Paper, directed by Oana Suteu Khintirian, NFB, 2022
Small Smoke at Blaze Creek, directed by Michael Scott, NFB, 1972
Where the Lands Ends, directed by Loïc Darses, NFB, 2019
Les histoires invisibles, directed by Jean-François Côté, 2023
With thanks for their hospitality during filming
Le repos Saint-François d’Assise, Cégep André-Laurendeau, Rechargement Phoenix, Gerry Town Bikers, Mont Radar, Salle Multi du complexe Méduse, Municipalité d’Issoudun, North Shore Pro Wrestling, Hydro-Québec, Oasis Surf, Les Fermes Lufa, Casino de Montréal, Les Grands Feux Loto-Québec, Incinérateur de Québec, LKQ Canada, Exposition agricole de Saint-Hyacinthe, Encans de la ferme, Festival des Barres-à-Jack, Rodéo de Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, New City Gas
Special personal thanks to
Olivier Bolduc-Coutu
Diane Davis
Éric Denis
Catherine Kirouac
Alexandre Isabelle
Frank Nadeau
Viviane Paradis
Marie-Ève Roy
Vincent Roy
Dave Shepherd
ExMuro
Ville de Québec
Special thanks for their artistic contributions
Simon Beaulieu
Ron Fricke
Michel Giroux
Jean-Claude Labrecque (1938–2019)
Karl Lemieux
Godfrey Reggio
Denis Villeneuve
Bill Viola (1951–2024)
Senior Marketing Advisor
Jamie Hammond
Marketing Project Manager
Melissa Haughton
Marketing Coordinator
Jolène Lessard
Publicist
Sophie St-Pierre
Legal Advisor
Julie Patry
Executive Producer
Nathalie Cloutier
© 2026 National Film Board of Canada