Riopelle Short Films Project - Five Emerging Filmmakers Will Bring Riopelle to the Silver Screen Français
The Riopelle Foundation, L'inis and the International Festival of Films on Art join forces to support the film directors of tomorrow
MONTREAL, Jan. 18, 2023 /CNW Telbec/ - Highlighting a multitude of artistic disciplines, the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary Canadian artist Jean Paul Riopelle will be transported to the cinema in March 2023 thanks to the Riopelle Short Films project. Five short films inspired by the creative process and themes dear to the internationally renowned artist and directed by recent graduates of the Institut national de l'image et du son (L'inis) will be screened as a world premiere as part of the 41st edition of the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA), which will take place in theatres in Montreal from March 14 to 26 and online from March 24 to April 2nd.
The five filmmakers, selected by a jury following a competition, benefit from the advice and supervision of one of the most acclaimed directors and screenwriters in Québec, Charles Binamé, in the realization of their films. The collection thus created is, in itself, a true work of art presented in five colourful and singular frescos sparked by the oeuvre of Riopelle.
This project was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation and the Audain Foundation. In addition to the prestigious FIFA platform, the short films will be broadcast around the world in 2023 as part of a partnership that will be publicly announced by the Riopelle Foundation in the coming weeks.
Five Unique Perspectives on Riopelle's Art
Of painting, my bones became dust by Laetitia Demessence
This film takes its inspiration from the white colour that is present throughout the oeuvre of Jean Paul Riopelle – the white of mourning, snow and geese; the white of the imprint of objects placed on a canvas before being spray painted as a stencil. This colour, sometimes used to contrast with the others, sometimes covering an entire canvas, seems to point to a void in which the man who suffers from osteoporosis is falling. Like a sigh of the creative gesture seeking to fill an absence.
A graduate of the 2021-2022 Writing program (Feature film profile), Laetitia Demessence is a Franco-Spanish director and screenwriter who grew up in Spain, Indonesia and Chile, before settling in Québec. She explores filmmaking through short films, music videos and dance films. Laetitia is currently working on the pre-production of her first fiction feature, Oraison, which she developed at L'inis and which is funded by Telefilm Canada's Talents to Watch Program.
Dander by Héloïse Bargain
Dander is a human body material such as hair or nails. We cherish them when they are part of our bodies, while they are seen as repulsive once they shed from our bodies. The film resonates with the gentle brutality of Jean Paul Riopelle's abstractions. On canvas, hair has replaced paint and the painter's surge of freedom has turned into a violent desire for movement and change.
A graduate of the 2020 Documentary program (Production profile), Héloïse Bargain is a director based in Montreal. After years of journalism at Radio-Canada in Acadia and Manitoba, she moved to Russia for two years to produce long-format reports for the Moscow Times. Back in Montreal, she joined L'inis where she directed the films Jocelyne et Serge as well as La Bouilloire, which was awarded the prize for best experimental film at the 2022 Quebec Student Film Festival. She is currently in artistic residency at Les Films de l'Autre.
Movimentum by Anaïs Venegas-Grün
From the impulses of the body to the union of nature, painting and music become a trance of creation. An impetus that is as internal as it is external gives birth to an experience and a world of moving lights.
A graduate of the 2020 Mixed - Documentary and Fiction program (Production profile), Anaïs Venegas-Grün is a director, screenwriter and visual artist. She is passionate about queer cinema, on-screen representation and spirituality. She loves creating and transforming feelings into matter. The physical and the metaphysical always serve to discover life, and then intertwine in creation. All actions are for the love of humanity and cinema.
Riopelle was non-binary by Aimé Majeau Beauchamp
Through a fictional dialogue with Jean Paul Riopelle, this experimental film updates the painter's heritage by seeking to build bridges with today's generation. Between a tribute and a self-portrait, Riopelle was non-binary is above all an intimate reflection on the courage to be oneself.
From production to photography direction, research and production, Aimé Majeau Beauchamp has worked for more than five years creating audiovisual and radio content, including a series currently in production for Radio-Canada's Ohdio platform. A graduate of the 2021 Documentary program (Production profile), they also produced the audio documentary series J'en perd mes mots with TFO in 2020. Having studied political science and feminism at UQAM, Aimé is particularly interested in marginality, identity and culture.
Lyrical Kaleidoscope by Jonathan Goyette
Lyrical Kaleidoscope is executed in the manner of Riopelle, settling down in front of a blank canvas with the dizziness of not being able to see the final result before it reveals itself, obeying only to the calls of vital impetus and intuition. While Riopelle sculpted paint, the film presents frescoes made from inks, chemicals and natural products applied to 16 and 35 mm film, with the underlying desire to transform experimental and abstract material into a narrative poem paying tribute to the oeuvre of the master.
A graduate of the 2019-2020 Writing program (Feature film profile) and member of the Kino movement, Jonathan Goyette has scripted, directed and self-produced several short films, some of which have been selected by festivals such as the Canada Shorts Film Festival, and Image+Nation. He is currently working on the script for his very first feature film as well as on short films. He is also interested in the hybridity between cinematographic genres as well as the effects of the obsession with performance on people and the environment. Also an author, Jonathan has published a collection of fictional short stories, Le saboteur d'avenir, with L'Interligne.
Quotes
"As early as the 1960s, Jean Paul Riopelle cherished the dream of creating a foundation to support the development of the next generation of artists and bring various artistic disciplines to work together. That's the dream we are once again realizing today with the Riopelle Short Films project. It will not only allow the filmmakers of tomorrow to see their works broadcast to the four corners of the globe, but also to immerse themselves in the overflowing imagination and the inspiring and avant-garde vision of the great master of the visual arts Riopelle was. All this as Québec, Canada and the whole world are uniting to celebrate the artist's centenary this year."
– Manon Gauthier, Executive Director of the Riopelle Foundation and General Commissioner of the artist's centenary celebrations
"This adventure was perfectly unique, enriching and profound as I plunged, with the five filmmakers, into universes at the heart of which they all passionately wanted to make their relationship to Riopelle and to his work as intimate as possible. Promising talents that I will remember as much for their fine sensitivity, their imagination, as for their constant desire to surpass themselves, as evidenced by their films."
– Charles Binamé, whom over the last few weeks has accompanied the five winners of the competition in the production of their short films
"L'inis is extremely proud to see five of its graduates be associated with this magnificent project. Inspired by Riopelle and his oeuvre, supervised with benevolence and efficiency by renowned filmmaker Charles Binamé, the emerging directors have delivered short films that testify with creativity and sincerity to their great appreciation of the internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist."
– Jean Hamel, General Manager of L'inis
"I am particularly pleased with this joint initiative between the Riopelle Foundation, L'inis and the International Festival of Films on Art. It is always fascinating to me to see how an artist such as Riopelle finds a contemporary echo among young filmmakers from diverse backgrounds. To look at a work of art is to recognize that it is one's own, intimate and sensitive gaze, that plunges into the Other's gaze. It is also to observe the interaction that is created with the Other. And when that Other is Riopelle, the possibilities are endless."
– Philippe U. del Drago, FIFA's General Manager and Artistic Director
Unprecedented Celebrations for a Canadian Artist
Orchestrated by the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, the festivities surrounding Riopelle's 100th anniversary in 2023 will offer the general public a unique opportunity to (re)discover this Montreal-born artist who has marked the history of art. Featuring a wide variety of artistic disciplines, from classical music to circus, theater, literature, as well as with the participation of museum and educational institutions, the official program of the Centenary Celebrations will give rise to a multitude of cultural projects in Canada and around the world. Starting in the fall of 2022 under the theme "One with Nature", a host of prestigious partners will contribute to making these celebrations – the most important ever planned for a Canadian visual artist – a resounding success, promoting Canadian talent and inspiring new generations of artists through Riopelle's impressive legacy.
Discover the Centenary Celebrations' official program on www.fondationriopelle.com/centenary
The International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) is dedicated to the promotion and international outreach of films on art and the media arts. Under the general and artistic direction of Philippe U. del Drago, FIFA offers an annual event in March to discover the latest productions of films on art. Through its programming, its many annual activities and its online art film platform (ARTS.FILM), FIFA, founded by René Rozon, is committed to increasing public knowledge and appreciation of art. FIFA is also committed to promoting the work of artists working in the fields of film, video and visual arts, and to encouraging the production and distribution of films about art. The Festival's 41st edition will take place in theaters in Montreal from March 14 to 26 and online from March 24 to April 2nd, 2023.
L'institut national de l'image et du son (L'inis) is a professional film and television learning center founded in Montreal more than 25 years ago. Over the years, it has trained nearly 1,000 emerging professionals through its programs aimed at fueling the creativity of the screenwriters, directors and producers of tomorrow, both in fiction and documentary. L'inis also offers several refresher courses in the field of image and sound production, thus allowing members of the industry to acquire the skills that will enable them to advance their careers. L'inis is THE practical and rigorous educational path, both stimulating and inclusive, promoting the creation of stories telling who we are and bringing us together, on all screens.
Envisioned by Riopelle in the 1960s and established in 2019 by a group of Canadian philanthropists, the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation's mission is to celebrate and broaden the appreciation of Riopelle and his oeuvre in the history of Canadian and international art, to support and inspire emerging visual artists, to encourage creative exploration and experimentation, and to promote teaching and learning. The Foundation also serves as a repository and centre of scholarship in the documentation, publication and discourse on the oeuvre of Riopelle.
https://www.riopellefoundation.com/
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SOURCE Fondation Jean Paul Riopelle
Raphaël Melançon, Trafalgar Strategies, 514 444-6968, [email protected]
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