Where reality meets new technologies creating new narratives
Montreal, Wednesday, October 26, 2016 – The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is pleased to announce the return of its UXdoc Space for the festival’s 19th edition, November 10 to 20. The UXdoc Space, located in Norman McLaren Hall at the Cinémathèque québécoise and in its third year, is returning with a strong slate of interactive projects, installations and virtual reality works that demonstrate new narrative forms in documentary. The UXdoc selection of works is programmed by Patricia Bergeron, for a 5th edition.
The UXdoc Space hosts the works in the UXdoc section as well as the webdocumentary portion of the Young Audiences program which will be available in the UXdoc Space throughout the festival.
The English daily The Guardian transports the user inside a solitary-confinement cell. 6x9 by Francesca Panetta and Lindsay Poulton conveys the harsh reality and psychological damage suffered by prisoners in solitary. Seven people tell their stories: hallucinations, stress, anxiety, paranoia – serious consequences that call into question the legitimacy of this brutal form of punishment. A journalistic documentary experience set in a convincing virtual reality.
Collisions, by artist/filmmaker Lynette Wallworth, is a virtual-reality voyage into the Martu aboriginal community, in Australia’s Pilbara Desert. The Martu largely avoided western culture until the 1950s, when an atomic test was conducted on their land. One elder, Nyarri Morgan, tells the story of his relationship with the land and discusses our planet’s fragility. A powerful story and a unique encounter.
If houses, streets, neighborhoods and cities could tell their stories, what would they say? Jerusalem, We Are Here by Dorit Naaman is an interactive documentary that superimposes the memories of Palestinian people on the Jerusalem neighborhoods from which they were expelled in 1948. Users travel with a stroll in the streets of the holy city. We see short videos in which he meets people who share their poetry, nostalgia, excitement and hope.
The Internet: is it a wonder drug, or just a drug? Like the network itself, the Network Effect has no end. The work comprises thousands of audio-video clips that attract and grab our attention. Presented as an installation, Network Effect is an aggregator with a difference, revealing the best and worst of the Internet. Artist and co-creator Jonathan Harris (I Love Your Work, RIDM 2013) and his associate, Greg Hochmuth demonstrate their talent with a unique reflection on how we interpret our billions of digital actions. A voyeuristic exercise involving the most mundane part of the present era.
Before the Décarie and the Met, there were riverbanks, horizons, memories. Today, the riverbanks point to the future: the banks of the St. Lawrence have unique development potential. Projet Archipel is an urban symphony in which politicians, visionaries, fishers and dreamers share their thoughts. On the eve of the celebration of Montreal’s 375th anniversary, artists Guillaume Côté and Guillaume Campion have created an auditory documentary journey through our territory. A new way to listen to Montreal and its riverbanks.
S.E.N.S VR is the first virtual-reality video game adapted from a graphic novel. The world of French artist Marc-Antoine Mathieu is masterfully adapted by creators Charles Ayats (Type Rider, 2013) and Armand Lemarchand. The player takes the role of a man lost in an endless labyrinth: arrows point in various directions, but it’s impossible to know where you’re going. We wander and get lost amidst uncertainties, storms, glaciers and megalopolises. It is an immersive journey in which we encounter life, death and nothingness.
In 2012, the RIDM launched an outreach program for young people. Several hundred students have enjoyed screenings of Quebec-made documentaries in their schools, with the directors present, and participated in webdoc creation workshops: Futur pas sûr, futurpassur.com, third webdocumentary produced by the RIDM and directed by Marie-Claude Fournier, was created by Eureka school’s students and focuses on a topic that’s close to home: the social pressures facing young people as they plan for their future career. The previous works produced through this program are also presented in a dedicated space for RIDM Creative Youth Program works sponsored by Pliab: Sans cell, trop cruel (sanscelltropcruel.ca, 2014, Jeanne-Mance high school) and Intersections (intersections-mtlnord.com, 2015, Amos school).
The UXdoc Space is presented by the Canada Media Fund in collaboration with Bell Media.
Quebec’s only film festival dedicated to documentaries, the Montreal International Documentary Festival presents the best reality‐based films, including the works of established directors and new talents.
The 19th edition of the RIDM will take place from November 10 to 20, 2016 at Cinéma du Parc, Cinémathèque québécoise, Pavillon Judith-Jasmin, Concordia University and RIDM Headquarters (3450 St. Urbain Street).
Information: www.ridm.ca / info@ridm.ca
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To inaugurate the opening of the UXdoc Space, the RIDM proposes a visit November 8, at 10 am.
The tour will be led by Patricia Bergeron, programmer of the UXdoc section, and the creators of Projet Archipel will be present. Invitation attached - Please confirm your attendance before November 7 at info@pixellex.ca
Contact: Caroline Rompré | publicist | 514-778-9294 | caroline@pixellex.ca