The Montreal
International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is pleased to announce the
works that will be presented in the UXdoc Space during the 22nd edition
of the festival. The UXdoc Space, installed in the salle
Raoul-Barré of the Cinémathèque québécoise, welcomes
interactive projects, installations and virtual reality creations from here and
abroad, showcasing the new documentary forms.
The UXdoc
Space lineup, which highlights the themes of immigration and ecology
this year, is curated in collaboration with Katharina Meissner (MUTEK) and
Anne-Gabrielle Lebrun Harpin (Labdoc UQAM). From November 15 to 24, the public
will get to discoverthe carefully selected projects free of charge.
Each work will also feature a paid assisted navigation in the presence of the
creators, moderated by members of Labdoc UQAM. Once again, this year, the
RIDM will work with Kermesse, Montreal-based event design firm, which
will design the UXdoc Space.
Three years
after 24.24.24. (RIDM 2016), Daniel Dietzel is back with Beaver
Lake, August 25 th , 2018, Ciel Variable, a video installation that
brilliantly continues his exploration of multiple timelines within a single
work. Presented on three screens, a cluster of pixels is accompanied by muddled
sounds. Gradually, three complementary images emerge: apparently mundane shots
of a summer day at Beaver Lake.
Based on a
personal experience and testimonials, Homestay by Canadian Paisley
Smith is a virtual reality excursion into an imaginary garden, and an
exploration of the idea of cultural exchange. Starting with foreign students
hosted by families, the artist gives an empathetic account of issues
surrounding expectations and preconceptions held by others and the host
country. Both poetic and instructive, Homestay analyses the idea of
cultural exchanges.
With a short
but incredibly dense video montage, Montreal-based Iranian artist Farid
Yahaghi invites us to share his experience of immigrating to Canada with Limbo.
By appropriating the selfie aesthetic, accompanied by diary-style texts and
voiceovers connecting different times through lip-syncing, Yahaghi conveys the
existential confusion of being uprooted, while inviting viewers to “press
pause” to enter his experience of doubt and hope, shot by shot. A memorable
autobiographical work.
Bow’t Trail is
an activist webdoc that follows the career of choreographer Rhodnie Désir
through the prism of African-descendant dance. Using videos shot in Brazil,
Mexico, Canada, the United States and Haiti, the artist explores the history
and evolution of different communities’ politically aware artistic practices. A
geographical, historical and artistic voyage that prompts us to rethink our world.
Stealing Ur
Feelings is an augmented reality experience that playfully,
sometimes absurdly, exposes the ways in which major corporations want to use
facial recognition to influence individual Internet users – and potentially all
of them. While being bombarded by images, the user is stealthily analysed by
software that creates an automated portrait. With this game, Noah Levenson
is warning us against the unintended consequences that widespread use of the
technology could yield, both for private lives and the public sphere. You might
not be who you thought you were.
SwampScapes is
a virtual reality experience built around footage captured deep in the
Everglades, featuring several experts in the region and its remarkable
biodiversity. Kim Grinfeder, Elizabeth Miller and Juan Carlos
Zaldivar present the superb 360° images, we hear voices celebrating the
exceptional ecosystem and warning against human impacts on the important but
delicate environment. Designed as a sensory and educational exploration, SwampScapes
uses virtual reality to highlight environmental issues and encourage us to
think about the connections between ecology and culture.
Hotspot combines
VR and participatory documentary theatre to create an uncanny representation of
migrant processing centres. Structured in three distinct parts, and inspired by
real testimonials, this new type of experience, created by Patricia Bergeron,
focuses on the complex work done by mediators during interviews at processing
centres in Sicily. Hotspot will be presented exceptionally at the Pierre-Péladeau
Center.
PAYSages
sonores, produced by Trames collective, is the fifth
webdoc from the RIDM’s Young Audiences program. This multidisciplinary
creative project puts listening front and centre. In this interactive work, 13
students in Brigitte Roy’s French-secondlanguage class at Lucien-Pagé high
school share memories of their native countries, while also exploring their new
home through sounds and words. With the support of the artists of Trames
collective and other contributors, the students created and assembled all
the content, from writing to sound editing.
Jeunes
pousses: NFB x UQAM interactive school
presents Bubble that transports us to Montréal in 2050—a world
where nothing has been done to keep climate change in check. The only way
people can survive in the resulting hostile environment is to put their heads
in a bubble. At a time when our actions impact the future of humanity, each
person is now responsible for their own fate. A public presentation of the
project with the team members will take place on Tuesday, November 19 at 8 p.m.
The UXdoc Space is presented by the Canada
Media Fund in collaboration with Bell Media, MUTEK and the Laboratoire de
recherche sur les pratiques audiovisuelles documentaires (Labdoc UQAM).
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 22nd
annual RIDM will take place from November 14 to 24, 2019.
Information : www.ridm.ca / info@ridm.ca
