Published at 12:55 am. Updated at 06:00.
It's 7 p.m. and the third floor of a building in Villeray that hosts taekwondo classes and samba workshops is bustling with activity. The doors of the La Cenne film club have just opened and the participants are already gathering in front of the popcorn machine.
Born out of a desire to promote Quebec films that have a short theatrical run, the film club has been offering low-cost screenings since 2022, accompanied by conversations with the films' creators. “Otherwise, more daring or innovative films do not have the time to find their audience,” explains Alexandre Leblanc, filmmaker who is part of the event’s organizing committee along with his colleagues Abeille Tard and Alain Ritter.
All three work in the field of cinema and their goal is to give even the less initiated access to feature films. “It's a change from festivals where we're among like-minded people who know this. “Sometimes there are people who haven’t even necessarily heard of the films we show,” explains Abeille Tard.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Alexandre Leblanc
“People love the artist's approach and that has a big influence on their perspective,” adds his colleague Alexandre, who indicates that the selection of films is guided by a few principles, including parity and the fact of not benefiting from a large advertising machine to have.
The power of discussion
Madeleine Poisson and Pierre Roberge, two regulars, are absent tonight, much to their dismay. It's the fault of COVID-19. The friendly duo were still excited about the idea of meeting virtually to talk about their experiences at the La Cenne film club, which they have been attending since its beginnings.
The presence of filmmakers and the opportunity to exchange ideas with them are, according to Pierre Roberge, the great strength of this initiative, among the charm of the place that reminds him of his CEGEP years and the circles of film fans in which he once frequented. specific era. “I find a creaking floor calming,” he says.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
At La Cenne film club you can enjoy chic red seats that were previously used at the Théâtre de Quat'Sous.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
On December 14th, Emmanuel Martin-Jean of Fragments Fugaces – a Montreal initiative promoting family films of yesteryear – was at La Cenne to present images shot in 8mm before the main program.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Participants take time to chat before sitting down while Alexandre Leblanc plays a record.
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“There’s maybe one of two films [vus à La Cenne] what would have confused us, what we would not have understood. These are sometimes works that are more difficult to access and it is truly incredible the possibilities they offer. It was very beneficial for us,” explains Pierre Roberge.
Among the films discovered in La Cenne, Madeleine Poisson mentions Kuessipan by Myriam Verreault, which “made her heart sink,” and Souterrain by Sophie Dupuis. During the screening of the latter film, the trained teacher felt “transported” thanks to the presence of the director's mother, who had come to talk about her reality as a nurse in the mines of Abitibi, a full-length feature film that leaves the industry at its heart carries.
The more, the more we know
If the exchange with the filmmakers represents a profitable added value, so does the exchange with the other participants. This is the core of the approach of Sayeed Devraj-Kizuk, who organizes and runs the Ciné-club international de Montréal, bringing together people from all walks of life on Sunday evenings at the Anticafé on Rue Sainte-Catherine. The initiative of the adopted Montrealer, who arrived from Alberta in 2019, was primarily motivated by an observation: several films that he now counts as his favorites are feature films that he initially found difficult to understand – before he exchanged ideas with other film fans.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The room where the Montreal International Film Club takes place, on the 3rd floor of the Anticafé, rue Sainte-Catherine
“When I started watching films in the presence of other people, I realized that a group discussion has a much greater ability to observe, understand and interpret than I do alone,” he explains.
During the evening we spent in the company of the dozen curious people who had gathered at Sayeed's invitation, the impact of these discussions seemed clear. On the menu was the 2015 French-Indian drama Maasan, a suggestion from Indian-born participant Garveen Dang. After carefully watching the film, those present chatted for almost an hour. The narrative qualities of the feature film were discussed, as were the many social issues and, more broadly, the oppression and caste system in India.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Sayeed Devraj Kizuk
Alice Guérin La Flèche, who teaches French online every day and whose Anticafé is the common work area, is actively involved in the International Ciné Club. In her opinion, it is important to “enable social encounters, especially since the pandemic,” and cinema is a particularly unifying art.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Charles-Olivier Gendron, Yuan Zha and Charles Gourde
Share a passion
The joy of sharing a passion with loved ones also explains moviegoers' appetite for this type of evening. Charles Gourde, a film graduate from the University of Montreal, is one of those who likes to gather around a projector. He regularly brings a handful of friends together to watch Asian films, a type of cinema they particularly enjoy.
When we visit his informal film club, Charles Gourde greets his former classmates Charles-Olivier Gendron and Yuan Zha in the living room of a three-and-a-half-year-old apartment in the Rosemont district. What are we watching tonight? “Red Sorghum, a Chinese classic from the 1980s, and then Drunken Master, an action film with Jackie Chan,” announces the evening’s host. “It gives you an idea of the range of works you can see,” he says with a laugh.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Charles Gourde transforms his living room into a cinema room when he invites his friends to watch a film.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
In a few minutes, the friends will sit down and watch an Asian film, a type of cinema that they particularly like.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Charles Gourde is one of those people who likes to gather around a projector.
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The friends are fortunate to have Chinese-born Yuan present, who can deepen the cultural context of the work and accompany the projection with details of the traditions and rituals depicted. Their meetings sometimes even have a culinary aspect, as he sometimes cooks traditional Chinese dishes to enjoy before the film.
As soon as the credits for Red Sorghum have ended, Charles, Yuan and Charles-Olivier are already discussing animatedly the challenges of watching films with subtitles, the peculiarities of Chinese cinema, but also color techniques, “very big advances for 1987,” them.
“We always discuss after watching, but we don't try to analyze the film in a pragmatic way,” explains Charles Gourde. We jump from rooster to donkey and talk about our general impressions, what we liked and what we didn't like. »
The impetuousness of their interventions leaves no doubt: we are dealing with enthusiasts… who are already looking forward to the next discovery.