Newsletter no. 6 — October 2024

Image from the film À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre (Hubert Aquin, 1962) | Courtesy of the NFB

Therapeutic cinema in the NFB archives

cinEXmedia is proud to partner with the National Film Board (NFB) to present therapeutic films from its collection for seniors, in five screenings this year. Ultimately, the two organizations hope to build up a catalog of therapeutic films and eventually make them available on a digital platform.

The first screening of this ambitious project, led by postdoctoral researcher Marie-Odile Demay-Degoustine, will take place at the NFB screening room in December. Demay-Degoustine aims to evoke memories in viewers to produce therapeutic effects, using films from the federal agency's collection, such as Hubert Aquin's À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre (1962, see photo).

To find out more, read this article by our research assistant Olivier Du Ruisseau, who spoke with Marie-Odile Demay-Degoustine.

Ingrid Verduyckt | Courtesy of the researcher

Three new members

Three researchers, Adriana Lacerda, Ingrid Verduyckt and Michelle Carr, recently joined the cinEXmedia partnership. Each of them conducts intersectoral research combining study of the arts with the health sciences.

To become better acquainted with their respective research interests, consult their profiles, written by our research assistants William Pednault-Poulliot and Hugo Jacquet, hyperlinked above.

Anna Kolesnikov et Alanna Thain

William Pednault-Poulliot and Hugo Jacquet also met with researchers Anna Kolesnikov and Alanna Thain, respectively, to discuss their research projects. Click on the hyperlinks above to find out more.

Image from the film Jekyllum by Claude Schneegans (1974) | Courtesy of Hors Champ

Cadavre Exquis: screenings and conferences

As part of the ambitious Cadavre Exquis project, led by the Hors Champ digital magazine team and co-funded by the cinEXmedia partnership, researchers will be presenting films from the Université de Montréal's 16mm collection, newly digitized at the Laboratoire CinéMédias, on the campus this year. The series of screenings and lectures, which begins this fall, will conclude in April with a study day on scientific cinema. Here's the next event scheduled for this fall, presented as part of the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec (OCQ):

- On October 8, a screening program entitled “En s'universifiant”, featuring five short films documenting the history of the university from the 1940s to the 1970s, will be presented. Following the screening, researchers Nino Gabrielli and Micheline Cambron will talk with Frédéric Bouchard, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science and full professor in the Department of Philosophy.

To find out more, read this article by Olivier Du Ruisseau, who spoke with three of the researchers who helped select the films and supervise their restoration: André Habib, Louis Pelletier and Annaëlle Winand.

Photos by Kamran Shirdel | Photo : Nabshi Center

Photographs by Kamran Shirdel

Claudia Polledri, a researcher at the CinéMédias Laboratory whose work focuses on cinema and photography in the Middle East, spent this summer at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, thanks to the support of the cinEXmedia partnership. There, she was able to consult a previously unpublished collection of photographs of the Iranian revolution, taken between 1978 and 1979 by the filmmaker Kâmrân Shirdel.

Considered a pioneer of social documentary, Shirdel's seminal works include the short films Women's Prison (1965), Women's Quarter (1966), Tehran Is the Capital of Iran (1966), and the documentary The Night It Rained (1967), all of which bear important witness to Iranian society in the pre-revolutionary era.

To find out more about this project, read this article by Olivier Du Ruisseau, who spoke with the researcher during her research visit.

Olivier Daigle | Courtesy of Nüvü Camēras

Cinephile Astrophysicist

On 18 June, in a special session of professor Santiago Hidalgo’s CIN-2106 master’s seminar at the Université de Montréal, “Cinema and Science,” the astrophysicist Olivier Daigle was invited to moderate a discussion on the scientific aspect in science fiction films.

Our research assistant Hugo Samson also interviewed Olivier Daigle to discuss cinema’s contribution to his brilliant career and the possible connections to be made between the so-called “pure” sciences and science fiction cinema. Consult his article here.

New OCQ season

The fall season of the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec (OCQ), headed by CinéMédias Laboratory assistant director and research coordinator Thomas Carrier-Lafleur, is underway. . In addition to the events linked to the Cadavre Exquis project mentioned above, seven other screenings and/or master classes are scheduled. The next is a presentation by editor Véronique Barbe, who has worked with Jean-Marc Vallée, on October 29 at the Carrefour des arts et des sciences de l'Université de Montréal. To learn more, consult the full program here (in French only).

Politics of film archives

This fall, CRIalt invites you to take part in a series of screenings and debates entitled “Du politique dans l'usage des archives filmiques. Decolonial readings and practices”. This series of events, organized by Marion Froger and Claudia Polledri, in collaboration with Karine Bertrand, Monika Diaz, André Habib and Zaira Zarza, runs until December 10, 2024.

The next event, entitled “Actes de souvenance: cinéma des archives africaines et afrodiasporiques”, takes place on October 8 at the Carrefour des arts et des sciences de l'Université de Montréal. To find out more, click here (in French only).

Student symposium

As part of its student activities, cinEXmedia is organizing an international student colloquium on October 4 at the Université de Montréal, entitled “Contributing to well-being in the age of screens: an intersectoral approach between film studies, health sciences and social sciences”.

A new generation of researchers has been invited to present work that aims to provide knowledge, tools and resources to design enriching cinematic experiences, encompassing their cognitive, neurological, psychological, physical, cultural, aesthetic and/or technological dimensions. To see the full program, click here.

Traversées Sud-Est

Researcher and curator Katia A. Morales Gaitán presented two feature-length films as well as experimental indigenous Mexican films at the gallery of the Institut culturel du Mexique Espacio México, in Montreal. Her program, presented on June 14 and 15, was entitled Traversées Sud-Est. Cinema and the right of self-representation in Mexico. Thanks to the support of cinEXmedia, she was even able to invite some of the featured filmmakers to come to Montreal. To find out more, read this article by Olivier Du Ruisseau.

OCQ fundraising campaign

The OCQ launches the first major philanthropic campaign of its history. Since its creation in 2010, the organization has been committed to exploring, analyzing and promoting the richness of Quebec film production through initiatives such as the series Au cœur du cinéma québécois, broadcast on Canal Savoir and hosted by Denis Héroux, then Isabelle Raynauld, from 2010 to 2019. For more information and to make a donation to the campaign, click here (in French only).

Social media

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