Challenge for Change : Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada

Description

Pioneering participatory, social change-oriented media, the program had a national and international impact on documentary film-making, yet this is the first comprehensive history and analysis of its work. The volume's contributors study dozens of films produced by the program, their themes, aesthetics, and politics, and evaluate their legacy and the program's place in Canadian, Québécois, and world cinema. An informative and nuanced look at a cinematic movement, Challenge for Change reemphasizes not just the importance of the NFB and its programs but also the role documentaries can play in improving the world. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Foreword Putting Ideas into the World: A Conversation with Naomi Klein about Starting Conversations with Film 1 Introduction: Forty Years Later … a Space for Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle PART 1 HISTORICAL SPACES: IN THE HEAT OF THE ACTION 2 Grierson and Challenge for Change (1984) 3 In the Hands of Citizens: A Video Report (1969) 4 Saint-Jérôme: The Experience of a Filmmaker as Social Animator (1968) 5 A Voice for Canadian Indians: An Indian Film Crew (1968) 6 Fiction Film as Social Animator (1971–72) 7 Working with Film: Experiences with a Group of Films about Working Mothers (1975) 8 Memo to Michelle about Decentralizing the Means of Production (1972) 9 Can We Evaluate Challenge for Change? (1972) PART 2 COMMUNITY SPACES: FILMING AT THE MARGINS 10 Media for the People: The Canadian Experiments with Film and Video in Community Development (1992) 11 Cities for Change: The Housing Challenge 12 The En tant que femmes Series, the Film Souris, tu m’inquiètes, and the Imaging of Women’s Consciousness in 1970s Quebec 13 Le mouton noir: Vidéographe and the Legacy of Société nouvelle 14 The Things I Cannot Change: A Revisionary Reading PART 3 SCREEN SPACES: SPOTLIGHT ON THE FILMS AND FILMMAKERS 15 You Are on Indian Land: Interview with George Stoney (1980) 16 Cree Hunters of Mistassini: Challenge for Change and Aboriginal Rights 17 “Nation Time” at Kwacha House: The Transitional Modalities of Encounter at Kwacha House – Halifax 18 The Films of Maurice Bulbulian: Science and Conscience 19 The Curious Case of Wilf: Popular Music in Canadian Documentary 20 Portapak as Performance: VTR St-Jacques and VTR Rosedale 21 Bonnie Klein, Saul Alinsky, and the American Experience 22 Michel Régnier’s “Films-Outil” 23 Léonard Forest and Acadia 24 Filmmaker as History: The Interventionist Films of Martin Duckworth 25 Les filles du Roy 26 In Praise of Anomaly: Le bonhomme and Rose’s House 27 Getting Close and Staying Far: Pierre Lasry and the Solo Moms 28 Paper Wheat: Alternative Theatre Meets Alternative Filmmaking 29 “Would I Ever Like to Work”: The “Working Mothers” Films and the Construction of Community 30 O, Canada! George Stoney’s Challenge (1999) PART 4 DISCURSIVE SPACES: THEORIZING CHALLENGE FOR CHANGE/SOCIÉTÉ NOUVELLE 31 Société nouvelle: The Challenge to Change in the Alternative Public Sphere (1996) 32 Meeting at the Poverty Line: Government Policy, Social Work, and Media Activism in the Challenge for Change Program 33 Amateur Video and the Challenge for Change (1995) 34 Video: The Politics of Culture and Community (1996) 35 Winds and Things: Towards a Reassessment of the Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle Legacy 36 “If a Revolution Is Screened and No One Is There to See It, Does It Make a Sound?” The Politics of Distribution and Counterpublics PART 5 CONCLUSION: CONTEMPORARY REINCARNATIONS 37 Filmmaker-in-Residence: The Digital Grandchild of Challenge for Change 38 Thirty Years and Twelve Thousand Miles Away ... Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle: The Complete Filmography Comprehensive Bibliography Contributors Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z