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Another sold-out house at Wakefield-La Pêche Community Centre was treated to the final and probably the most powerful film of WIFF 2012. The audience was transfixed by Jennifer Baichwal's riveting 2011 documentary Payback and also clearly enjoyed Algonquin Short Sax Appeal by Wasim Baobaid. ![]() Baichwal's documentary based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, offers a fascinating look at debt as a mental construct and traces how it influences relationships, societies, governing structures and the fate of the planet. Baichwal: "The first thing I learned, which was a great relief, is that the book wasn’t about money… What it was about was the idea of debt – a fantastic, complex riff on all the ways we are governed by owing and being owed in human society and beyond. ‘I owe you one.’ ‘You owe me one.’ And so on." ![]() Wasim Baobaid and Jarrod Goldsmith Also on hand was Jarrod Goldsmith of Ottawa-based saxophone quartet Sax Appeal, the subject of Algonquin doc student Wasim Baobaid's short subject documentary that opened for Payback. And so ends another season of compelling documentaries at WIFF. Thank you to creative directors Robert and Brenda Rooney for bringing this fabulous boutique film festival to the community And congratulations to documentary production students whose Algonquin Shorts were selected by WIFF programmers to open for a strong line-up of international docs. A heartfelt thank you to the Rooneys for offering Algonquin's emerging documentary makers this career-launching opportunity to showcase their work. Un grand merci. -30-
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At the beginning of winter term documentary production students are sent out to Ottawa's annual Winterlude event for their first story exercise after Christmas break. ![]() White balance in mixed lighting condition before interview Here's the drill: Students go out in crews to focus on a Winterlude event of interest and bring back actuality, interviews and visuals to produce a five minute story. Each member of the crew directs a particular story element or segment and edits it. The final touch is assembling all segments which are crafted together in the edit suite to produce the group's mini doc. Winterlude Challenge is a warm up exercise for the big one, students' final group productions of their long form documentaries. ![]() Setting up the interview Doc makers Justin Nalepa, Tae-eun Kim, Eric Archambault and Jean Kim-Butcher decided on a profile of Sophie Latreille, founding member of Fire Weavers, an Ottawa/Gatineau-based fire performance troupe. ![]() Fiery actuality As in all documentary shooting, the objective of the exercise is to come back with actuality and visuals that give the audience a sense of what it's like to be there. ![]() It's a tradition: Every fall documentary production students are sent out into the Byward Market to shoot their first actuality sequences and interviews. With material they capture students create short subject docs on local characters and landmarks in the historic part of the nation's capital. On their Market shoot, Eric Archambault, Tae-Eun Kim, Wisdom Sanni, and Justin Nalepa set out to capture the story of local stables owner, John Cundell. ![]() Located just on the edge of the Market, Cundell Stables have been in operation since the late 1800’s and are the only stables still left in the city’s core. The crew rotates through various positions, everybody gets to direct, shoot and record sound. ![]() The name of the exercise is to capture actuality, visuals and interviews and to bring back these elements to be cut into a short human interest story. "John Cundell Stables" directed, shot and edited by Eric Archambault, Tae-Eun Kim, Wisdom Sanni, and Justin Nalepa |
About Us A collection of field notes, interviews, and reviews from Algonquin's Documentary Production Class of 2012
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