Jean-Marc Parent
The theme of the ice storm went without saying for comedian Jean-Marc Parent, originally from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a city in the black triangle, and known for his famous ” Flash your lights. However, Mr. Parent was in fact affected for almost 30 days. He performed for the first time at the Saint-Jean military base for members of the Armed Forces and Hydro-Québec workers. He was able to improvise by drawing on what he had experienced with his family and friends. He then presented this number for television at a Just for Laughs gala. You can find videos of this number on YouTube.
Neighborhood #3 by Arcade Fire
IMAGE FROM THE VIDEO
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)from Arcade Fire
album piece Funeral released in 2004, Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) by the Montreal group Arcade Fire would have been inspired by the great ice storm. The first words read as follows: I woke up with the power out / Not really something to shout about / Ice has covered up my parents hands / Don’t have any dreams don’t have any plans. There are no direct references to Montreal or Quebec in this text. In addition, the song has been transposed into an animated video that looks like a film noir and catastrophic to see on Vevo and YouTube.
The never done project
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Writer and screenwriter Jacques Savoie
In the spring of 2014, director Sylvain Archambault had high hopes of being able to start filming a feature film on the ice in the fall. The screenplay, signed Jacques Savoie, had been reworked from a series project. For various reasons, the film never saw the light of day. Another series project was sketched but did not materialize either. Since then, Sylvain Archambault has retired from public life following allegations of inappropriate behavior. As for Jacques Savoie, he still dreams of seeing the project come to fruition.
SODEC: four financings
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ice triangle, by Marie-Noëlle Moreau Robidas
SODEC had not financed the project of MM. Archambault and Savoie. But the organization has since provided support, whether for script financing, production (filming) or tax credits, to four projects. Those are The Child of the Ice by Jean-Marc Piche, black triangle by Marie-Noëlle Moreau Robidas (animated short film released in 2022), the youth feature film Mr. Freeze and Matchstick by Martin Cadotte and Ice 98a documentary hosted by Étienne Boulay which will be presented on Saturday, January 7, at 8 p.m., on Historia.
Ice Storm Symphony
PHOTO FROM THE MAXIME GOULET WEBSITE
Maxime Goulet
Commissioned by the Orchester Classique de Montréal and other partners, the Ice Storm Symphony was composed by Montrealer Maxime Goulet to commemorate the 25th anniversary of this event. The official premiere will take place on June 20, 2023 at the Maison symphonique. The work is divided into four movements associated with aspects of this crisis: torment, heat, darkness and light. Two movements were presented in concert in 2021 in Laval and Houston. After Montreal, the symphony is to be presented on November 11, 2023 in Sherbrooke and November 18, 2023 in Trois-Rivières. You can see excerpts on YouTube.
The Scrapbook Black ice by Sienna Dahlen
IMAGE FROM SIENNA DAHLEN’S BANDCAMP PAGE
The Scrapbook Black ice, by Sienna Dahlen
A Quebecer who grew up in Dawson Creek, in northern British Columbia, singer-songwriter Sienna Dahlen knows the cold well. “The winter theme is very present in my music”, tells us the artist who, in 2012, released the album Black ice inspired by the events of 1998 and by the death of the singer Lhasa de Sela which occurred on 1er January 2010. “Lhasa died at midnight as ice fell on Montreal, continues Mme Dahlen, who teaches at Concordia University. No one knew she was sick. Two months earlier, I had seen her performing in Paris. The eponymous song, with lyrics in French and English, contains this passage: A woven wooden rug / Was knitting under her feet / She wept / White tears / That fell on / Every branch. About the app Music and Bandcamp.
in the books
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Black ice, by Normand Lester and Corinne de Vailly
In literature, the disaster inspired a few authors, including Normand Lester of Montreal Journal who, with Corinne de Vailly, co-signed the thriller Black ice published in 2006. A few days before the January 1998 storm, the body of a First Nations person who had died of an overdose was discovered. However, detective sergeant Pierre Dumont discovers that this death hides a secret with international ramifications. The Canadian author Frieda Wishinsky also drew from it a children’s novel entitled Ice stormreleased in 2016. Photo enthusiasts will also remember the book in landscape format The big ice storm: story in pictures of the storm of January 1998 Montrealer Mark Abley. These books are in the BAnQ catalog.