This text is part of the special Feminine Leadership notebook
Duty wanted to meet Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, director, screenwriter, novelist and mother of three children, to talk about female leadership. She accepted, but suggested that her mother, filmmaker Manon Barbeau, also participate in the interview. We followed her with enthusiasm.
So we all met, one rainy September afternoon, in the warm home of Manon Barbeau, in Outremont, surrounded by the paintings of her father, Marcel Barbeau. She was looking forward to seeing her daughter, who “is in the movement a lot” these days. Indeed, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette was returning from Bic, where she had participated in the Flõ festival with her colleagues from Porte-voix, an initiative which allows artists to become spokespersons for scientists who do not feel listened to publicly.
“We started the Flõ festival with scientists from the University of Quebec at Rimouski to combine arts and sciences,” explains Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette. We want to think about what we can invent together regarding the climate crisis. Without being in denial, we cannot only be in the cry of alarm, in the collapse, in the anger. We want to reinvent the collective story to move towards something brighter. »
Nothing less. However, when Duty asked her for an interview for this file, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette questioned the way in which she expresses her leadership.
“I wanted my mother to be present because she has more experience than me in leadership, having imagined and directed Wapikoni mobile [studio d’art ambulant consacré aux jeunes autochtones]explains the 45-year-old artist. I don’t have a leadership role. But it’s certain that when making films, you don’t have the choice to be a leader, because if you’re not, no one will follow you. It’s interesting, because there are so many ways to be a leader. It’s up to everyone to invent their own. »
Visibly happy to listen to her daughter speak on this subject, Manon Barbeau is firmly ensconced in her chair. Armchair recovered from his mother’s apartment after she died. Her mother, Suzanne Meloche, who abandoned her when she was three years old, along with her one-year-old little brother. This story is told by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette in The woman who fleda novel now adapted for the theater which is presented until October 13 at TNM. That’s the short story.
“Anaïs is a movement initiator and so am I,” says Manon Barbeau. I find that we have the same type of leadership. We manage to raise fairly large deals, but without leading in an authoritarian manner. We share our sincere conviction, our enthusiasm, and this is how we motivate the troops who become ready to give everything for the cause which is a social necessity. »
Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette also believes that leadership is linked to sincere recognition of others. “It’s about recognizing the presence of the other and what they can bring to your fire,” she explains. It is not an average individual who is behind this project. No, it’s you, with such a capacity, a capacity that I recognize and that I don’t have, but if you put it at the service of the embers that I offer you, the fire will burn. »
Be oblivious to the risk… or embrace it!
In leadership, there is always an element of risk. However, Manon Barbeau believes that if she succeeded in setting up, with Wapikoni, four traveling studios which made it possible to produce more than 1,440 films and more than 900 musical works in 82 communities here and internationally in 20 years, it This is because she was not aware of the risk that this company presented.
“When we got our first trailer that had only traveled to Florida, we had to create a sound studio,” she says. I had the idea to do it in the shower! The screenwriting table, I thought it could bend over to serve as a bed. It all worked, but if I had been aware of all the risks, I probably would have been scared and maybe I wouldn’t have done it. »
“Ah yes, I slept on this table,” adds Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, laughing. But, on the contrary, I believe that we must embrace risk. I am aware of the risk. Maybe I don’t measure it, but if we don’t take the risk, and this applies to all levels of my life, then it’s over. »
Reconciling motherhood and cinema
A sign that times are changing, Manon Barbeau waited until her daughter and son, Manuel, 43, were adults before launching Wapikoni. “Before, it was Philippe [Lavalette]my partner, their father, who went to do photo direction around the world,” remembers the one who is now working on a documentary entitled Twilight games, which focuses on the work of choreographer Ariane Boulet in CHSLD.
On the other hand, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette took the risk of having children (Manoé 13 years old, Ulysse 11 years old and Mishka 9 years old) while her career was in full swing, and without having the intention of putting it on hold . She also directed her second feature film, Insh’Allahin Palestine with his eldest, who was then eight months old.
However, since female directors are already rare and were even more so around fifteen years ago, those who had succeeded before her had practically all told her not to have children if she wanted to make films.
“I have a sign at home that says: the woman is above the level of the mother,” she said. The more I flourish as a woman, the more I nourish the mother in me. And when I leave for a project, I always explain to my daughter and my guys what I’m going to do and why it’s important. They are complicit in these impulses. »
It must be said that she has a boyfriend (the multidisciplinary artist Émile Proulx-Cloutier) who is a true feminist. “He’s not just in his tunes,” she says. We work together to invent this balance. It’s not easy, but we give ourselves the same permissions. »
Mothers at the front
It was the mother in her, and the dismay, that led her to create the Mothers at the Front group in 2020. “When my children started to read, and therefore to understand that there is a climate emergency, they asked me what I would do to protect them,” she says. I wasn’t there to introduce them to films and books. I had a feeling of helplessness. I went to see the eco-sociologist Laure Waridel, and she also felt helpless. The following week, there were 40 of us helpless in his living room. From powerlessness can arise strength. »
This is how Mothers at the Front was born. Thousands of women have become members and have created more than thirty local groups in towns and villages across Quebec. They start with projects, go talk to their MP, run for office. “They have taken ownership of the movement,” says Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette. It’s a great projectempowerment. It’s what I’m most proud of, after my children. »
The activist will also take one of the chartered buses to go to the great march of Mothers at the Rouyn-Noranda front on October 13 to demand that the provincial government respect their right to a healthy environment and impose on the Horne Foundry the same environmental standards as elsewhere in Quebec.
“We will not leave as long as the Quebec government continues to consider the citizens of Rouyn as sacrificed, second-class people. If we allow this in Rouyn, we allow the government to do it elsewhere. »
She will therefore continue to be “in the movement” with all her “sincere conviction” so that “the fire strikes”. And because it is “a social necessity”.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Dutyrelating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.