Trained as a social worker, novelist, poet and slammer David Goudreault sees himself as a go-between. For the past ten years, he has traveled the roads of Quebec to meet young people, seniors, Aboriginal communities, prisoners and people with mental health problems in order to pass on his passion for words.
“I know I have a funny curriculum. I have the impression that I assume better and better who I am in the Quebec cultural landscape, and this series shows exactly what character I can be, a smuggler who wants to make literature useful, alive, uninhibited , desacralized, but without taking anything away from its power and its beauty”, he confided during a virtual press briefing, held on Monday, after viewing the first episode of the documentary series Of the world, of wordswhich will be broadcast on ICI Artv on Friday.
In this series written by Catherine Emmanuel Brunet and directed by Marie Carpentier, with whom he shot the documentary Mental health: one note at a time (2020), the charismatic artist creates small miracles. Thus, we discover Michaël, 12 years old, who does not like French or literature. During a workshop, Goudreault realizes that the young boy, who faces serious learning disabilities every day, has the soul of a poet and encourages him to pursue writing. In June, Michaël will launch his first collection of poetry.
“The original idea of the world, of words, is to have something very accessible, very human and at the same time spectacular through the effectiveness of poetry. We see me declaim a little, but we also hear other poets, like Naomi Fontaine and Catherine Dorion, new voices, including that of Geneviève Rioux, who will be released Survivals on May 16, and, above all, we see how life-changing it can be. »
Write, he says
During the series, we will also meet Nicolas, an inmate of the Bordeaux prison, whose poetry will be acclaimed by the students of a school for adults, and Daniel, a schizophrenic whom Goudreault compares to Rimbaud.
“I can’t believe there isn’t a person who will take their pencil and paper and write after that, if only to free themselves, to light up something, exclaims the producer executive France Beaudoin, of Pamplemousse media. Of course, in a series, we try to reach as many people as possible, but, in this case, if there is one person or a few people who take the pencil, it’s already huge. »
The idea behind “Du monde, des mots” is to have something very accessible, very human and at the same time spectacular through the effectiveness of poetry.
Filmed in 21 days, despite David Goudreault’s more than busy schedule, Of the world, of words comes in four episodes, To transmit, Influence, Reunite and Releasewhere we meet and re-cross aspiring poets in Montreal, Quebec City and Sept-Îles.
“It wasn’t easy to structure all of this because it’s a bit of a continuum,” explains producer Stéphanie Couillard. The four themes are found almost everywhere. We chose them more as guides than as themes to try to have a structure, a story that was held by episode so as not to repeat the same process. »
“The strength of this series is that we gave ourselves the time to film and reflect on the significant encounters with David, on those who were touched by his presence, who started writing to go better, continues director Marie Carpentier. We followed them for a few days and we were able to see them transform before our eyes thanks to the writing. For me, that’s kind of what structured the four episodes. It’s moving to see how writing can benefit people from different backgrounds and walks of life. »
Confirming that poetry has changed his own life, the poet believes that literature first passes through the human. “I think it will reach people who will discover a desire for poetry, an ability to write and, if only for that, it’s perfect. I don’t think poetry will save the world, but it can save people,” concludes David Goudreault.