In January 1999, around twenty young filmmakers got together to carry out a crazy project: produce a film per month until the year 2000 – against a backdrop of fear of the famous “bug” which could deprogram computers and bring down planes. . We know the rest: the Earth continued to rotate, the planes remained in the sky and this group of aspiring filmmakers — Kino Montréal — has just celebrated its 25th anniversary.
Kino’s quarter-century celebrations take off Thursday evening at the Cinémathèque québécoise. The screening of around forty of the collective’s most memorable films will take place in the presence of illustrious “kinoïtes”, as the creators who revolve around the Kino nebula are called.
The evening will be full of color and twists and turns, because Kino has been an incubator of talent and crazy ideas for 25 years. Stéphane Lafleur, Philippe Falardeau, Christian Laurence, Mara Joly, Lawrence Côté-Collins, Rafaël Ouellet and many others have made their mark within the collective.
“The dogma of Kino is the freedom to create. There is no hierarchy. There is something deeply punk in Kino, for me,” says director and screenwriter Christian Laurence, founding member of Kino. We meet him at the movement’s premises, boulevard Rosemont.
He remembers his two and a half minute film Nautical education, produced in 2006 in the spirit of Kino: he shot simultaneously on video and with the antique 16 mm camera that belonged to Father Maurice Proulx, a pioneer of documentary in Quebec. He and his colleague (and then-partner) Geneviève Perron developed the 16mm film in the bathtub of the hotel where they shot the short.
“There is an experimental side, a danger, in Kino. It’s like a jam jazz, a open mic or the National Improvisation League,” says Christian Laurence.
“The spirit of Kino is to create immediately in a hurry, without thinking too much, without waiting and without expectations too,” he adds.
Solidarity and mutual aid
The Kino movement was created to encourage mutual aid between young cinema graduates. At the time, filming equipment was heavy and expensive. It was complicated to produce a film. The web was slow. There was obviously no social media. Nor so-called “smart” phones. A room was absolutely necessary to disseminate the works on a large scale.
The pooling of expertise, contacts and resources of the twenty members aimed to facilitate the production and distribution of the first films of these aspiring filmmakers.
A quarter of a century later, Kino’s mission remains the same despite technical progress: “We really went back to our roots, to the original mandate,” explains Annelise Jolly, general director of Kino since spring 2023.
The small team continues to lend filming equipment, in addition to offering technical support and mentoring, by connecting seasoned professionals and film graduates. Despite the technological advances of mobile phones, the vast majority of short films are shot with real cameras, specify the artisans at Kino.
A series of digital platforms allow the distribution of films, but theatrical screening remains an essential – and a great source of motivation – for artists. Kino’s works are broadcast every month on the big screen at the Sainte-Catherine theater. These monthly meetings attract a lot of people, says Annelise Jolly.
“We are still looking for this spirit of connection. People have a beer, share contacts and discuss the latest news from the cinema industry,” she adds.
Following Thursday’s retrospective, the festivities of the 25e anniversary will continue during an evening of musical performances and screening of short films, on Saturday, February 24, still at the Cinémathèque. A new formula of the famous “micro-kabaret”, dear to Kino, will bring together six veterans and six young up-and-comers, who will present films they have made on the theme of “transmission”.
Colorful cinema
This year marks a sort of relaunch of Kino, not only in Montreal, but elsewhere in the world. The collective launched in Quebec has been growing for 25 years: nearly a hundred Kino cells have been created all over the planet.
“There was a slowdown with the pandemic,” says Annelise Jolly. The last “Kino kabaret” held in Montreal dates back to 2019. “We remain faithful to our original mandate, but with a spirit of professionalization,” explains the director. I would like Kino to become the benchmark for supporting directors. »
Christian Laurence adds that the collective’s trademark has sometimes suffered from the imperative to create in a hurry. “At one point, people said: ‘We no longer make Kino, we make serious films’,” he admits.
He and his colleagues are betting that the celebrations of the 25e anniversary will confirm that creative urgency can lead to quality cinema — despite its variegated, destabilizing and surprising character.