South by Southwest (SXSW) was one of the first major cultural events to be cancelled, in March 2020. Two years later, it is one of the first to be presented in a formula that one would dare say “normal”. “. A short film by a Quebec trio, the Paupière group and an “extended reality” work designed by Vincent Morisset, among others, are among the dozens of Quebec projects that will try to get noticed in the hubbub of Austin, Texas.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
beautiful river
Portrait of a Cajun community in southern Louisiana threatened by the floods, beautiful river concludes the Louisiana trilogy by filmmakers Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin. This short film, which follows Let the good times roll (2017) and Acadiana (2019), also draws a delicate parallel between the fragility of this territory and that of the French language in this corner of the world.
beautiful river has nothing, however, of the political indictment. It is more of an impressionist film. “It’s part of the type of cinema we love and want to do: a little more impressionistic documentary, agrees Guillaume Fournier. There is a portrait aspect, but we didn’t want to make an informative documentary. I think it’s very much linked to the fact that Samuel and I, above all, come more from fiction and that our vision of documentary is more hybrid. »
The trio wanted to let people speak, but also to say a lot of things with the camera and the editing. “To say things with the cinema”, sums up the filmmaker. Hence this superb opening sequence made of images taken from a bird’s eye view that slowly descend to ground level. Or rather at the water level, since the film shows a community struggling with recurring floods.
The skill of the film lies in its way of juxtaposing the threat that hangs over southern Louisiana and that which threatens the survival of Acadian culture. “Without saying that they are a twilight people, of course we wanted to ask questions about their fragility, which is also linked to the territory”, agrees Guillaume Fournier.
The trio is of course delighted to have been selected to compete at SXSW. He hopes that his film will interest other programmers and perhaps even TV channels who would like to acquire beautiful river or, better yet, the trilogy.
Eyelid
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LISBONLUXRECORDS
The Paupière tandem: Julia Daigle and Pierre-Luc Bégin
After a performance during the virtual edition of SXSW 2021, Paupière was again invited to the Texas festival this year. “We are very excited,” says Julia Daigle, half of the group she forms with Pierre-Luc Bégin (We Are Wolves). The tandem will perform three times during the teeming event where more than 1,000 groups from around the world will perform.
“Paupière has played a lot outside of Canada: we have played in South Korea, Italy, the United States and we will probably play in Slovakia this summer, if the context allows it. Language has never been a problem for us, because we have a very theatrical side on stage, judges the singer and musician, so I’m not surprised that we were selected this year. »
Julia Daigle says she and her colleague are “very excited” to make the trip. “It’s going to be our first concert outside of Canada since the pandemic, so it feels a bit unreal,” she said. That said, the singer is moderating her expectations.
“I think it’s better to just think about performing, having fun and enjoying it. There are so many people that it must be a bit like a lottery. I know that Mac DeMarco was discovered in this context. I rather see our selection as recognition in itself. »
Paupière, who gives in the synthetic pop that can be associated with the pioneers of the 1980s like Depeche Mode or his distant heirs like Ladytron, chose to bet on the keyboards because that is what Julia Daigle and Pierre-Luc Bégin had on hand when the project began. The duo fully assumes its pop side.
“We realized that it’s the melodies that most appeal to people,” says Julia Daigle, who ensures that foreign spectators understand their words without difficulty, without understanding the words. The colors of the music help to communicate the stories well. »
Composition
PHOTO VIVIEN GAUMAND, PROVIDED BY THE PHI CENTER
Vincent Morisset, one of the creators of the work-game Composition
A block game. Or maybe dice. Or both, merged with a music composition and visual effects interface. Composition, a collective work by Vincent Morisset, Caroline Robert, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit and Vlooper from a creation residency at the Center Phi, deliberately blurs the lines. Starting by erasing the border between the real and the virtual.
“We superimpose a layer of content on the world in which we find ourselves”, sums up Vincent Morisset, a regular at SXSW. He is also excited at the idea of going back. “It’s the first big post-pandemic festival,” he said. People are eager to get together and see what has been done in the industry over the past two years. »
Composition, the work that he accompanies this time, is presented as a table on which are placed wooden cubes with faces carved on each side, which the spectators – we want to say the players – are invited to stack, move or even throw. “Depending on how you move them on the table, the animations come to life: there is light emanating from the table and the soundtrack changes. »
The creator speaks of it as a miniature theater, a game of sculpture, an interface for musical composition, in short, as an unclassifiable work of extended reality, which according to him gives a taste of the way this kind of technology will evolve. “But it’s very fun,” he insists. Do the spectators of Composition wouldn’t they rather be players? “The line is fine, admits Vincent Morisset, but what is certain is that they are clearly protagonists of the experience. »