It’s a job that you catch like an incurable disease. A profession that impoverishes us, isolates us and indigns us… but that we continue to love, because it gives meaning to our life and, sometimes, it changes lives!
To make a living from it, I had to collect all kinds of signs to make the most of my apartment. “For rent”, “For sale”, “Room for rent” signs and, more recently, there is “Airbnb” which taught me to live in my suitcases when there are no more projects. horizon!
I thought I was the only one to lead a freediving life, and here is a study on “the profession of documentary filmmakers”1 came to portray the lives of people, as crazy as I am, who lead this untenable life of documentary filmmakers.
The initiative comes from the Association des Réalisateurs et Réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ) and is carried out at the University of Quebec in Montreal, community service, a kind of watch dog to improve our democracy by pointing out what is wrong. Putting figures and stories on the precariousness of the documentary filmmaker’s profession to remedy it is one.
It is that the poor child of cinema, despite his growing popularity, suffered a significant drop in funding that began in the 2000s with the government of Stephen Harper.
The study propels us into the touching and intimate testimonies of documentary filmmakers and their difficulties in making a living from their art.
For many, being a documentary filmmaker is an “identity” that cannot be discussed, even when they have to work in other fields while awaiting funding for their projects: “I didn’t want to have to live from this profession so as not to forcing me to make compromises in my documentary practice, ”admits a documentary filmmaker.
It must be said that it is a profession that imposes long unpaid tasks on us, such as thinking and developing project ideas.
This profession is a perpetual restart. I often say that our profession does not exist, and that we have to reinvent it every time we finish a film.
It comes to life from an idea, a meeting, a reading … After, when the idea is clear and we manage to put it on paper, comes the stage of seeking funding in a world where competition is fierce. “Loto-Québec is back: you win the million or you don’t. It’s not a career, it’s a roll of the dice, ”summarizes a director!
The questions about pension funds made many of the participants laugh. A luxury they dare not even think of. These workers, often self-employed, usually do not even have social security coverage in the event of illness or work-related accident.
There are more and more women documentary filmmakers, but they are confronted with a sexist mentality that persists in this profession of “men”. I will always remember the comment of a director-journalist to whom I had announced that I had won an award for my first film. He had launched me badly that anyway my project was accepted because I was just “cute”! A comment that hurt me so much at the time!
Raising a family for female documentary filmmakers is a luxury they often don’t allow themselves. Barely four out of 12 women interviewed had children, while 11 out of 14 men did. It must be said that men do not carry children and always take care of them less.
And finally, the testimonies also reveal that loneliness ends up weighing heavily on these creators of the shadows who often work alone from home. I’m not telling you anything since we’ve just been in confinement. Imagine a lifetime of work in confinement!
I must admit that I found it a shame that the study did not include documentary filmmakers from diverse backgrounds in this research. Because there is another world of challenges to discover, if only to talk about the perception of this profession and that of the arts in general by immigrant parents …
A little anecdote to finish.
I remember the day I won a Gemini, I ran to show it to my parents. I had climbed the steps in pairs like a little girl before arriving very out of breath. I wave at them my sesame as the ultimate proof that my job is important. My mother looks at him out of the corner of her eye then continues to roll her cake, then asks me playfully: “Is that gold?” We could at least have some jewelry made! “No, mom, it’s a big price,” I answer. She continues, very disappointed: “But what are you going to do with all these piles of junk on your fireplace?” ”
My father even more sarcastic admits to me that the shape of this thing is not bad… to knock out a thief in case! He adds: “I hope that now you are going to look for a real job. ”
I’m telling you, in addition to doing a difficult and thankless job, you shouldn’t count on immigrant parents to encourage you!
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