Slam poet Marjolaine Beauchamp - Photo: Hélène Choquette - Copyright: NFB
When we first asked spoken-word performer Marjolaine Beauchamp if the economic crisis had informed her work, she shot back that she lived her life in perpetual crisis. At 27, she divides her time between raising her child, working a multitude of odd jobs, and her poetry. By way of marking our 100th production on gdp.nfb.ca, we decided to collaborate with her – making a visual essay, blending photography and video, inspired by a slam poem she’d composed on the theme of crisis.
Friday, February 12: Day One (of a one-day shoot!)
8 am: I’m waiting in a café on Montreal’s Mont-Royal Avenue. Marjolaine has just left me a voice message. She’s had a late night at the Festival Voix d’Amérique, and is running a little late. While waiting, I review her text and chat with André Boisvert, our sound recordist and designated jack-of-all-trades for the day.
8:45 am: Marjolaine arrives, looking a little worse for wear from last night’s festivities. But hey – she says – it fits with my work. I get her to do an initial reading of her poem. There’s something raw in her declamatory manner that immediately grabs me. Her voice – husky and subtle – has an almost immaterial quality. We’re off to a promising start.
9:15 am: We’ve arrived at Renaissance, a second-hand store on St. Laurent Boulevard. We scope out the aisles of used clothing and furniture, seeking inspiration. Marjolaine is game – trying on hats, ties, jackets – seeking the right look for the “respectable crooks” she so eloquently denounces in her slam.
11:45 am: We’re at the community kitchen at Bon Accueil Mission in the St-Henri neighbourhood. My camera attracts attention amid this group of men, each living in some way with poverty. Annie Richer, our writer-researcher, explains our project and its intent. Would anyone like to participate? Pierre-Paul and Michel come aboard – playing important secondary roles. Michel has himself worked in soup kitchens, he tells us, he knows all about poverty – and has nothing to hide.
2:00 pm: We’re at NFB headquarters on Cote-de-Liesse street (back of beyond). We’ve fashioned a simple studio – two lamps and a lectern – and are ready to film Marjolaine’s performance. We’re using my Canon 5D Mark II, working with minimal light, and it’s fun to have the creative options offered by shallow depth of field, having worked mostly with video in recent years, where depth of field seems to go on forever.
5:30 pm: Our day’s work is done. The challenging task of editing still lies ahead – that’s where Miguel Raymond enters the picture. But something in Marjolaine’s weary smile – she’s exhausted – tells me that we’ve achieved something special in collaborating with this irreverent and inspiring young woman. Thank you Marjolaine for your inimitable and gutsy creative spirit.
Watch the result here
Hélène Choquette, director-coordinator
(translated by Philip Lewis)
©2009 Le blogue PIB / The GDP blog
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