May 17, 2010
PAVI FMB Grad Marcel Petit is currently directing three feature documentaries
1) 1) Planet S Magazine - CITY LIVING · JUL 03 2008
DOCUMENTARY PROVIDES VOICE FOR FORMER SASKATOON SEX TRADE WORKERS
by Caitlin Ward
When you hear the title Hookers: a Documentary, there are a few things that come immediately to mind: a story about downtrodden women, definitely, and perhaps a gritty look at Saskatoon's underbelly. What you might not expect when you sat down at the Roxy Theatre was a 50-minute story that, despite all odds, is essentially about hope — but that's exactly what you get.
Following the stories of five women who once worked in the sex trade on 20th Street, Hookers traces the paths both into and out of prostitution for these women. Without voice-over or staged re-enactments, the film allows the women who lived the stories to tell them.
"It's their story," filmmaker Marcel Petit explains. "When I first sat down with each of them, they were so happy to have a voice. No one ever sat down with them before and said, 'How do you feel about this?'"
The women, all of whom made the decision to leave prostitution of their own volition, are a testament to the strength of the individual. Some were shocked into that choice and some simply woke up one day and realized they weren't who they wanted to be, but all of them left that life and stayed out of it by the strength of their own determination and character.
The stories they tell are in turns upsetting and encouraging, but above all both the women and Petit emphasize the necessity of personal choice in entering and leaving prostitution. He hopes the women's stories will give a clearer insight into the challenges prostitutes face and how government can deal with those challenges.
"People in academia, in social work, they want to help — and I'm glad they're out there, it's a good thing," he says. "But they need to talk to these women and ask what they need to do, how they can actually make a difference."
Petit conceived the idea for Hookers when he was living in Vancouver. It was around the time the Pickton murders were brought to light, and he noticed a proliferation of documentaries about prostitution were being released. He was unimpressed with their uniform approach to the subject.
"[The documentaries] were all about despair and sadness," he recalls. "And I thought, what about the ones who moved on? Let's talk about hope, let's talk about strength, let's talk about life."
Petit's determination to see hope and the possibility for healing is not naïveté. Rather, he speaks from personal experience; the women he interviewed for the project are his mother, two sisters, a cousin, and a close family friend. Petit himself remembers going downtown after school to act as 'protection' for his sisters while they were hooking. An intimate observer of these women's lives as they passed into and out of prostitution, Petit is in a unique position to explore the culture surrounding the sex trade in Saskatoon.
"I grew up on 20th Street," he says. "A lot of these women babysat me. I have profound respect for all women, and for these women in particular, so I wanted to create an opportunity for them to be heard."
At the beginning of the project, Petit was expecting to make a very "in your face" documentary. However, over the two years he developed and produced the idea, the project became as much about healing as it was about telling the story — for both himself and the women he interviewed.
"I realized making this documentary I hadn't come to terms with a lot of it," he says. "I thought I'd made my peace, but the further I got into it the more I saw I was only now really dealing with it."
After opening the box, as it were, he's found that a lot more has come out than he'd first thought. With one documentary completed, Petit has come to realize how few of the stories he grew up around have been told to a wider audience. Petit is determined to not let people turn a blind eye to the fact that girls as young as nine are working the streets in Saskatoon. The filmmaker sees Hookers as potentially the first in a series of documentaries exploring prostitution in Saskatoon.
"After watching [the footage], I realized I could make four more documentaries with just these women's stories," he says. "My next project — or one of them, anyway — will be talking to the men involved: the pimps who got out of the business."
The women Petit interviewed are all aboriginal, and he identifies himself as an aboriginal filmmaker. However, the point of Hookers was not necessarily to explore his cultural heritage or relations between aboriginals and whites. He acknowledges it was bound to play a part in the documentary, but the story is fundamentally about humanity.
"We need to stop thinking in terms of colour," he says. "I made this documentary because I wanted girls, whether they're in Eastern Europe or down on 20th, to know that this is not the only life they can have."
2) Nipawin Journal Article
Feature documentary being filmed at Cumberland House
Saskatchewan filmmakers Angela Mae Edmunds and Marcel Petit are in the midst of filming a documentary set in Cumberland House, titled The Pisim (Cree word for sun) Project.
The Pisim Project documentary will follow just what its name implies; the Pisim Project, wherein 10 Grade 10 students from Charlebois Community School in Cumberland House are building an energy efficient house for their community. The project is part of a partnership with the University of Saskatchewan Office of Outreach and Transition Programs at the College of Engineering.
Edmund and Petit made their first ever trip out to Cumberland House last May, when the Pisim Project was in its initial planning stages.
"We've been hired by the University of Saskatchewan, but we've said we're going to do a big documentary on this," Edmunds said in a phone interview from her Saskatoon home. "We're also talking about social concerns, and energy efficient buildings, and why it's not out there."
"We are really gung-ho to make anything on the environment," she said of her and Petit's decision to take on the documentary project.
Edmund's first trip out to Cumberland House left an impression on her, as she would grow to appreciate the beauty of the land.
"We're not shooting all day," she said, adding that the students would only work on the energy efficient house in the afternoons. "We had a lot of time to explore the land… The natural beauty is just amazing."
Although filming began in May, it has been spread out over several trips the filmmaking duo have taken to Cumberland House from their Saskatoon homes.
While Edmunds said that she didn't know too much about Cumberland House going into the project, now mid-way through it she's learned a lot.
"You go up there, and people don't realize it's an island," she said, adding that the community is completely surrounded by water. As the first settlement in Saskatchewan, she said there's also a lot of interesting history in the area.
"We're going to be talking a lot about the community," she said of the documentary.
Cumberland House aside, Edmunds stressed that the main focus of the documentary will be on environmental concerns, and the influence the Pisim project can have for all communities in Canada.
"The kids would say 'we're going to be role models," Edmunds said, summarizing the main point she hopes to get across in the documentary.
Edmunds said that the next step in the filmmaking process will be taking a few more trips out to Cumberland House to document the finishing stages in the construction process. Although things slowed down during the winter due to cold temperatures, things will pick up this spring. She said that they hope to have the home completed by this summer.
Afterwards, Edmunds said that she plans on editing the movie all summer, with it completed by the fall.
"I'm hoping that we can premier it in Cumberland House," Edmunds said, though she isn't certain yet what venue in town will be used.
Another joint project between Edmunds and Petit is a photo exhibit that is on display at Saskatoon's PAVED Arts, April 5 to 24. The photo exhibit, titled Our Eyes: Cumberland House, SK, was shot by the artistic duo during their spare time between filming in Cumberland House. The photos chronicle life and landscape of Cumberland House, and are unrelated to the Pisim Project.
"We always have our cameras around us," Edmunds said, adding that this is her first ever photo exhibit, and that she plans on displaying the photographs someplace in Cumberland House in the near future.
In photo at right, students prepare the ground last fall for the Pisim Project energy-efficient house.
3) 3) Documentary offers Pine Grove inmates a voice
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Violet Naytowhow leads a group of musicians through a song after the showing of the documentary Expanding Knowledge; We're Not Just Chicks In Grey at the Prince Albert Arts Centre on Friday. Herald photo by Tessa Holloway Published on September 8th, 2009 |
Most of the women Carla Johnson teaches at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre are in their 20s, but when they arrive, most can't pass a Grade 6 English exam.
Aside from teaching grammar, spelling and sentence structure, Johnson tries to give them a voice, a way to tell their story.
Topics :
Prince Albert, Pine Grove Correctional Centre, Saskatoon, Regina
Most of the women Carla Johnson teaches at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre are in their 20s, but when they arrive, most can't pass a Grade 6 English exam.
Aside from teaching grammar, spelling and sentence structure, Johnson tries to give them a voice, a way to tell their story.
That's exactly what a group of her students got to do in a new documentary, titled "Expanding Knowledge: We're Not Just Chicks In Grey," which was screened at the Prince Albert Arts Centre on Friday night.
"It gave them a voice, it gave them an opportunity to be heard, whereas in society people don't really want to listen to people like that," Johnson said. "They think, 'Oh they're just street people, they don't know anything, they're in jail, they belong there, they don't have a voice.' "
The documentary was made by filmmaker Marcel Petit of Saskatoon over a period of two weeks at the women's correctional centre.
He's just one of several artists in the past six years who have come into the Pine Grove Literacy Program to teach communication through art.
The women have created elaborately decorated memory boxes, written poetry and had their words stitched into a fabric, all of which is now on display at the John V. Hicks Gallery in the Prince Albert Arts Centre, where the DVD is also available to watch.
Petit interviewed the inmates, and found out what they were learning and what their goals and dreams were, which often included leaving prison and being with their children.
Most importantly, it shows hope, said Petit.
"What I want people to get out of it is that we're doing something good. Whether it's the women or the men, we're giving them something to not come back (to prison for)," he said. "I know some people may not believe them, and I know some people may not like this film, and I'm OK with that."
Before getting in front of the camera, Petit worked with the women and went over the questions. They also got acting classes from Simon Moccasin of Regina, who described his job as mostly playing games and having fun.
The goal, Moccasin said, was partly to loosen people up and get them feeling more at ease with the camera, but also to focus their energy on play.
"In society, we don't laugh and play as much as we should," he said. "The pain that they've gone through needs to leave their bodies."
The workshops were done in collaboration with Common Weal Community Arts, a provincial arts organization with offices in Regina and Prince Albert.
Communication helps the inmates solve problems and work with others, which helps them stay out of prison after they're released, said Johnson.
In the 10-minute film, they express their plans articulately and clearly.
"We teach the women how to listen, ask questions, how to give feedback, how to receive feedback," Johnson said.
Marcel Petit Bio
PHOTO EXHIBITIONS
Cumberland House, Through our Eyes
Paved Arts 2009 - Saskatoon, SK
Cumberland House – John V. Hicks Gallery, April 2010 - Prince Albert, SK
Film / Video Work
Jim Brady Story - Feature Documentary
Director, Co-Editor
Landslide Entertainment 2010
In Production
Expanding Knowledge: We're Not Just Chicks In Grey - Short Documentary
Co-Producer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions, Mae Star Productions 2009
Screened 2009
Muzic Is Life – Music Video
Saulteaux First Nation Youth Conference
Director, Co-Producer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions 2009
Screened 2009
Walking Part 2 - Short
8th Annual Super 8 Film Event
Screened 2008
Never Again – Short Documentary
Co-Producer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions, Mae Star Productions & Unified Bodies 2009
Currently in Post-Production
Ernestine & Alphonse – Short Drama
Co-Director, Co-Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions 2009
Screened 2009
Sharing Our Research Journey – CIHR Research Project
Co-Director, Co-Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions 2009
Suncastle Solar Community – Short Documentary
Co-Director, Co-Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions 2009
The Pisim Project – Feature Length Documentary
Co-Director, Co-Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions
Currently in Post-Production - Release Date 2010
Hookers. a documentary
Feature Length Documentary
Writer, Director, Producer, Co-Editor
m.pet productions 2008
Premiered & Screened 2008
SCN 15 Minutes of Fame Series
Oskayak High School
Short Documentary – TV Broadcast 2009 – SCN
Roxy Theatre
Short Documentary – TV Broadcast 2009 – SCN
Live Five: Independent Theatre
Short Documentary - TV Broadcast 2008 – SCN
Teachers. Coaches. Fathers.
Short Documentary - TV Broadcast 2008 – SCN
Generations Ahead
Short Documentary - TV Broadcast 2008 – SCN
As the Building Sits
Short Documentary - TV Broadcast 2008 – SCN
All Co-Director, Co-Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Editor - m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions 2008/2009
Beardy’s & Okemasis First Nation
Youth/Elder Video Project – Documentary
Director, Producer and Administrator
m.pet productions 2008
Beardy’s & Okemasis Traditional Land Mapping Project – Corporate Video
Director, Producer, Editor
m.pet productions 2008
A Hint of Love – 3 min short
Co-director
m.pet productions & Mae Star Productions 2008
Screened 2008
This is Me – 3 min short
Co- Director, Producer
m.pet productions 2007
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