Canada Selects Four Debut Feature Length Films for Cannes Docs-in-Progress Showcase

variety.com:

Lise Pedersen New voices were given center stage at the Canada Docs-in-Progress Showcase, part of the Cannes Festival’s Film Market, with four first feature-length docs in the final stages of production presented to an industry crowd on Friday.The showcase was brought by Telefilm Canada, in partnership with RIDM (Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal) and in collaboration with Hot Docs.Of the four Canadian projects showcased at last year’s edition, both “Geographies in Solitude” and “Cette Maison” went to world premiere at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival, before moving on to Hot Docs along with “And Still I Sing.” “Geographies in Solitude” picked up three gongs along the way, including best Canadian feature doc in Toronto. “Back Home”This year’s showcase started with “Back Home” by Vancouver-based filmmaker, photographer and artist Nisha Platzer.It follows her pursuit to get to know her older brother more than 20 years after he took his own life.

Through vérité scenes shot with her brother’s friends, intimate recollections re-imagined on 16mm and Super8, and lyrical, handmade visuals, “Back Home” explores questions of identity, forgiveness, loss and healing.Platzer, whose last short “Vaivén” (2020) competed at festivals worldwide, works with and teaches handmade film.For “Back Home,” she used experimental techniques on celluloid to play with light and shadow.

These included scratching and puncturing the film, using plants as a film developer, burying the film in the earth and using her brother’s ashes.“It was an experiment – in the same way the soil strips the emulsion on the film.