Video

Comptines

Diane Poitras

1986, 04:00 minutes, colour, French

TAPECODE 129.02

One day in Belfast, they hear a prisoner has died, and angry women congregate on the street. Armed with garbage can lids, they bang the ground to mark the bleak courage of the ninth hunger striker to die in silence. Besides bewilderment, what else remains in the stillness after such a singular and pathetic gesture? This next item is the starting point for Comptines.

Un jour à Belfast, en apprenant la mort d'un prisonnier, des femmes en colère se sont réunies sur la place. Et là, un couvercle de poubelle à la main, elles ont martelé le sol pour souligner le triste courage de ce neuvième gréviste de la faim à mourir en silence. Outre le vertige, que reste-t-il lorsque cesse le vacarme d'un geste aussi singulier et presque dérisoire?
C;est ce fait divers qui est à l'origine de ce vidéoclip expérimental pour lequel Marie-Claire Séguin a composéla trame sonore et interprète la chanson.

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Critical Writing

Total recall: History, memory & new documentary
by Sara Diamond and Gary Kibbins. Trade Initiative, 1998. Vancouver: Satellite Video Exchange Society, 1998.
Individuals: New Video From Canada
by Peggy Gale. Aspetti e Tendenze della Ricerca Video Canadese, 1989. Ferrara: Ferrara: Centro Video Arte, 1989.
Cold Snaps: Images 88, Northern Visions showcase of new film and video
by Andrew J. Patterson. Cinema Canada, Sept. 1988, no. 155.
Video Exhibition: Total Recall
by Sarah Diamond and Gary Kibbins.