A Few Lost Words

Between the city, the suburbs and the theft of an automobile.

Through an immigrant cab driver, our world collides with a nervous filmmaker, a lawyer whose new breasts her ex-boyfriend wants to see, a mystery man, a gay man who might or might not have AIDS, and a birthday girl who got stood up. It is a mixture of laughter and sadness, all floating on a sea of philosophy.

While shooting her new film in New York City, a director begins questioning the origin of impulsion. As the shoot begins to fall apart, with her lead actor unable to complete the project, this hybrid film between documentary and fiction takes viewers on an unexpected and compelling journey.

After a year of filming abroad, Manu, a once prominent actor, returns to his hometown. But getting back into the business isn't as easy as he thought. After several unsuccessful auditions, he's no longer sure of anything. Against all odds, he lands a job hosting a nighttime call-in radio show. His listeners are mainly newcomers, refugees and exiles with varied life experiences, working graveyard shifts. Manu gradually appropriates this space, this gathering of mixed voices, to launch philosophical questions into the night. His words are engaging. He becomes an anchor for many listeners. His life takes on new meaning.

A volunteer soldier in 1914 and witness to the rise of Nazism in 1933, the German painter Otto Dix depicted the ravages and horrors of war. With unsparing lucidity, he portrayed scenes that are disturbing and shocking. Art was his weapon. The master who said, “I need courage to paint ugliness,” rendered the chaos around him in a manner both brutally honest and humane.

In November 2001, Quebec Painter Edmund Alleyn (1931-2004) agreed to be filmed in his Montreal studio by his daughter, filmmaker Jennifer Alleyn. There, something unexpected happened : an authentic encounter, with no beating around the bush, no mask. From a few existential questions –about life, painting, death- thruth emerged. The artist died of cancer in December 2004 before Jennifer could film him again. After inheriting his studio, she found herself in this sacred space, still imbued with the presence and imagination of her father. Her film is an attempt to prolong the dialogue, to find the missing fragments of her father’s life. Edmund Alleyn was an intense and complex man of integrity who left his mark on Canadian art history.

Short documentary about Quebecois store owners.