Montreal filmmaker frustrated that so few Black stories are told
MONTREAL – Montreal filmmaker Will Prosper is happy to see that Telefilm Canada is becoming partners with the Being Black in Canada film mentorship program. But Prosper, who is of Haitian/ Québécois ancestry, said the Canadian film business lags way behind the rest of the world in terms of the amount of films made by Black directors and added the situation is even worse in Quebec.
“In Quebec and Canada, we might be in 2020 but, compared to other places, it’s like we’re in the early 2000s (in terms of visible-minority filmmakers),” Prosper said in an interview Thursday. “We need more of these (Black) stories and it’s important for them to tell their stories instead of other people carrying their stories for them. When you take a look at the Black directors you see in Britain or in France or the United States, you can see that (these Black filmmakers) bring a different lens because they have lived experiences and they bring a very deep portrayal of the situation, whether it’s in fiction or documentary, and everyone benefits from that. And I’d really like to see that happening more in Canada.”
Prosper’s most recent feature documentary, Kenbe La, Until We Win, had its world premiere at the Montreal International Documentary Festival in 2019 and played to sold-out theatres. Last month, Prosper was named artistic director of the francophone stream of filmmakers in Being Black in Canada, a mentorship, training and creation program supported by Netflix, the National Bank of Canada and the Canada Media Fund. This week, it was announced that Telefilm, the country’s main federal public film and TV funding agency, was signing on as a partner with the program.
This year, Being Black in Canada will support 20 filmmakers from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and they will have the chance to make documentary shorts about issues facing black communities in Canada.
“It takes a coalition of supporters,” said Fabienne Colas, the creator of Being Black in Canada. “The way it’s happening now we will be able to move the needle faster. I think the future is very hopeful and promising.”
In an interview this week, Telefilm executive E.J. Alon said he couldn’t discuss how many films by Black directors Telefilm supports due to privacy issues regarding the filmmakers. He didn’t mention a single film by a Black director over the course of the conversation.
Alon instead pointed to a program put in place this July after Telefilm faced criticism about its lack of diversity in the midst of the conversations started by the Black Lives Matter movement. Telefilm in the summer unveiled an Equity and Representation Action Plan that pledged to try to work with more directors from visible-minority communities. It also vowed to create four new positions at the agency for people who are Black, indigenous or people of colour.
“That plan is definitely a concrete step forward,” said Alon, co-chair of Telefilm’s Equity and Representation Action Committee. “We really want to imbue a culture of equity and that we are representative of the various storytellers who need to have more of a place to share their points of view. … The history of Telefilm I can’t address, I’m relatively new to the organization. When I look at the portfolio of Canadian films out there, do I think more (diverse) stories can be told? Absolutely.”
Prosper noted that there is more diversity behind the scenes in the film and TV business in the rest of Canada than there is in Quebec. He said that is due to “this over present question of the fear of losing the French culture.”
Prosper added: “When you’re defending that so hard and you’re scared you’re going to lose it, you’re not seeing how much oppressing you’re doing to other people growing up in the same community. You’re not helping your culture because we’re seeing youth turning to what’s going on in the U.S. and France and the rest of Canada. Unfortunately, they’re not even consuming what’s going on here.