Martine Chartrand
Artiste visuelle - cinéaste / Visual Artist - FilmMaker
Filmographie / Filmography : MacPherson | Âme noire/Black Soul | T.V. Tango
Âme noire / Black Soul
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2000, 09 min 47 s
Direction: Martine Chartrand
Producers: Yves Leduc, Pierre Hébert, Marcel Jean
Production: National Film Board of Canada
BLACK SOUL is an exhilarating immersion into the heart of Black culture via a whirlwind voyage through the defining moments of Black History. As an old lady initiates her grandson into his past, a series of perpetually transforming images painted directly under the animation camera unfolds before our eyes. In a mesmerizing swirl of light and colour, the boy traces his ancestry to mighty Pharaohs and to valiant kings whose praises are sung by a griot beneath the baobab tree. Suddenly the beating of drums conjures forth the slave market and far-flung exile to the Caribbean and eventually the snows of the Americas.
In early Canada, the boy encounters slaves and fugitives. He shares in the Black peoples' struggles for freedom and sees all they have contributed to our common heritage. Finally, his grandmother bequeaths him Martin Luther King's dream: a dream that one day all human beings will live together in liberty, equality and brotherhood. BLACK SOUL, by Haitian-Québécois animator Martine Chartrand, is a poetic film about memory. Its evocative soundtrack is a mix of the Boütz dancers' irresistible rhythms, Lilison T.S. Cordeiro's mellow African music, the magnificent voice of Ranee Lee backed up by a gospel choir, and instrumentals composed by the great Montreal jazz pianist Oliver Jones.
Direction: Martine Chartrand
Producers: Yves Leduc, Pierre Hébert, Marcel Jean
Production: National Film Board of Canada
BLACK SOUL is an exhilarating immersion into the heart of Black culture via a whirlwind voyage through the defining moments of Black History. As an old lady initiates her grandson into his past, a series of perpetually transforming images painted directly under the animation camera unfolds before our eyes. In a mesmerizing swirl of light and colour, the boy traces his ancestry to mighty Pharaohs and to valiant kings whose praises are sung by a griot beneath the baobab tree. Suddenly the beating of drums conjures forth the slave market and far-flung exile to the Caribbean and eventually the snows of the Americas.
In early Canada, the boy encounters slaves and fugitives. He shares in the Black peoples' struggles for freedom and sees all they have contributed to our common heritage. Finally, his grandmother bequeaths him Martin Luther King's dream: a dream that one day all human beings will live together in liberty, equality and brotherhood. BLACK SOUL, by Haitian-Québécois animator Martine Chartrand, is a poetic film about memory. Its evocative soundtrack is a mix of the Boütz dancers' irresistible rhythms, Lilison T.S. Cordeiro's mellow African music, the magnificent voice of Ranee Lee backed up by a gospel choir, and instrumentals composed by the great Montreal jazz pianist Oliver Jones.
Filmographie / Filmography : MacPherson | Âme noire/Black Soul | T.V. Tango