Nonfiction Film History: Fwd: 12.12 / CINE-CONCERT NANOOK OF THE NORTH

The Belgian Cinematek (aka Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique, aks the Belgian Royal Film Archive) has the second largest film collection in Europe (after the British Film Institute). As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, the Cinematek is hosting this special screening of . . . you guessed it, Nanook of the North.

An English googlization of the announcement below includes this:

Nanook is the first documentary in the history of cinema. Shot in the early '20s , when the "documentary'"did not exist. Robert Flaherty filmed for fifteen months the daily life of an Inuit family near Hudson Bay . It offers us a vivid portrait of humanity.

So the legacy, canonization, and historiography of the Flaherty film remain firmly planted.

This screening blends both the mythos and the revisionist treatment of Nanook of the North. Although the Cinematek itself casts doubt upon the veracity of the story, legend has it that the print of Nanook in the archive came from Jacques Ledoux (1921-1988), who found it in the attic of an abbey, where he sought refuge during WWII. Ledoux began working at the archive in 1941, but it is not clear whether he was already employed there when he supposedly took Nanook there. In any event, Ledoux went on to serve as head of the Belgian Royal Film Archive from 1948 until his death forty years later. He was also an internationally influential figure in film preservation and archiving, as well as the collector who amassed the archive's large and stellar collection. According to the current director of the archive, Nicola Mazzanti, the holdings are perhaps 80% films not of Belgian origin. With a royal charter, they have the resources to do much that other film archives are unable to do during this era of fiscal austerity. The Cinematek has, for example, its own film laboratory and can do complete preservation and restoration "in house."

The myth of the Belgian recovery of Nanook aside, this special anniversary screening stands out for its participation in the ongoing practice of making the film relevant and more culturally palatable to contemporary audiences. There have been many revisionist exhibitions of Nanook of the North, most involving newly composed music that departs from the kind of score that would have been played (live, of course) by any theater showing Nanook in the 1920s. The tension inherent in the film's ethnographic qualities -- outsider Euro-American shoots indigenous Canadian community for display to commercial movie theaters -- may always remain, at least for any viewer cognizant of the issue. But this new score by Gabriel Thibaudeau (of the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal) goes to great lengths to allow an empathic viewing of the representation of the Inuit community seen in the film. According to this press announcement, the live performance of the music at this screening will be done by an ensemble that includes two Inuit throat singers! How this element might affect one's interpretation or appreciation of Nanook one cannot say; but suffice it to say the presence of Inuit throat singers would affect the experience, no?

In its entry on Inuit throat singing, Wikipedia also notes some new (TV) documentary history involving the phenomenon. The singing, we read, was traditionally done by women, and usually women in pairs. In Wikipedia fashion, the entry ends with a miscellaneous inventory of media references to the subject:

* The British ITV documentary Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World [2009] features Billy Connolly in the Canadian Arctic. In the second episode, he visits a pair of women demonstrating the finer points of throat singing.

* A task in the seventh leg of the first season of The Amazing Race Canada [2013, CTV] required teams to listen to a traditional Inuit throat singing performance.

Does the tension between the media makers and those they re-present on screen continue in this new history of nonfiction film and video? It would seem so. But we'll have to examine AR-C to determine why and how contestants were required to listen to the Inuit singing.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CINEMATEK <newsletter@cinematek.be>
Date: 2013/12/3
Subject: 12.12 / CINE-CONCERT NANOOK OF THE NORTH

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ciné-concert

NANOOK OF THE NORTH

12.12 - 20:00 / BOZAR

En guise de point d'orgue des festivités, CINEMATEK présente en première européenne une performance du compositeur Gabriel Thibaudeau et de chanteuses de gorge Inuits, qui accompagneront la projection de Nanook l'Esquimau.

Nanook est le premier documentaire de l'histoire du cinéma. Tourné au début des années '20, lorsque le « documentaire » n'existait pas. Robert Flaherty a filmé pendant quinze mois la vie quotidienne d'une famille inuit à proximité de la baie d'Hudson. Il nous en offre un portrait saisissant d'humanité. « Je suis certain, dit-il, qu'on peut découvrir une grâce, une dignité, une culture, un raffinement que nous ignorons chez des peuples placés par les circonstances hors des conditions habituelles. »

En parfait dialogue avec le film, le chef d'orchestre et pianiste Gabriel Thibaudeau, éminent spécialiste de l'accompagnement du cinéma muet, a composé une musique contemporaine dans laquelle il fait intervenir la tradition vocale des Inuits. Le 12 décembre, il dirigera lui-même un ensemble de 9 musiciens, dont deux chanteuses de gorge Inuits exceptionnelles.

Pour l'anecdote, Nanook revêt pour la Cinémathèque une importance particulière : ce film lui fut apporté par Jacques Ledoux, qui la tenait de l'Abbaye de Maredsous où il s'était réfugié pendant la guerre, et tenait à la sauver.

En présence de Sa Majesté La Reine.
En coproduction avec Bozar.
Avec le soutien de l'Ambassade du Canada.

Jeudi 12 décembre 2013 à 20:00
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Bruxelles, Salle Henry LeBœuf
Tickets : www.bozar.be - 02 507 82 00