A virtual French immersion

Vocalités vivantes is a cinematographic and poetic journey across Canada. Our team will meet members from six different Francophone communities in Canada.

This project is intended for Francophones and Francophiles around the globe. Visit the French version of this website to see more!

Vocalités vivantes

Vocalités vivantes is a video rally between poetry and documentary. Its starting point is a duo combining poetry and new music. This duo is composed by the poet Carl Lacharité and the sound artist Érick d’Orion. The text entitled Le vivant deals with the theme of origin both of the individual and of community, even of species and of language. That is because this theme is approached by an art drawing on this very last material. The poet and artistic director Simon Dumas as well as the film-maker David B. Ricard join the duo of departure. Gathered around the original poetic text, the artistic team meets members of six different Francophone communities.

Over the stopovers, the performance highlights different realities of French in Canada. In each province, the original text is adapted or rewritten by a poet living in the area visited. This new version of the poems are read to the camera by citizens. The reading could be done by a grocer, the mayor, artists and so on. The team is the witness of this experience. It captures and archives various stages of the work and later interprets, connects and puts it all on stage with the help of the poets enrolled in the process. A documentary film by David B. Ricard inspired by these encounters is currently in post-production. In one week per stopover the team of poets and artists “amplifies” the original text with the help of the Other, finally returning it to the host community in the form of a closing show combining poetry, sound art and video testimonies.

THE CARAVAN TEAM

Carl Lacharité

Carl Lacharité (Warwick)

Poet and plastic artist

Érick d'Orion

Érick d’Orion (Montréal)

Sound artist

David B. Ricard

David B. Ricard (Québec)

Director

Simon Dumas

Simon Dumas (Québec)

Poet and interdisciplinary artist

Jean-Yves Fréchette

Jean-Yves Fréchette (Québec)

Professor and twitterator

Claudia Kedney-Bolduc

Claudia Kedney-Bolduc (Québec)

Director and camerawoman

Ariane Lehoux

Ariane Lehoux (Quebec)

Caravan manager

Danielle E. Cyr

Danielle E. Cyr (New Richmond)

Linguist

Yves Doyon

Yves Doyon (Quebec)

General administrative director of Productions Rhizome

Erika Soucy

Erika Soucy (Quebec)

Project assistant

Daphné Lehoux (Quebec)

Web editor

THE POETS

David Baudemont

David Baudemont (Sakatchewan)

Poet

Rhéal Cénérini

Réal Cénérini (Manitoba)

Poet

Daniel Aubin

Daniel Aubin (Ontario)

Poet

Naomi Fontaine

Naomi Fontaine (Québec)

Poet

Jonathan Roy

Jonathan Roy (New-Brunswick)

Poet

Georgette LeBlanc

Georgette LeBlanc (Nova Scotia)

Poet

Anne Kawala

Anne Kawala (France)

Poet

Mychèle Poitras

Mychèle Poitras (New Brunswick)

Passionate about words

PARTNERS

This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.