Looking at Nadine Valcin’s body of work, is like opening a window on the past. Valcin consistently breaks open traditional black narratives and shows us what we should be thinking and talking about in our combined futures. While emerging filmmakers may be all the rage, Nadine Valcin proves that there is something to be said for a consistent exploration of black narratives — and she has the track record to prove it.
As an award-winning bilingual producer, writer and director, Nadine’s work has been shown on television networks across Canada and the U.S. She has directed four documentary projects for the National Film Board of Canada, including the critically-acclaimed Black, Bold and Beautiful (1999) and Une école sans frontières (2008). Nadine has been awarded two prestigious Chalmers Arts Fellowships and a Drama Prize from the NSI. She is an alumna of Doc Lab and Women in the Director’s Chair, was artist-in-residence at Osgoode Hall Law School and the recipient of the 2016 WIFT-T/DGC Ontario Director Mentorship. She is currently an MFA student in Digital Futures at OCADU and is currently developing the VR experience Ghosts of Remembrance about the forgotten history of slavery in Canada.
Read Nadine’s thoughts on the erasure of black bodies, finding your audience as a filmmaker and taking big risks for big results. Then scroll down to watch her incredible experimental documentary ‘Whitewash’ on the topic of slavery in Canada.
Q: What I love about Whitewash is the focus on bodies and skin textures combined with an experimental soundscape. Can you talk a little about why you chose to illustrate this narrative with only faces and bodies?
A: The piece was produced as part of an artist residency at Osgoode Hall Law School. It had a limited budget and I wanted to illustrate how assimilation and erasure were at play in the physical quasi-invisibility of the historically Black population on Prince Edward Island. I say quasi, because some of them aren’t necessarily identifiable as Black at first sight although many of them are very proud of that heritage and make a point of claiming that identity. I chose 9 women and girls of African descent to illustrate the 9 generations of descendants of enslaved Africans brought by some of the white Loyalists who settled on PEI.
There were two intentions behind focusing on the faces. The first was for people to be able to scrutinize the features and the skin colour of each participant. It is really a celebration of the beauty and diversity of Black women in all different shades. The second intention has to do with how we consume images today. We are constantly bombarded as we casually and rapidly flip through the photos on our Instagram feed. We see a lot of photos, but we rarely stop to take the time to really look in depth. For me it was important to pace the images so people could actually look at the women in a more reflective way. We generally aren’t in that kind of proximity to anyone’s face except for the people who are closest to us, so part of the goal was to pull viewers in close, so that it feels intimate, almost tactile.
Q: How big of a role does research play when you are developing/writing a film?
A: It varies from project to project. For narrative films, research is necessary when the characters come from a particular context that is different from my own – either geographically, historically or culturally. For documentary, it also depends on the project. I’ve been doing a body of work around the topic of slavery in Canada. Whitewash was part of that. It stemmed out of an accumulation of research I had on the subject, but also further research I did during the Osgoode residency where with the help of students, we went through copies of original court records from the late 18th century which we transcribed and extracted information from. That type of archival research requires a lot of time and patience, but can be extremely rewarding.
Q: All of your work is quite political. I’m wondering what you think about film as a form of activism and what (if any) resistance you have faced with distribution/screening of your films since they all make such strong statements?
A: I do both very personal and political work and what I would call more mainstream. As an artist, I have often relied on freelance employment for independent producers or public broadcasters to earn a living.
My personal films are distributed by the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC) which represents work independent artists and they are very supportive. The National Film Board distributes some projects of mine that they produced or co-produced. One short narrative film I made which has a surprise ending that is generally more upbeat got a lot of festival invites because it seemed to be more of a crowd pleaser. For me, I have to make films that I feel passionate about because it is often such a long haul from the initial idea to the end product. If it can’t sustain interest over the long haul, it’s not worth doing. The hope is always that in the end, the film finds its audience.
Q: Your films have aired on many mainstream platforms, including CBC, TVO and the History Network. Do you factor in making the topic palatable or approachable when developing your content?
A: Different broadcasters have different mandates and audiences. For me it’s been a question of finding the right fit for the project if I’m initiating it. Some broadcasters were there from the development phase, others acquired projects after they were completed. The most difficult situation is when you have several broadcasters who are giving you comments and feedback that may be contradictory. At times, the more people are around the table, the more complicated it gets and the harder it is to make sure that the decision being made correspond to the original vision.
Some projects are commissions from independent producers or directly from broadcasters. In those cases, it is a question of fitting into the look and feel of a particular series so you learn to be flexible, while still bringing your own sensibility to the table.
Q: Any advice you can give to emerging filmmakers – especially those who want to work in doc/experimental formats?
A: Get out there and make films, you can shoot an experimental short with your iPhone or a DSLR camera and edit it on your personal computer. The technology is so much more accessible now, take advantage of it. Take risks, make mistakes, don’t let people convince you that your vision isn’t valid just because it doesn’t conform to their notions of what a film should be, but do carefully consider the opinion of people you trust.
Find out what the funding programs for emerging filmmakers are. Apply and if you get rejected, don’t get discouraged because you’re in good company. In any given funding program, there are always a fraction of the applications that are funded. Get feedback on your application from the funding agencies, make the next one better and reapply.
See as many docs and experimental films as you can. You can find a lot online now. Find filmmakers whose work you like, analyze their films and figure out what resonates with you.
