Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival '97

International Competition Publications / index / International Competition

Tu as crié LET ME GO

Director: Anne-Claire Poirier
Photography: Jacques Leduc
Editing: Monique Fortier, Yves Dion
Music: Marie Bernard
Sound: Esther Auger
Narration: Anne-Claire Poirier
Producer: Paul Lapointe
Production Company, Source:
National Film Board of Canada
3155 Côte de Liesse, St-Laurent, Quebec, H4N 2N4
CANADA
Phone: 514-283-9805 / Fax: 514-496-1895
CANADA / 1997 / French / B&W /
35mm (1:1.66) / 98 min
(3944bytes)
Anne-Claire Poirier

Born in Quebec in 1932. After Graduating from the Montreal School of Theatre, Poirier worked as both a scenario writer and interviewer for the francophone division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1960 she became an assistant director and editor for the National Film Board of Canada. Directed her first film, La fin des étés in 1964 and became the first woman director in Quebec of a long film with the documentary De mère en fille in 1967. Known as a forerunner of feminist cinema, she set up the television series As Woman devoted to giving woman directors a forum to explore the everyday life of woman. Appointed as both executive producer and director of francophone production at the National Film Board of Canada from1975 to 1978. In 1979 directed Mourir à tue-tête a passionate denunciation of rape which has been acclaimed around the world.

(20k)

Through conversations with young heroin drug addicts and their parents and the court appearance of the man who murdered her daughter, Poirier searches for the life of her daughter who herself can no longer experience life. Exploring her loss she searches for answers with no resolution. The director's emotionless narration that connects monochrome images together seems to be listening to a silently settling sediment, to the peril of those left behind who have no other choice but to go on and affirm their own lives. The uncensored screen reveals a deep mourning hidden in the requiem and perhaps suggests a form of self healing. In 1982 Poirier's film about rape A Scream from Silence, was shown across Japan by women's groups. A longtime feminist, Poirier has produced many works backed by the National Film Board of Canada in the francophone province of Quebec. This film was made right before her retirement from the NFB, and almost entirely on her own.
--Nakano Rie

Director's Statement

October 18th 1992, a young woman of 26 died--murdered.
She was a heroin addict, she was beautiful.
She was my daughter.
I entered into mourning. I lived in the night, hoping to see clearly.
I looked for the inner light, that of reconciliation.
I walked in the footsteps of my daughter in order that I might know her entirely, love her entirely.
I entered a world unknown. I entered the margins of existence. I met with drug addicts, the young and beautiful victims of a massacre. I shared in the culpability and helplessness of saddened parents.
I've tried to chase away the bad. I've looked for meaning, a sense, that I thought no longer existed, a sense of love and of loss, a sense of life and of its finality.
LET ME GO is an extension of my research. I have no responses; I've attempted to pose the questions which live within me, and which concern us all.
I wanted to break the hypocritical silence that surrounds drug addiction.
LET ME GO invites you to enter a world where the victims too often become the culprits.
I invite you to share in my quest.

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee

Tu as crié LET ME GO
Director: Anne-Claire Poirier Photography: Jacques Leduc Editing: Monique Fortier, Yves Dion Music: Marie Bernard Sound: Esther Auger Narration: Anne-Claire Poirier Producer: Paul Lapointe Production Company, Source: National Film Board of Canada 3155 Côte de Liesse, St-Laurent, Quebec, H4N 2N4 CANADA Phone: 514-283-9805 / Fax: 514-496-1895 CANADA / 1997 / French / B&W / 35mm (1:1.66) / 98 min	Anne-Claire Poirier Born in Quebec in 1932. After Graduating from the Montreal School of Theatre, Poirier worked as both a scenario writer and interviewer for the francophone division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1960 she became an assistant director and editor for the National Film Board of Canada. Directed her first film, La fin des étés in 1964 and became the first woman director in Quebec of a long film with the documentary De mère en fille in 1967. Known as a forerunner of feminist cinema, she set up the television series As Woman devoted to giving woman directors a forum to explore the everyday life of woman. Appointed as both executive producer and director of francophone production at the National Film Board of Canada from1975 to 1978. In 1979 directed Mourir à tue-tête a passionate denunciation of rape which has been acclaimed around the world.