Ninth Floor

Réalisé par Mina Shum

Canada, 2015 (documentaire, 81 minutes, couleurs / noir et blanc, anglais)

Autre titre : « Neuvième étage »

Image : © Office national du film du Canada

Vidéo (Office national du film du Canada) [anglais]

Description du film :
« L'histoire commence tranquillement lorsqu'un groupe d'étudiants des Caraïbes — des étrangers en terre glaciale et inconnue — se met à soupçonner leur professeur de racisme. L'histoire se termine par le soulèvement étudiant le plus explosif dans l'histoire du Canada. Plus de quatre décennies plus tard, Neuvième étage rouvre le dossier des événements tristement célèbres de Sir George Williams — un tournant dans les relations raciales canadiennes et l'un des épisodes les plus contestés de l'histoire de la nation. En faisant une incursion sensible et audacieuse dans la non-fiction, la scénariste et réalisatrice Mina Shum rencontre les protagonistes dans des lieux clandestins à travers Trinité et Montréal, la ville d'hiver où tout s'est déroulé. Dans un geste cinématographique de rédemption et de prise en compte, Shum les écoute alors qu'ils remettent les pendules à l'heure et se libèrent enfin de leurs fardeaux. Pouvons-nous espérer faire la paix avec le passé? Quelles leçons avons-nous retenues? Qu'est-il vraiment arrivé au 9e étage? »
-- Office national du film du Canada (source)

Générique (partiel) :
Scénario :	Mina Shum
Produit par :	Selwyn Jacob, Shirley Vercruysse
Participants :	Rodney John, Clarence Bayne, Anne Cools, Nantali Indongo, Robert Hubsher, Claude-Armand Sheppard, Noel Lyon, Marvin Coleby, Duff Anderson, Naim Indongo-Bangoura, Bukka Rennie, Terrence Ballantyne, Valerie Belgrave, Hugo Ford, Lynne Murray, Mark Chang
Images :	John Price
Montage images :	Carmen Pollard
Musique :	Brent Belke
Société de production :	National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada

(sources)

Notes sur Ninth Floor

Sélectionné comme l'un des dix meilleurs longs métrages canadiens de 2015 pour le Canada's Top Ten Film Festival en 2016.

(sources)

Citations de la réalisatrice [en anglais]

« And I thought, What's the best way to talk about racism in a documentary [Ninth Floor]? You've got that central metaphor. Those guys were under surveillance for no reason other than the colour of their skin. That era was also a great time in cinema where you had the paranoid trilogy from (American director) Alan J. Pakula, and The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974). There was this beautiful marriage of what was happening cinematically language-wise in American cinema at the time and also what was happening with the student protest movement. So I decided that a way to try and tell this was to make us feel like we're being watched. »
-- Mina Shum (source)

« I had never heard of the story, but as soon as [Selwyn Jacob approached me about the project], I started researching and was quickly convinced that it should be a feature film. What really struck me was what was at stake for the occupiers, their loss of innocence. They really believed they could change things, then they had their hearts broken. »
-- Mina Shum (source)

Citations sur Ninth Floor [en anglais]

« Through a series of interviews with the principals, from both sides, in the occupation as well as archival footage, [Mina Shum] has fashioned both a balanced and poignant picture of these divisive events. She also brings to light elements that many were unaware of at the time. Credit must also go to the doc's determined producer, Selwyn Jacob. Although he was a student at the University of Alberta at the time, the riot had a profound effect on him, largely because several of his fellow Trinidadian friends were involved in the protests. He pledged then that if he were ever to go to film school he would one day make a documentary on the subject. He did, and he has made good on his promise. »
-- Bill Brownstein (source)

« I was confident because I knew what kind of archival material there was [for Ninth Floor] and I knew we had a number of interesting characters. So if I could get someone to direct who could challenge us in terms of taking a cinematic approach to telling the story, I was fairly certain it would all come together. Mina [Shum] was able to bring such originality to it all, both on a visual and on a narrative level. »
-- Selwyn Jacob (source)

« Less than 10 minutes into the revealing documentary Ninth Floor [...] filmmaker Mina Shum has already offered shocking snapshots of racial discontent in Montreal, Canada, 1969. Over 81 minutes of rarely seen and chilling archival footage, juxtaposed against skillfully positioned current testimony from Black and white students who were in the eye of the conflict, Ninth Floor peels back the curtain on a time few remember and most of us never knew existed. »
-- Royson James (source)

Bibliographie sur Ninth Floor

Articles de journaux, de revues grand public ou de sites d'information en ligne

BROWNSTEIN, Bill. « Landmark moment in race relations; Documentary highlights incendiary protest in Montreal », critique de Ninth Floor, Montreal Gazette, 15 janvier 2016. [en anglais]
BROWNSTEIN, Bill. « A seat in the computer lab; Ninth Floor brings us deep inside the 1969 Sir George Williams Affair », Montreal Gazette, 9 octobre 2015. [en anglais]
BROWNSTEIN, Bill. « The view from The Ninth Floor; A forthcoming NFB documentary looks back at the incendiary events that become known as the Sir George Williams Affair », Montreal Gazette, 21 février 2014. [en anglais]
CONNER, Shawn. « In new doc, riot gets its due », entretien avec Mina Shum, Vancouver Sun, 7 janvier 2016. [en anglais]
JAMES, Royson. « When Canada lost its innocence », Toronto Star, 11 septembre 2015. [en anglais]

Sites Web sur Ninth Floor

NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA. « NFB -- Ninth Floor », National Film Board of Canada, http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=60389. [en anglais]
OFFICE NATIONAL DU FILM DU CANADA. « ONF -- Neuvième étage », Office national du film du Canada, http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/fr/notre-collection/?idfilm=62239.