The Ghosts of Silo No.5
A
documentary by
Alexandre Hamel
Upcoming
screenings :
March 30th 2007, 19h00, Cinémathèque Québécoise,
Montréal,
Canada (Vidéaste Rec.cherché-e tour)
June
1st 2007,
Best Western Aberavon Beach Hotel, Swansea Bay, UK (Swansea
Bay Film Festival)
Between
July 9th and 14th 2007, Scotland (Deep
Fried Film Festival)
My video "The Ghosts of Silo No.5" is an action packed documentary about urban exploration.
The fans of this ilegal activity visit illegaly al kind of forbiden sites for various reasons.
My video tells the story of a group of experimented urban explorers who decides to visit the biggest and most mysterious abandoned building in Montréal. While they should concentrate on the serious challenges of the beginning of adulthood, they prefer thinking about haunted buildings, ghosts and the police force trying to stop their exciting nocturnal adventures.
This documentary is centered on the themes of marginality, urban identity and the Peter Pan complex.
My goal was to create an exciting piece that anybody could like. I'm really proud of it now. It won a public's award at the "Vidéaste Recherché.e" festival held in Québec in 2006.
Its visual and sonic esthetic, that helped it to win a few prices, tries to make it stand as far as possible from the usual documentary video shot in a few days and edited as quickly. I have a lot of respect for the video medium. It allows me to create this kind of truly alive piece that leaves behind talking-head-little-illustrating-footage structures. I want to define my work as a fresh approach to the documentary art. To me, video is not an economical shortcut to film or a tool for television production. It is a discipline of its own opening new doors for audio-visual experimentation.
I chose freely the esthetic of the typical "You Tube" video shot inside life, without the obstruction of a professional crew and the constraints associated to it.
Prices and distinctions
Official Selection: Swansea Bay Film Festival 2007, UK
Official Selection: Deep Fried Film Festival 2007, UK
Public's Award: Vidéaste Recherché.e 2007
Official Selection: Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Film Festival, 2006
Won the "Czerny Award" given by the
Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema for "outstanding achievement in documentary
filmmaking", 2006
Trailer
"Trailers" are trailers. And I hate the trailers of my videos.
That's why I put them on "On The Lot". I have to admit their server
is fast and practical...
My next video will be a documentary continuing
on this path. It will explore the life of an ordinary neighborhood tavern. Since
9 years, every wednesdays, the same Jazz band creates there an extraordinary
event... (Trailer of my next video)
