A recent homage on Claude Forget at a local center left me with a sour taste. If somebody is going to show respect to a person who passed away, shouldn't there be a least a moment where the host would explain what contributions that person made during his lifetime? Instead the group located on Papineau St. in East End Montreal decided to project a variety of his films without a mention about his influences and what he wanted to project to the public.
Here were a few film shorts on same sex couples, a poetic film on the paper industry, on a person who entered retirement after giving his life to his job as a train conductor and more films all shown without comment. But it was also the same place that I presented a recent novelette for their reading and there were no questions asked like what the book was about or any mention about where the book would be kept until I asked.
Now Patrice Duhamel has passed away as Paul Newman who influenced the acting world greatly and I would imagine that these two will receive the same treatment as Mr. Forget and that is ill treatment. I would advise such cultural groups that it is absolutely tasteless to have a film program presented without a proper introduction or a discussion forum about the art that was done. People who are interested can stay as can those that want to exchange their views and make comments on any differences between how these shorts were done then and how they are now (aside from having gone digital). Others would be free to go.
