| Nicolas Philibert’s documentary To Be and To Have (Etre et Avoir), which chronicles several months of activity in a one-room schoolhouse in France, is so sweet and good-natured that it’s hard to believe it could cause any controversy whatsoever.
Yet, as reported in the French publication Libération on October 10, the film has become embroiled in a 250,000-franc intellectual property suit filed by its central subject, mild-mannered schoolteacher Georges Lopez. It seems that Lopez wasn’t aware that the documentary, which was originally produced by France’s National Centre for Pedagogic Documentation, would eventually see significant world sales and international distribution. Believing that the film – which has already been seen by more than a million viewers in France – at least partially constitutes his intellectual property in its documentation of his teaching methodologies, Lopez is suing Philibert, et al, for financial remuneration.
However the case may eventually be settled, Calgary moviegoers will have an opportunity to see To Be and To Have at the Plaza Theatre on Saturday, January 24, at 5 p.m. as part of a touring retrospective of Philibert’s documentaries. Programmed by the Alliance Française, the series will also include screenings of the following films:
· Every Little Thing (La Moindre des Choses )(Thursday, January 22, 6:30 p.m.), about the staging of a play by the staff and residents at a psychiatric hospital;
· Louvre City (La Ville Louvre) (Friday, January 23, 6:30 p.m.), which goes behind the scenes at one of the world’s most famous museums; and
· In the Land of the Deaf (Le Pays des Sourds ) (Sunday, January 25, 5 p.m.), Philibert’s 1992 film about the hearing impaired that gave him his first taste of international acclaim.
For more information, contact the Alliance Française at 245-5662 or check the website at www.afcalgary.ca/nl/2004_01/JanFeb2004p3.htm |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.