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Jeanne Pope
An avid traveler, I left England at 16 and hitch-hiked my way around the world. I published various short stories inspired by these world travels, helped by my father Marius, one of which was adapted to film in Canada -The Dog - starring the French Canadian actress Pascale Monpetit. This began my love affair with film. I arrived in Montreal in 2000 with my daughter, Alyosha. I am drawn to unusual off-centred marginality. To life's under currents where secrets lie, waiting to be told. I am not a political raconteur. |
I am a storyteller and see the beauty and poetry even in the most tragic and dark. I am attracted to telling tales where we can find some magic and hope. The issues that touch me are social alienation, abandonment, adoption, death, immigration, preserving memories, close portraits, spirit connection, and falling in love.Through exploration of these topics I find myself through others, and with each new documentary a healing occurs.
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The Montreal Years. Stanley Lewis and CHEZ LISE
Being in the right place at the right time was my luck, and meeting Stanley Lewis, the Montreal sculptor, changed my life. "Our Zeitgest,” he would say.
Stanley encouraged me to go to school, and I graduated from Montreal's Concordia University cinema program with honors. During this time Stanley was my ‘muse', and I spent 6 years filming him and the street he lived on, creating a body of award winning work: Where's Stanley?, Birth of the Smoked Meat and Up & Down the City Road. These shorts, shot in 16mm film paved the way for my first full length feature which I completed once I graduated. Dust a Sculptor's Journey.
To view these films see Portfolio
Stanley encouraged me to go to school, and I graduated from Montreal's Concordia University cinema program with honors. During this time Stanley was my ‘muse', and I spent 6 years filming him and the street he lived on, creating a body of award winning work: Where's Stanley?, Birth of the Smoked Meat and Up & Down the City Road. These shorts, shot in 16mm film paved the way for my first full length feature which I completed once I graduated. Dust a Sculptor's Journey.
To view these films see Portfolio
Dust: A Sculptor's Journey premiered at HOTDOCS, Toronto, in 2011, and international festivals. It screens regularly around Montreal for the lovers of Lewis, and I am proud to help keep Stan's legacy alive through a website curated by Andrew Bailey and myself: Stanley Lewis, Montreal Sculptor. He was and is my guide.
Please view Stanley's website which continues to honour his life and work and proudly presented by THE FRIENDS OF STANLEY LEWIS
www.stanleylewismontrealsculptor.com
Please view Stanley's website which continues to honour his life and work and proudly presented by THE FRIENDS OF STANLEY LEWIS
www.stanleylewismontrealsculptor.com
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Working with Montreal's homeless nation whilst helping the late Magnus Isacsson and Simon Bejold with their film L' Art en Action during 3 winters gave me the empathy needed to connect with marginalised people, bringing me later into a half way house in Montreal's south shore, the location for my second full length Canadian feature, Chez Lise.
Co-directed with my hometown buddy, James Galwey in 2013, we befriended two lovers, Deanna and Gordon who suffered from severe mental illness. It is a love story winning first prize in Liège Imagé Santé International Health Film Festiva. lt screened in other international and Canadian festivals. |
CHINA AND EUROPE
In 2015 I lived in China, teaching and mentoring documentary film production students at the Beijing Film Academy, Qingdao Campus. BFA-MCMC. I love it with a passion
I completed my Chinese feature documentary helped by my students, The Sea Hut - 海边的小屋 , a Chinese production. It started on the festival circuit in November 2019, winning two awards at the Beijing Documentary Academy Awards for best innovative documentary and best sound design. It won first prize at the Jinan academic film festival. It was a finalist at the London Lift Off Sessions, December, 2019 and has won first prize in 2023 at the
"The Sea Hut" is a story of uprooted people, identity, love, loss and memory which flits back and forth between my mother's childhood memories in Shanghai, 1935, with her beloved Chinese nanny, Ama, World War II England, and a fishing village in contemporary China, where a small sea hut becomes a catalyst and 'veil' between two worlds and two times: Europe and China, past and present.
I completed my Chinese feature documentary helped by my students, The Sea Hut - 海边的小屋 , a Chinese production. It started on the festival circuit in November 2019, winning two awards at the Beijing Documentary Academy Awards for best innovative documentary and best sound design. It won first prize at the Jinan academic film festival. It was a finalist at the London Lift Off Sessions, December, 2019 and has won first prize in 2023 at the
"The Sea Hut" is a story of uprooted people, identity, love, loss and memory which flits back and forth between my mother's childhood memories in Shanghai, 1935, with her beloved Chinese nanny, Ama, World War II England, and a fishing village in contemporary China, where a small sea hut becomes a catalyst and 'veil' between two worlds and two times: Europe and China, past and present.
During the pandemic, March 2020, I have been in between France, where I have my home, and the UK where I have my family, and begun a collaboration with the Friends of Woodbury Park Cemetery, a group of passionate and hardworking volunteers who conserve and protect this Victorian Cemetery. My own fascination began as a young child, having grown up on the boundary of this wonderful and mostly unknown space, now a wildlife and historic sanctuary, Please visit the site, https://www.fwpc.org.uk/
I give workshops on how to kickstart your first documentary, create Digital Stories and hand craft a soulful scrapbook. You can find out more on the homepage.
I also give Live in Person classes at the Kent Country Council Adult Education Centre in Sevenoaks. The program changes each term. Click below to find out more about each classs
I am finishing my first documentary production tutorial on UDEMY the online learning platform which will be launched in September 2023. HOW TO KICKSTART YOUR FIRST GUERRILLA STYLE DOCUMENTARY IN 28 STEPS which is designed for beginners. Stay tuned for more information.
All my work is low-budget, lovingly carved and passionately fought for.
I give workshops on how to kickstart your first documentary, create Digital Stories and hand craft a soulful scrapbook. You can find out more on the homepage.
I also give Live in Person classes at the Kent Country Council Adult Education Centre in Sevenoaks. The program changes each term. Click below to find out more about each classs
I am finishing my first documentary production tutorial on UDEMY the online learning platform which will be launched in September 2023. HOW TO KICKSTART YOUR FIRST GUERRILLA STYLE DOCUMENTARY IN 28 STEPS which is designed for beginners. Stay tuned for more information.
All my work is low-budget, lovingly carved and passionately fought for.
Send me an email for further information [email protected]
