REBEL

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

In 2017 began an ongoing migrant crisis in Quebec, with thousands of refugees from all over the world crossing the border into Quebec illegally. In 2018, after decades of leftist politics, Quebec elected its first right-wing government in over half a century. All the while, Quebec has seen the rise of several far-right anti-immigration groups, whose radical agenda has become increasingly mainstream in the last few years, thanks in no small part to social media. Rebel is the result of a two-year research on a handful of these groups. Although my disagreement with them couldn’t be clearer, my intent was not to demonize the citizens who identify with those ideas (many of whom I count as friends and family), but to empathize with their victims. Anticipating how the situation could degenerate a few years down the road, I invite the viewer to share the point of view of Alex, a naive six years old boy, oblivious to the world changing around him. At first, like him, the viewer won’t really know what’s going on. As the situation becomes clearer for the boy, things start to make sense for us, too: elusive close ups give way to wider angles, long takes are given cutaway shots that reveal what the adults are really doing out there in the woods. In the end, it envisions Alex’s youthful empathy as a glimmer of hope in such dark times.