CONCORDIA' Publications Mail Agreement No.40042804 http:/f-c r.concordia.ca Grad Jean-Fran~ois Pouliot wins at Sundance BY GREG FRETZ scripts in the past 15 years, and I felt at last that I could bring something to this Chris Hinton: Jean-Franr,:ois Pouliot, a 1980 graduate of one:• Oscar Nibbles Concordia's Communication Studies pro­ Pouliot said what he liked was that the gram, hit a film jackpot last week when his humour came out of the dramatic situa­ popular feature La Grande seduction won a tion. "I felt very excited about that. I read For the second time, ani­ major award at the Sundance film festival. the script only once, very rapidly, and told • mator Christopher Hinton Sundance is a kingmaker among filmfests. Roger that I wouldn't read it again unless has been nominated for an It has grown from a glint in the famous blue he gave it to me:• Academy Award. eyes of actor Robert Redford to the entree to During production, there was great The nomination is for Hollywood gold for independent filmmakers chemistry among the actors and between Nibbles: A Fishing Trip, like Stephen Sonderberg and Quentin him and Scott, he said. "It wasn't the described as a hilarious two Tarantino. usual conflict of the director or the writer minutes plus in pen and ink. Non-U.S. features are not eligible for jury trying to protect his work. The only boss It has also been nominated prizes, but La Grande seduction won the was the film itself' for a British BAFTA award, an World Cinema Dramatic Audience award. When he remembers his Concordia Annie for the International Sundance audiences who loved the movie days, what stands out are scriptwriting Animated Film Society, and were just catching up to Quebecers, who took classes with John Buell and classes in the was shown at Sundance. it to their hearts when it opened locally last dynamics of visual representation with The film's inspiration was a summer. the late Denis Diniacopoulos. "Those fishing trip Hinton took with La Grande seduction ~ells the story of a lit­ were very important classes for me;' · his sons, . the animator told tle Quebec town whose residents are so des- Jean-Fran~ois Pouliot on the set ofla Grande seduction Pouliot said. The Gazette's John Griffin. perate for a doctor that they resort to extreme La Grande seduction was shown last "When we got home I measures to persuade a young doctor to resettle there. Equal parts social spring at Cannes, where it was chosen to close the Directors Fortnight. thought it was a really weird commentary and lighthearted comedy, it's delightful, and it has gone That helped make it a hit in Quebec over the summer. trip. It occurred to me· it was over well with U.S. audiences under the title Seducing Doctor Lewis. ''At Cannes, I was surprised to see the room was full. People didn't all about eating:· In his Concordia days, Pouliot was a student of Dennis Murphy, who even know about the film; they went to see it because there's a positive Hinton was previously remembers him as "a genuine person, a humble guy:' When we caught up bias for Quebec films. [I think European filmgoers find] om: subject nominated in 1991 for to him by phone this week, he explained that his career has been largely matter more appealing:' Blackfly, which has become in the advertising business. As for the award at Sundance, Pouliot said it was successful despite an animated classic. He ''An ad is something that will take a month of your life, but a feature the fact that "it was shown in French with subtitles. The fact that the teaches in Concordia's Mel film will take a year;' he explained. "I had been involved in a few TV American audience can appreciate [a film in] a foreign language shows Hoppenheim School of series, but never in a project that would take so much time. that a good story is a good story. Cinema. "The screenplay was written by Ken Scott, and the script was proposed "I think the American studios are encouraging the belief that audi­ to me by Roger Frappier, the producer at Max Film. I had read many ences don't like subtitles. Sundance proved them wrong:' 25 per cent of their operating Jack ~i ghtstone's fruitful decade budgets. To this was added anoth­ er 12.5 per cent loss when the gov- ernment dropped indexation of BY BARBARA BLAC K "They weren't introduced in a structured the operating budget. way - and this was true of other universi­ The crisis came at a time when Concordia Jack Lightstone has seen a lot of change ties - because change occurred on a case­ was carrying an accumulated debt that at Concordia over his two five-year terms by-case basis, through individual initia­ peaked at about $40 million in 1997. To as senior academic officer, and it's a trans­ tives;' Lightstone recalled. _"They were make matters worse, enrolment had been formation in which he played a leading financed out of one big pot, and the dropping at the rate of about 0.5 per cent a role. strongest plea got the financing. year for a decade. Nine years ago, when he assumed the "However, no one was questioning the rel­ Tough as it was at the time, Lightstone post of Vice-Rector, Academic, as it was ative importance of these projects, and most feels that the financial crisis was a golden then called, programs usually started as of the existing programs of the university opportunity. Concordia's response was cru­ the gleam in someone's eye. They were went unexamined:' cial in making it what it is now: the fastest­ turned into a proposal, circulated among growing university in Quebec, if not in colleagues to gain support, and then made Finandal aunch Canada, ~nd one of the healthiest financial­ their way through the chair, the dean and Then came the big financial crunch of the ly. Senate to get approval. mid-'90s. It saw all Quebec universities lose continued on page 4 • in this 2 Con U audit: 3 Cityscape: 7 Discordia: Suc ompute: Sustainability Class makes NFB doc on CSU Cheap texts no issue report launched planning real political turmoil longer on tap Research on · Feathers will fly in concre~e toboggan buildings gets showcase here From Research to Reality: What Environmental Research in the Building Domain is Doing for You - that's the title of an afternoon on Feb. 11 to discuss making the buildings we live and work in healthier.and more energy-efficient. Catherine Mulligan and Azita Hajizadeh will talk about how building materials affect the environment, notably through the landfill of waste materials. They say that exten­ sive work must be done to quantify the pollutants from · such materials as treated wood. Maria Elektorowicz and Mansour Hakimpour will make a presentation on site contamination in urban residential areas, and the electro-remediation of these brownfields, as they are called. Nine researchers, including a representative from Goodyear, are scheduled to talk about the fate and impact of plasticizers in the environment. Most plastics contain a variety of low-molecular-weight additives called plasticiz­ ers. When they degrade within buildings, they create unde­ sirable volatile organic compounds, to which we are exposed. Dorel Feldman will also make a presentation on plastics. He is proposing to replace the common composition of vinyl flooring with formulations using a byproduct natural Enginerering students exercise their expertise and energy every year at the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race, taking place this year on Feb. 7 at Ottawa's Carleton University. Seen polymer called lignin, and plasticizers more resistant to • above are Concordia's finest, who call themselves the Flaming Fowl. Left to right are: Andrew Kwiatkowski, Alicia Gallagher, Jacelyn Daigle and Jason Edelstein. fungi and microorganisms. Fariborz Haghighat and a group of researchers will make a presentation about ventilation to reduce volatile organic Sustainability assessment published compounds in buildings. Paul Fazio and Dominique Derome will talk about the Members of the Sustainable co-operation they got from university Concordia QPIRG (Quebec Public building envelope, and how it may be designed to eliminate Concordia Project, whose objective is staff in terms of information and Interest Research Group). mold growth and the movement of spores into the living to make Concordia University more financial aid. Sue Magor, director of The most common definition of space. -ecologically, economically and socially Environmental Health and Safety, has sustainability can be found in the Finally, Radu Zmeureanu and his colleague from ETS, sustainable, will launch their report been their prime mentor over the past Brundtland Report, "Our Common Hugues Rivard, will discuss a decision-support software for Feb. 3 with a presentation in the J.W. year and a half. Future;• with its reference to sustain­ architects and engineers called the EEE (Energy and McConnell atrium. They were given $25,000 by Vice­ able development as "meeting the Emissions Estimator). The project started in the summer Rector Services Michael Di Grappa to needs of the present generation with­ The conference takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 11, from of 2002 under the leadership of pfor the first year of the projec!. Since out compromising the ability of future 1 - 5 p.m. in Room 763 of the Henry F. Hall Building. Geneva Guerin, an award-winning then, more contributio~s have been generations to meet their own needs." student activist who graduated last promised, and the group has more This broad definition recognizes a spring and left the project in good than half its $15,000 budget.