Directing
FADED PHOTOGRAPH is a documentary in which the filmmaker traces the existence of her father, who died when she was 12, through a montage of his memoirs. From family films shot by her paternal grandfather and her father between 1954 and 1998, and the diaries he wrote during his life, the director tells the story of an ordinary man whose personal memory echoes a collective memory : one of a generation bursting out of Quebec's great darkness in which freedom is also synonym of disorientation. Thus begins a dialogue marked by nostalgia, between joyful videos and tormented writings, which soon becomes universal.
Three groups of adolescent girl friends from Quebec are going through tough changes. The process of inventing their own bodies and identity are being recorded on the move by their smartphones and shared with their peers from other parts of the networked world. Due to their strong need of external confirmation, they alter their lives into a series of retouched pictures and videos. The film camera, however, captures their feelings of void, loneliness and deep inner insecurities that are not so attractive for Periscope, TikTok or Instagram. An intimate portrait of adolescence is made with full comprehension of experiencing and self-presentation in a generation growing up on the brink of the real and virtual worlds.
In the age of YouTube, exhibitionism and voyeurism echo and reach a climax. The boundaries between private and public life are blurring. The intimacy becomes a spectacle. Gabrielle Marion knows this better than anyone. As a famous Quebec Youtuber, she has been documenting her life and her sexual transition for eight years.
