Laura Bari
Directing
Biography
Originally from Argentina, self-taught filmmaker Laura Bari has lived in Montréal for twenty-five years. She chooses cinema as her mode of communicating the convergence of art, identity construction, mental health, and education. Antoine (2009), her first full-length film that she both produced and directed, is about the imaginary life of a blind boy, and was shown at some 30 festivals around the world, winning some 15 prizes. Her second film, Ariel (2013), is about a man who rebuilds his identity after a terrible accident, and also was shown in several international festival including IDFA, Thessaloniki and BAFICI. Primas (2017) completes her trilogy and reveals once again the power of imagination through her unique artistic approach that pushes the boundaries between the real and the unreal.
Known For
Four young Cuban artists choose to stay in Cuba during what has now become the island's largest migration crisis. The One Who Stay is an intimate portrait of those who stay behind, lose loved ones, and shape the identity of a generation at risk of fading away.
The Ones Who Stay
When Ariel was just 33, his legs were shredded by an industrial dough mixer in Mendoza, Argentina. He became a living embodiment of the ongoing duel between man and machine. From that point on, he began to rediscover the meaning of freedom: to rebuild his broken identity, keep his family together and design his own prosthetic legs. Following Ariel for 10 years from the time of the accident, director Laura Bari has created an intimate and metaphorical portrait of Ariel’s newfound transhumanity, juxtaposing his daily life with dreamlike inner worlds—and pushing the boundary between the real and the imaginary.
Ariel
Migrations We Are is one of the chapters in a series of twelve poetic essays titled Si, Dodecalogue, which is dedicated to timeless heroes. If the stories of the cities become those of everyone inhabiting them, the only way to build one’s identity remains the Imaginary. Therefore, revealing in filigree her socio-cultural fabric, an Argentinian-Montrealer artist reacts to the brilliance of her time through what she paints, films, and writes in different languages. This chapter is dedicated to Pierre Allard, visual artist, and Marcelin François, beneficiary attendant.
Migrations We Are
Two cousins come of age together, overcoming the heinous acts which interrupted their childhoods.
Primas
With Antoine, filmmaker Laura Bari treats us to a sensitive portrait of a six-year-old boy, one like any other, except that he’s blind. We follow Antoine in his classes, playing with friends, skating, and visiting family. We accompany him on imaginary excursions as a detective, listen to him as a radio host, and sit shotgun as he drives his parents’ car. Antoine allows us access back into childhood since this isn’t a film about the struggles of a blind child but rather one about the real and imaginary world of childhood.