Money changes everything: Colonization of Thought

Still from Melanie Gilligan’s Self Capital

Earlier this year, people in Quebec joined together in mass protests against the government’s decision to end a long tuition freeze, and the repercussions of this dispute are ongoing.

This week, VOX contemporary image and Festival du Nouveau Cinéma are presenting a series of films and discussions organized by Vincent Bonin, Barbara Clausen and Marie J. Jean. Colonization of thought: art, economy and politics is a public forum consisting of film screening and discussions encouraging an exchange of ideas about the effects of economics and politics on our social and cultural fabric.

On Tuesday, Oct. 16, at Vox (2 Ste-Catherine E., 7 p.m.), Melanie Gilligan will be screening her three-episode drama, Self Capital. The Toronto filmmaker has a knack for making poignant, concrete melodramas out of abstract concepts. This summer, Vox showed her Popular Unrest series, in which she uses narrative to interpret capitalism’s effect on society. In Self Capital, the global economy is personified and made to undergo therapy.

The following evening at Vox (Wednesday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.), critical thinkers Brian Holmes, Erik Bordeleau and Santiago Lopez Petit will participate in a panel discussion about geopolitics and the possibilities of mass, bottom-up action. All three men are professors who write and think about how to identify, shape and challenge governments of the global economy.

The main event of the series, however, will be a one-night-only screening of activist cinema group Épopée’s much-anticipated Insurgence, a work in progress featuring countless hours of footage shot during this spring’s student protests. (Épopée’s previous project, following their 2008 film Men for Sale, was a collaborative film workshop with addicts and male hustlers in Montreal’s Centre-Sud neighbourhood.) Oct. 18, Imperial Theatre (1432 Bleury), 9 p.m., $10-12

Finally, the series finishes up with a group discussion on Saturday, Oct. 20 at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent, 1–3 p.m.). Participants will be invited to take part in a discussion about the film and the next steps in collective mobilization.

Presenting economy and politics in this way, the Colonization of thought series provides a much-needed public forum for those ready to continue the movement that began on the streets this spring. ■

Colonization of thought runs Oct. 16–20.