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View from the Summit

2002 1 h 15 min
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This feature documentary takes us back to April 20, 2001, as Quebec City prepares to host the 3-day Summit of the Americas. A 4-kilometre fence has been erected, cutting off the Upper Town from the rest of the city. Thirty-four heads of state from the Americas will meet behind closed doors to discuss agreements for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Those opposed to the FTAA are mobilizing and gathering in Quebec City, too. Several thousand delegates have come to participate in the People's Summit, and tens of thousands will march in protest. Six thousand police officers fill …

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View from the Summit

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This feature documentary takes us back to April 20, 2001, as Quebec City prepares to host the 3-day Summit of the Americas. A 4-kilometre fence has been erected, cutting off the Upper Town from the rest of the city. Thirty-four heads of state from the Americas will meet behind closed doors to discuss agreements for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Those opposed to the FTAA are mobilizing and gathering in Quebec City, too. Several thousand delegates have come to participate in the People's Summit, and tens of thousands will march in protest. Six thousand police officers fill the streets and it looks as if the historic Quebec capital is under siege. The local population fears the worst. Will the Quebec capital become a battleground?

Shot in cinéma vérité style by 7 of Quebec's best documentary filmmakers, View from the Summit vividly portrays what happens when passionate and creative protesters clash with the ideologies of those in power.

  • original idea
    Magnus Isacsson
  • script
    Magnus Isacsson
  • directing
    Magnus Isacsson
  • participation
    Thomas D'Aquino
    Philippe Duhamel
    Richard Feinberg
    Pierre Goupil
    Tania Hallé
    Graciela Rodriguez
  • collaboration
    Luc Côté
    Philippe Falardeau
    Marie-Claude Harvey
    Anne Henderson
    Patricio Henríquez
  • principal photography
    François Beauchemin
    Rénald Bellemare
    Henry Bernadet
    Martin Duckworth
    Andrei Khabad
    Eve Lamont
    Martin Leclerc
    Jean-Pierre Saint-Louis
  • editing
    Louise Côté
  • music
    René Lussier
  • research
    Gavin Andrews
    Henry Bernadet
    Luc Côté
    Anne Henderson
    Magnus Isacsson
    Paul Lapointe
  • additional photography
    Olivier Asselin
    Luc Côté
    Patricio Henríquez
    Magnus Isacsson
  • sound recording
    Éric Celton
    Marie-France Delagrave
    Craig Lapp
    Bertrand Lemoine
    Hubert Macé de Gastines
    Chantal Rhéaume
    Yves Saint-Jean
    Philippe Scultéty
    Victor Tendler
    Alain Tremblay
  • production management
    Doris Lapierre
  • technical coordination
    Hubert Macé de Gastines
  • production assistant
    Hélène Dugas
    Claude Gasser
    Noémie Guérin-Gosselin
    Alie Gray
    Catherine Hébert
    Christophe Knowles
    Chantal Labonté
    Marie-Dominique Lahaise
    Caroline Martel
    Élise Massuard
    Steven Valin
    Éric Watelle
  • production stills
    Jacques Nadeau
  • administration
    Jean-François Foucault
  • post-production coordination
    Claire Buffet
    Claude Cardinal
    Patsy-Ann Francoeur
  • editing assistant
    Marie-Claude Brouillette
    Théo Van Brabant
  • online editing
    Jean-Gilles Valence
    Guillaume Millet
  • graphic artist
    Sophia Southam
  • subtitles
    Jocelyne Clarke
    Danielle Henripin
    Conception Cortacans
  • sound design
    Martin Allard
    Hugo Brochu
  • sound editing
    Martin Allard
    Hugo Brochu
  • music recording
    Geoffrey Mitchell
    Patrick Viegas
  • sound mix
    Serge Boivin
    Jean Paul Vialard
  • music performer
    Guillaume Dostaler
    François Chauvette
    Maxime Lepage
    René Lussier
  • archival research
    Jocelyne Clarke
    Andrea Henriquez
  • producer
    Paul Lapointe
    Germaine Ying Gee Wong
    Jacques Ménard
  • executive producer
    Paul Lapointe
    Sally Bochner

Education

Ages 11 to 17
School subjects
At the April 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, two conflicting visions of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), designed to achieve the economic integration of two whole continents, played out. How would you describe the forces at work? Name the various activist factions seen in the documentary, and the actions they defended. How would you describe the media’s treatment of the summit? Do you think they exaggerated the level of violence to sell more newspapers or boost ratings, or simply conveyed the information provided to them by the police? What is forbidden by the Geneva Convention? What lesson does one draw from the Nuremberg Trials? Do you think it is a fair comparison, under the circumstances? Do you think the director was able to maintain a balance of viewpoints?
View from the Summit
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