SIMPLY JOHANNE

Nadine Valcin

Subjects: Arts & Culture , Emigration & Migration , History & Politics , Identity , Portraits , Society , The Americas , Women

Directed by

Nadine Valcin

Language

French

Produced by

Ania Jamila, Josiane Blanc

Press folders

75 min, Documentary, Canada, 2024

A contemporary tribute to trailblazer Johanne Harrelle: artist, actress and one of North America’s first Black models.

Synopsis
Abandoned on the doorstep of a Montreal orphanage, Johanne Harrelle eventually rose to prominence as a gifted artist, actress, and one of North America’s first Black models. Simply Johanne deftly explores her complex and audacious life through archival footage, interviews with loved ones and performances of her writings by three contemporary actresses. The film chronicles the journey of a magnetic and passionate woman who defied the expectations of her time.

 

Crew

Writing : Nadine Valcin

Cinematography : Philippe Lavalette

Sound Recording : Olivier Léger
Production Design : Alex Guèvremont

Editing : Katharine Asals

Sound Design : Luc Raymond

Sound Mix : Chris Leon

Color Grading : Tony Manolikakis

Music : Jacques Kuba Séguin

Narration : Nadine Jean, Schelby Jean-Baptiste, Garihanna Jean-Louis

Protagonists : Abla Osman, Isoloy Katshingu, Danielle Ouimet

Executive Production : Yves Bisaillon, Nadine Valcin

En bas de ça, c'est pas encore fait

Direction

Nadine Valcin

Nadine Valcin is an award-winning bilingual filmmaker and media artist whose practice spans documentary, experimental and narrative film as well as installation and virtual reality. Her work explores questions of memory, identity and language. She has directed four documentary projects for the National Film Board of Canada, including the critically-acclaimed Black, Bold and Beautiful and Une école sans frontières (A School without Borders).

 

Nadine has been awarded numerous grants and prizes including two prestigious Chalmers Arts Fellowships and a Drama Prize from the National Screen Institute for the short film In Between. She holds a professional degree in architecture from McGill University and recently completed an MFA in Digital Futures at OCAD University and an artist’s residency at Library and Archives Canada through Archive/CounterArchive. She is a professor in the Bachelor of Film and Television program at Sheridan College.

 

Filmographie

OUR HOME AND HAUNTED LAND, Virtual reality, 2021
ORIGINES, 4 min, Video installation, 2021 
EMERGENCE, 6 min, Video installation, 2017
HEARTBREAK, 1 min, Experimental, 2016
WHITEWASH, 6 min, Experimental, 2016
RIPPLES, 8 min, Fiction, 2016
IN BETWEEN, 8 min, Fiction, 2009
FIRE AND FURY, 14 min, Fiction, 2007
DERRIÈRE L’IMAGE, 8 min, Documentary, 2007
STILL WAITING FOR JUSTICE, 17 min, Documentary, 2006
A SCHOOL WITHOUT BORDERS, 50 min, Documentary, 2005
SORTIE DE SECOURS, 5 min, Short film series, 2002
BLACK, BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL. 43 min, Documentary, 1999