RIDM 2023: Eviction (by mathilde capone) | Interview

We discussed with mathilde capone, director of Eviction, which authentically embraces the vibrant and spontaneous essence of a Montreal’s queer community while humbly tackling the pressing issue of the city’s housing crisis.

Eviction, which just celebrated its World Premiere at Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), where it took home the Audience Award, is a cinematic firework, authentically embracing the vibrant and spontaneous essence of a Montreal’s queer community while humbly tackling the pressing issue of the city’s housing crisis, making it both captivating and thought-provoking.

The film captures the final days of a cherished apartment on Parthenais Street that served as a haven for a Montreal’s queer community for over a decade. Eviction delves into the residents’ grief as they face the loss of a space that symbolized safety and community over the years. Titled to convey its essence, Eviction intimately documents the residents’ search for a new home amid a housing crisis, offering a window into the vibrant and personal world of its protagonists. This heartfelt tribute to the margins of society serves as a passionate call to action for tenant protection.

In this insightful interview, filmmaker mathilde capone shares her personal connection with the characters, the organic process of filming, and the dual themes of the queer community and the housing crisis intricately woven into the narrative.

Mehdi Balamissa: Can you tell us about your connection with the characters in the film and how you decided to film this queer community in Montreal?

mathilde capone: Former residents of the apartment on Parthenais Street are friends, some like Marine, very close. Over the years, I became close to people who lived there, especially Chacha, one of the first queer individuals moving in there, and Charline, also a close friend. Others I discovered in the 18 months before filming. The close friendship and connection I have with all these people are what allowed me to make the film. I could never have captured so much intimacy if I hadn’t been so involved in the community. We filmed some scenes, like the party scene at the beginning of the film, with three cameras, and a volunteer team. It’s challenging to bring cameras into the queer community; not everyone wants to be filmed. As a community, we’ve been poorly represented on screen, so there’s a tendency to be cautious. I could never have made this film without the strong connection I have with the people I filmed. As for the project’s start, since I lived in this place for several weeks in the two years before the eviction, it deeply affected me that they were being expelled from this unique and vibrant place. I’m generally moved by questions of memory, grief, and how we leave traces of spaces that shaped us, marked us, and transformed us. So after living or occasionally sharing the daily life of the collective, it was obvious to me to make this film.

Mehdi Balamissa: Indeed, the film doesn’t feel like that of an outsider to the community; it’s an organic film, and the internal perspective is very interesting. One of the strengths of the film is its portrayal of a collective, presenting different distinct individuals within it. How did you compose this film, giving time to each character: during filming or in the editing process?

mathilde capone: I would say both. During filming, there were some formalized, prepared moments, like an interview with Miaula when he is in his room. But most of the film comes from spontaneous moments we captured. As a filming team, we tried to have the least impact possible on the place and what was happening. For example, a scene in the film takes place during a dinner of former roommates. It was a planned moment, but we had no idea what would happen or be discussed. We created that moment, that setup, and let people live within that framework, capturing those moments. Overall, we filmed very spontaneously. At the end of each filming day, we discussed what we had collected and thought about how we could gently guide things in the next days to have the most diversity possible in the footage. But we didn’t force things; we didn’t force people who didn’t necessarily want to open up to the camera. Naturally, there were also pleasant surprises with people who revealed themselves on camera. I knew Marine would be a very important character due to my closeness to her; I knew she would give me access to her intimacy. But Ali, I didn’t know he would become such an important character.

Then, with my editor Arnaud Valade, we tried to work towards creating a balanced film by sharing the narrative with different characters. That said, we only filmed for 10 days, so we didn’t have a lot of options in the editing. We made sure to give attention to each person we could.

Mehdi Balamissa: One of the iconic scenes in the film is a whimsical moment where two characters rollerblade through the streets of Montreal in search of a new apartment. Did you realize during filming that you had a gem that embodied the spirit of the film?

mathilde capone: That scene is quite extraordinary and central to the film. It wasn’t a planned scene; it was completely spontaneous, not something I asked them to do. While we were filming the rollerblading characters, I was driving the car, and I felt that something powerful was happening. Then, watching the footage that evening, I realized we had an important scene for the film. There’s something strong in that scene: they’re cutting little pieces of paper that they want to deposit in mailboxes to find housing. It’s clearly not the best search strategy, and there’s something humorous in this process. It might work, but it highlights the absurdity of the situation they’re in. It also shows the strength and resilience of these characters. They can bounce back and make flamboyant moments out of reacting to constraints.

Mehdi Balamissa: In the film, you tackle two different but interconnected themes: introducing us to a queer community in Montreal while making a strong statement about the housing crisis in the city. How did you work on these two fronts? Was it challenging?

mathilde capone: Indeed, those are the two angles of the film. I could have made a more elaborate and political film about the housing crisis, even bringing in experts on the subject. But I wanted to delve into something living. I wanted to explore what we lose through this housing crisis, especially what the queer community loses. Parthenais is not the first space we’ve lost, and it won’t be the last. I’ve been working on another film project for a while, taking a bit more time to materialize, called La maison des rebelles. It focuses on the construction of a lesbian retirement home in Montreal, the first of its kind in North America. Interestingly, there’s a mirror game between Eviction, which deals with leaving a home, while La maison des rebelles is about creating a home, following the daily lives of women aged 55 to 75 who were fighters in the 1980s but experienced the loss of lesbian spaces. This lesbian community was thriving in the 1980s, but it has lost many social and cultural spaces since, and it’s a topic that is dear to me. When we lose such spaces, we lose connections, spaces for sharing, meeting, transmitting, and struggling. I think there are so many spaces we haven’t documented, and I felt invested in this mission with Eviction, which has real documentary and archival value for me. Especially in the context of the housing crisis in Montreal, where there are fewer and fewer collective spaces due to rising rents and “renovictions” where landlords evict tenants to subdivide the units and rent them out for more. So yes, I really wanted to touch on these two themes. Nevertheless, I think the housing crisis is like the film’s soundtrack.

Mehdi Balamissa: How do you view this film in your filmography? Do you see it as part of your previous films or more as an experiment?

mathilde capone: This is a central question for me right now. This film marks the beginning of a new era for me. It confirms that I really want to make films. I made this film because my intuition to do so was so strong that I couldn’t ignore it. During production, I made the film while having another job. I don’t know how I managed to stretch time to handle everything and mobilize my team, which worked on the film voluntarily! We made the film without any budget, borrowing cameras here and there. But it allowed me to approach filmmaking the way I want to. My previous film, La fabrique du consentement : regards lesbo-queer (2020), is a docudrama where I reenacted testimonies about consent in the queer lesbian community. I loved that process, but with Eviction, it’s the first time I made a feature-length direct cinema film. It allowed me to see the power of this type of filmmaking and understand that it’s what I want to do in the future. I believe this film marks the beginning of a new chapter in my filmmaking career.

Acknowledgements: Caroline Rompré (pixelleX).