Some sad news for the filmmaking community…

by tristan

I feel a little strange posting personal news, but bare with me.

This week, when checking in at my old job at Cinépool Inc., I found out that Cinépool co-owner David W. Clarke had a heart attack earlier this week and slipped into a deep coma. I won’t go into the details of everything; I barely know that much really… but I’ve been told that he is not expected to survive the week.

Why am I bringing this up here? Because David is a member of this community, plain and simple. I worked at Cinépool over the winter and got to know Dave and his partner Denis Paquette a little. Most of what I know about them I gleamed from what I saw and how they treated me… both while I worked there and since.

I saw a variety of local filmmakers come and go through the front doors of their offices on Oxford in NDG; folk like Ezra Stoiferman (co-founder of the Montreal Film Group) and Indyish alumni Kidnapper Films. I was amazed by the number of young, small-scale artists that frequented the place for gear and advice. Renting film equipment is both financially and technically daunting, but somehow Cinépool found a way to make it happen for alot of independent artists. Hey, since leaving the place I know I can go back any time and ask a million questions about equipment, my own projects and what they might suggest. All this relates right back to the attitude of the owners.

I got the feeling they had “been there” and not forgotten what it is to be small, independent and experimental. The word is support. Any of the gear I rent now comes from there and the last time I swung through I had the chance to show Dave some of what I’ve worked on. It was a pleasure having his attention and feeling some of his enthusiasm for my creative work. I’m going to miss not being able to do that again.

So I want to remind you all that independent solidarity is a wonderful thing, but the grease in our creative wheels, the folk that can help you make it happen, indie or no, are just as important. Why am I telling you this… I’m sure you know this well.

To the staff at Cinépool and, most importantly, Dave W. Clarke: thank you for keeping our creative wheels well-oiled and turning…