After theatres and television airings, Power to Forget returns. It is now freely accessible, offered to anyone willing to take the risk. No longer within the ritual of a screening, but in digital wandering. A drift that extends the film’s life, though under an uncertain regime.

Watch the film on YouTube

Many mourn the death of movie theatres. I, a child of the Internet, had both my distractions and my higher knowledge seized by pirates who refused to be customers. An entire generation drank from that same stream in the 2000s. Those outlaws reclaimed, by force if needed, what humanity produces for itself, moved by an irresistible surge of life. Beyond property, beyond authors, beyond producers, beyond everyone whose name appears at the top of the credits.

From the start, this film project on Quebec’s first inter-union Common Front carried within it a contradiction embodied by its title. We cherish injunctions to remember, even when those memories are riddled with myth. Yet to film memory is to record its erasure. Every image, even an archival shot from 1972 framed within an artistic montage, fixes its own decay, like a ruin being built. Benjamin spoke of history as a heap of debris caught in the instant of catastrophe. Adorno distrusted every easy reconciliation with the past. We, too, wanted to hold together memory and forgetting, archive and disappearance, utopia and defeat. And that revolt in Sept-Îles as the image of a catastrophe no one can see anymore, even as it keeps unfolding before our eyes.

The title Power to Forget, proposed by Pierre-Luc and contested on all sides, still holds its force for me. It is not about erasing or exorcising, but about embracing the paradox. Those who reject the irony of the history-making subject, who demand a coherent, polished, or uplifting narrative, are already the greatest amnesiacs. To film is to lose oneself in a new world. To create new myths. To show is to disappear, behind the work, beneath history, within the quiet acceptance of the coming destruction of landscapes that were never truly ours.

The class struggle continues, though stripped of its name. Its echoes still resonate, but in other vocabularies. Its feats, never as glorious as legend claims, have dissolved into the quicksand of management, realism, and spectacle. What remains is a heavy memory, sometimes unbearable, which our therapists of resentment—nationalists, populists, reactionaries—call strength, though it may be only a symptom of their defeat, sanctified under the steamroller of Progress. The Common Front repeats itself endlessly, yet without the dream of emancipation. Beyond a few more dollars. Without novelty, therefore without power.

We might say that better days will come. But not in this form, of that be sure.

Someone might ask, before any further reflection, what is the positive side of the destruction of communities, of cinema as of the Common Front? I would answer: the birth of a different gaze, lighter, younger. The spectator in cyberspace no longer holds the certainties, nor the moral codes of institutions, nor the sociological chatter. Their gesture of distinction, if that is what it is, runs on original forms. They can rely only on their immediate appetite, on the shock of what they see. Without aesthetic shock, there is nothing.

Of course, this taste is shaped by civilization. Yet their isolation exposes them to a naked experience, almost defenseless. In that bareness, they can invent, recombine, build a system in their own measure, or build none at all.

So here we are. For this drifting viewer, too much history paralyzes. Too much memory condemns to impotence. Wonder delivers us from the weight of inheritances, from rehearsed defeats and exhausted victories. This film is destined to fade into other, unknown memories. Let it vanish, so that other forces may arise. New forces. Hopefully uncontrollable.

Blue Sports is a local company. Hockey for more than 25 years. Based in Nicolet, rooted in Quebec, and always driven by the same obsession: accessories that last. Their latest toy? Walkable blade protectors. Not a gimmick. Not a revolution. Just a well-designed object, built like a shoe, that follows players everywhere.

I was given the mandate to bring this to life. To direct the ad. My approach? As always: to see things differently. Silhouettes, mystery… But this time, it was a clear brief. And the result? A solid little film, and a happy client.

The face of this campaign is Sacha Boisvert. A local kid aiming for the NHL. The first official ambassador of Blue Sports. His whole career still lies ahead, but he already carries a striking intensity. On the ice, he floored me.

Yes, it’s a campaign. But for me, it’s also the paradox of the job: making cinema for a day, polished and crafted like a film—only to be scrolled, liked, and forgotten in the stream of social media. And yet, that’s what I love: giving cinematic value to the ephemeral.

The full film is online here: Walk with us – Blue Sports

At a time when everything is automated, optimized, cleaned to the pixel… I shoot on Super 8 in Canada.

Not out of nostalgia. Not to play vintage.
Out of love for the grain. Out of a need to let go.
Out of rejection of the plastic gloss.
But mostly because Pierre Luc, my filmmaker friend, had the courage to go there.

I’m the Super 8 shooter in Montreal. Full stop.

In one year, I shot more than 250 rolls. Yes, two hundred and fifty.
Each cartridge hits like a slap.
I’m no longer afraid of the violence of darkness.

With him, I filmed bodies, faces, cities, ruins, parties, screams, silences.
I etched them into emulsion, into the grain.
I felt them live beneath my fingers, not just on a screen.

I shoot with Leicina. Beaulieu. Nizo. Canon. Elmo.
I own them all in double.
I tested and bought them all from Tested Super 8 Cameras.
Each camera has its function.
I know the hum of the motors, the slip of the gears, the light that leaks.
I know how to fix them on the fly, in remote places.
Nothing stops me.

And I’m not here to make things pretty.
That was already the case.

I’m here to capture what trembles.
To escape real time.
On tripod ideally. Sometimes, yes, on a Ronin.
To set linearity on fire.
To leave traces that burn, that vibrate, that refuse to disappear.

Beyond Thus Spoke Monchoachi, Pierre Luc’s film,
I filmed and edited all the promotional capsules for L’Archipel,
the artists’ collective I’m part of.
Under the theme of drift.
Born in Berlin.

I’ll continue this path in my experimental project.
A film about universal love.
From Berlin to Montreal.
From Susanna to Natasha.
Titled: Never Again Germany.

My most recent project was born from Vincent Castonguay’s boldness.
He dragged me to Maine.
To meet Dan.
And his house full of soul, of silence, and of machines.
This work will be presented during his exhibition.

If you want to see for yourself.
What I do.
What I’m looking for.
You can watch here: https://vimeo.com/davidsimard

I’m the Super 8 shooter in Montreal.
I’m one of the few still shooting Super 8 in Canada.

Hell yeah!

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In pursuit of lightness in filmmaking, I’ve acquired the latest gear in current trend, including Sony FX6, A7s III, DJI RS2, Tilta Float, Advanced Ring, Hydra Alien, Sigma Art E-Mount lenses, and more. And it goes without saying ,all of this is available for rent.

https://www.davidsimard.com/location

Despite the small size of Sony’s new line of cameras, my FX6s and A7s III produce better images at higher frame rates, The H265 codec can even reduce file size. Furthermore, these cameras are equipped with digital or mechanical stabilization in addition to gimbals.

On the topic of gimbals, DJI’s new gimbal, the RS2, makes no compromises despite being significantly lighter than the Ronin 2. With Tilta’s Advanced Ring, it completely replaces the Ronin 2. Tilta’s Hydra Alien allows you to mount your RS2 on your vehicles in any position with its triangular suction system.

Albeit the changes, for your bigger shoots, the Ronin 2 and the Tilta Arm remain available.

As you may have heard, autofocus has a bright future ahead. Thus explaining my acquisition of two Sigma E-Mount lenses, and soon a third one, all adapted to the new Sony camera’s excellent autofocus.

Also, I’ve acquired another very advanced stabilizer system. The Tilta Float, the illegitimate little brother of the Arri Trinity, combining effortlessly Steadycam dynamics with gimbal technology. Say goodbye to the jerky look of gimbals!

But to get the best out of these new configurations, you will need an operator, with his accessories and experience, therefore, prepare the necessary budget.

The one thing I can promise: your back will not suffer anymore.

I am now the proud owner of a Ronin 2 and a Ready Rig GS ProArm. The versatile Ronin 2 gimbal from DJI is suitable for use handheld, or mounted in a variety of ways, including to a drone, Steadicam, vehicle mount, and more. Ready Rig Gimbal support is a body mounted camera stabilizer that gives operators unprecedented freedom of movement, stability and comfort while shooting with Gimbal mounted Cameras. The possibilities of this combination are huge and offers to filmmakers an excellent value for money, the best at the moment.

Since I do not use this gear every day, I decided to set up a lease structure to make it available at a competitive price. You will find all the necessary to shoot properly all your productions. You can consult the list of equipment and the rental policy.

http://www.davidsimard.com/location/

Basically, if you want to rent the kit, you need a credit card and some references or insurances.