Juliet Belmas

History

Juliet Belmas, a Canadian anarchist activist, was at age 18 labelled a terrorist and jailed in a maximum-security prison for 20 years in 1984, for her role in an urban guerrilla group known as Direct Action. After her sentence was reduced on appeal she was released to art school where she wrote, directed and produced several short films about women in prison that garnered multiple awards and led to participation in numerous Canadian and International film festivals, academic lectures and panel discussions. Belmas then went on to develop a long-standing career in cinematography in the Canadian film industry. In her spare time, she presents hands-on guerrilla filmmaking workshops. Her look is distinguishable by a painterly cinematic style coupled with experimental production values (rear screen projection, optical printing, digital sound repetition) that add a heightened and fantastical feel to her narratives and compositions. Critics describe her work as subtle, yet harrowing as she juxtaposes both the confining artifice of modern life and the all too real loss of liberty experienced by women in prison and life amongst the “free”. Leading Canadian writer, feminist scholar, and human rights activist, Karlene Faith, cites Belmas’ lens for furthering concerns with the individual struggle against the institutional powers of our society.

Movies

RAPUNZEL
RAPUNZEL
Director
A prisoner narrates this fantastical tale of two young sisters whose lives are changed at the strike of a match when they mistake an imprisoned Doukhobor for Rapunzel.
PALE ANGUISH KEEPS
PALE ANGUISH KEEPS
Director
P.A.K. is an intensely personal document expressing the alienation, pain, and trauma of a prison experience. Using techniques of German expressionism, it examines the social and institutional forces that inform one's subjective self-definition. Stark contrasts, are combined with harsh prison reality with escape into the fantasy, beauty, and grace of classical ballet. The conflict is underscored by elements of the sound track: reverberating prison noises, the uncompromising music of punk rock and voice-over readings from the poetic works of notable writers and political prisoners Oscar Wilde and Breyton Bretonbach.