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645 Wellington
Description
A stone's throw from downtown Montreal, quirky artists, blue-collar workers
and unconventional families are being forced to leave their old neighbourhood
as high-tech firms move in. Like in so many other cities, the tech companies
arrive with the promise of a rosy future--but it's one built on demolitions,
evictions and the conversion of low-rent property to high-priced condos.
This is a portrait of one building and its residents--people like
Constanzo 'Fartman' Manna, an eccentric shipper and packer who's headed for
Chile to marry the love of his life and bring her back to Montreal; artist Luc
Bourbonnais, who is fighting desperately to hold on to the loft that inspires
so much of his art; and Cuban émigré Rolando Zambrano, who ran a neighbourhood
snack bar for nearly 30 years.
Shot over a period of six months and set to a pulsing Latin and rock
soundtrack, 645 Wellington not only opens a window
onto the lives of the building's residents but brings the building itself to
life. We come to know the dark hallways, the corners and the doorways. We get
to know them well. Just as they are about to change, forever.
645 Wellington was produced as part of the
Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel Diversity
is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with CBC
Newsworld.
2002, 54 min 09 s
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