Description of the interview with Rachel-Alouki Labbé

Rachel-Alouki Labbé's career got a start through a couple of lucky breaks. While she was unemployed, she met a friend and talked to her frankly about what she wanted to do - she was dreaming of photographing births. The friend said she was looking for a director for a film project titles "Quand passe la cigogne" (When the stork comes). Very shortly afterwards, she was hired to direct this half-hour film.

She fell in love with film directing, and other projects followed. Once again, a friend told her that APTN was looking for an Aboriginal woman director to work on the series "Ca clique". She sent in her recent films to the person in charge of the project but he harshly criticised her work, saying her filming lacked creativity. However, she did meet him with copies of her older films. She was hired and travelled to the communities. A triumphal experience.

Making films about Aboriginal people is a good means of giving them a voice. She formed her company "Alouki films" and has worked tirelessly for its success. The company was involved in a co-production with "Wakiponi Mobile". This was a film funded by the Indian Affairs department about school dropouts, and stars the Algonquin rapper Samian. Rachel-Aloui thinks it will encourage young people to stay in school.

She is working on three more films about childbirth, first, in Mexico with Aboriginal women, then in a refugee camp in Uganda, and finally in the Dominican Republic. Starting out from a child's birth, what kind of future prospects does she or he have?

Rachel-Alouki has plenty of projects and lots of hope. She is thrilled with the idea that young Aboriginal people are now learning filmmaking. This effort has to be constant, day-by-day.