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Bee Dee Bop
Canada, 25min, 2004

Director: Alexandra Oakley

Cast: Eric Braun, Jimmy Beaulieu, Henriette Valium
1st Assistant: Anne Williams
Camera: Sebastien Trahan
Sound recorder: Charles Latour
Image editing: Karine Paradis
Assistant: Charles Latour
Sound editing: Mathieu Lacourse
Post-production Assistant: Anipier Maheu
Original Music composed by: Mathieu Lacourse

Synopsis: A portrait of three Montreal comic strip artists whose work displays a desire for freedom, authenticity and a passion for doing things on their own way.

Quebec, a province of Canada, is caught between American and European artistic influences. Therefore, a cultural diversity emerges from this situation. This documentary exposes Montreal’s underground comics as a distinct form of expression. As we enter this strange world, we meet 3 different artists for whom comic strips go beyond our usual Sunday cartoons we read as children. Marginality, originality and authenticity characterize their work.

I came up with the idea for this documentary after attending Comix Jam, a reunion of artist literally jamming on sheets of paper. It occurred to me this form of art was largely underestimated by the population and the media. To often, we compare comic strips to “little comics”, like Tintin, Asterix, Peanuts and others without taking the time to understand this distinct form of literature. Not all drawings are illustrations designed for children.

Alexandra Oakley

Alexandra Oakley was raised in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada. As an only child, she spent most of her adolescent years with a camera in her hand to fight boredom. Upon entering university, she discovered she had a real interest in documentaries. Her first subject was a graffiti artist. Then, she focused on underground comics for her final cinema project at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal in Communication, profil Cinema. She is presently working on a documentary portraying the career of Andre Brassard, a well-known Montreal director (he worked with author Michel Tremblay).

FILMOGRAPHY:

2004 Documentary on director Andre Brassard (in production)

2004 Bee Dee Bop, documentary on underground comics
Best Documentary Production, 35th Canadian Student Film Festival 2004
Special Mention from the Jury for the up-coming new generation of Quebec cinematographers, Short Film Festival Images en Vues at les Iles- de-la-Madeleine, september 2004.

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