Toronto filmmaker
Stephanie Weimar spent the summer locking her documentary TV series "Writing the Land" (produced by Primitive Entertainment for CBC Arts and Arte/ZDF). October is the big month for
the project we've been following for a year: International audiences are about to see "Writing the Land".
Jutta Brendemuhl:
Congratulations, your Canadian-German literary doc series “Writing the Land” will have its European premiere on Arte TV on Oct 4, 11, and 18, in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest literary market in the world. Where will you be, how will you watch and celebrate?
Stephanie Weimar: It’s become rather low key and a bit anti-climactic to be honest. All summer I had made peace with the fact that Canada’s status as Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair was postponed to 2021. I thought I had completely adjusted to not going to Germany this fall and not celebrating with my team and all the writers at the Fair. But now that the date is coming up I’m getting sad again. Obviously, in the big scheme of things I really cannot complain and I don’t. It’s a just a bit of disappointment that remains.
Still, it is very exciting that “Writing the Land” will have its German premiere this coming weekend on Arte. I’ve sent emails to all my friends, family and colleagues in Germany to alert them to the broadcast. The series’ German title is “Kanada - Literatur im Aufbruch”, which is difficult to translate and keep the full meaning intact. It literally means “literature in a state of departure” but the word “Aufbruch” has a lot of connotations that are getting lost in this literal translation. I really like the word “Aufbruch.” It speaks to old and crusty things breaking up and making space for the new. The static is giving way to movement. The word implies change and a sense of adventure. Leaving for the unknown.
JB:
Professionally speaking, what comes after a documentary TV premiere? Analysing viewer statistics, marketing debriefings with commissioning editors, international sales conversations, follow-up pitches?
SW: I am curious what the numbers will be for Arte, how many people are hooked and are going to watch it. I’m curious about the reviews as well. There isn’t really an official debriefing with broadcasters. We are applying to a few film festivals though to be able to continue to show the work to wider audiences.
JB:
“Writing the Land” is a strong, stand-alone 4-part serial concept of 30 minutes. But you just spoke of the original commissioning and screening framework was CFBM2020 — Canada as guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which was largely moved to October 2021 because of Covid. What does that postponement mean for your series?
SW: It is hard to spin the disruption in a positive way. Arte in Germany is going ahead with the broadcast of the series this year and there will be a celebration at the Canadian embassy in Berlin (alas because of the travel restrictions without me). They will broadcast it again next fall, when Canada is the actual Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair and they are planning to hold the events, talks, readings with Canadian writers, which were supposed to happen this year, next year. Obviously, it’s anyone’s guess what exactly will happen next fall - it’s entirely based on what the situation with Covid will be.
CBC has decided to broadcast the series next fall, so it won’t be available in Canada until then and we’ll revisit our promotion plans in 2021.
JB:
I love your landscape approach to looking at writing through the Canadian landscape—rock, light, water, trees-- but for me the most thrilling part of the “Writing the Land” premiere is the fact that you will tease a dozen new, yet to be published works by Canada’s best authors (see the list below). Give us one sneak peek and why it’s special to you.
SW: Yes, it’s been absolutely thrilling and an enormous privilege to drop in on all these amazing writers and get an impression of their working process. Actually witnessing them put words on the page was just really exciting. Usually we buy the finished book, and the process is a bit of a mystery, happening behind closed doors. But here they were, at their keyboards, and the words appeared on screen. For a literature nut like me it was pure magic.
There’s an interesting and oftentimes amusing incongruence at play which was fun to tease out in the series: Reading a book, we enjoy being transported into a different world, but we don’t usually think about the endless hours it took someone labouring over every single word. We take in and enjoy the final, organic whole and we don’t think about what it took someone to actually put it all together. So it was great to honour that often tough process and capture these writers’ often quite quirky routines.
With some writers who are working on the last book in their trilogies - like Eden Robinson and Aviaq Johnston - it was also really great to get a glimpse of what’s next for beloved characters we already know, like Eden’s Jared Martin from the Trickster series and Aviaq’s Pitu, the young Inuk hunter.
Seeing the unpublished, yet to be finalized “contents” page for Eden’s last “Trickster” book come out of her printer - I honestly thought I was going to faint.
JB:
Thank you for letting us look over your shoulder for a year, dear Stephanie. We’ll see you at the Goethe-Institut Toronto for a watch party and live chat when “Writing the Land” launches on CBC in 2021. In the meantime, what’s next for you as a documentary maker?
SW: Thanks so much. It’s been a pleasure to have you guys along for the ride! It’ll be great to share the final product with all of you.
I have a few new projects in the works that are currently taking shape -- but it’s too early to talk about them. You have to check in again in a few months.
JB: Will do. Break a leg for your European TV launch with “Writing the Land” and see you in 2021 in Toronto and Frankfurt.
by
@JuttaBrendemuhl
photo: ARTE, courtesy S. Weimar
German teasers for "Writing the Land":
"Stein"/"Rock"
"Wald"/"Trees"
"Licht"/"Light"
"Wasser"/"Water"
List of authors and works featured in "Writing the Land":
Michael Winter, Newfoundland, with his new novel, “The Printed Air” (working title)
Edem Awumey, Quebec, with a new untitled novel
Ivan Coyote, Yukon, with a new untitled novel
Uzma Jalaluddin, Ontario, with a new novel, “Hana Khan Carries On” (working title)
Esi Edugyan, BC, with a new untitled novel
Joshua Whitehead, Alberta, with a new collection of literary non-fiction, “Making Love With the Land” (working title)
Eden Robinson, BC, new novel and the last book in the Trickster trilogy, “Trickster Returns” (working title)
Catherine Hernandez, Ontario, new novel, “Crosshairs” (working title)
Aviaq Johnston, Nunavut, new untitled novel and last book in her trilogy
Catherine Leroux, QC
Katherena Vermette, Manitoba, with a new untitled poetry collection
Madeleine Thien, BC, with a new untitled novel
