The films of Brian M. Cassidy & Melanie Shatzky
Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky are collaborative artists working at the intersection of documentary and narrative cinema. Known for their hyper-intimate films about isolated individuals in post-industrial landscapes, their work delves into themes of loss, incarceration, mental illness, environmental upheaval, and the human-animal bond. Their films have been showcased at prestigious festivals and museums around the world, including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Locarno, and Rotterdam film festivals, as well as The Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery of Art, Le Musée de la Civilisation, ICA London, The Museum of the Moving Image, The Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, and Lincoln Center. They have won numerous awards for their work and received fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and IFP. Their documentary The Patron Saints was hailed by POV Magazine as "one of the most powerful Canadian documentaries of recent years." In addition to their filmmaking, Cassidy and Shatzky maintain an active photography practice, with their work featured in several prominent magazines. In 2015, the RIDM invited them to guest curate A Photographer's Eye: Photography & The Poetic Documentary, a special program exploring the intersection of photography and documentary film, which was showcased at La Cinémathèque québécoise.
4 products
The Patron Saints
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Laced with black humor, _The Patron Saints_ is an unorthodox documentary about a home for the aged and disabled. By turns lyrical and unsettling, the directors eschew more traditional approaches to the subject, opting for a mesmerizing atmospheric treatment and turning narration over to the home's youngest patient and his candid confessions.
God Provides
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Shot in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and bound by elements of fiction, this unexpected documentary short is a glimpse into faith-based sentiment and inexplicable loss. While a man searches for his kitchen appliances in the bushes, elsewhere a grinning preacher takes souvenir snapshots for his congregation, and a woman with a disability journeys to a quieter place.
Interchange
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Straddling the line between photography and cinema, _Interchange_ is a near-wordless observational depiction of life alongside a stark and imposing Montreal highway. _Interchange_ weaves portraits, landscapes, architecture and objects in its reflection on the city’s inhabitants, its traffic jams, the shipping of commercial goods and the nature of time itself.
A Man Imagined
Subscription access
67-year-old Lloyd gives filmmakers Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky a glimpse into his life on the margins of society. Blurring the boundaries of non-fiction cinema, the film reveals his gentle spirit and soulful solitude shaped by his troubled past.
The Patron Saints
Subscription access
Laced with black humor, _The Patron Saints_ is an unorthodox documentary about a home for the aged and disabled. By turns lyrical and unsettling, the directors eschew more traditional approaches to the subject, opting for a mesmerizing atmospheric treatment and turning narration over to the home's youngest patient and his candid confessions.
God Provides
Subscription access
Shot in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and bound by elements of fiction, this unexpected documentary short is a glimpse into faith-based sentiment and inexplicable loss. While a man searches for his kitchen appliances in the bushes, elsewhere a grinning preacher takes souvenir snapshots for his congregation, and a woman with a disability journeys to a quieter place.
Interchange
Subscription access
Straddling the line between photography and cinema, _Interchange_ is a near-wordless observational depiction of life alongside a stark and imposing Montreal highway. _Interchange_ weaves portraits, landscapes, architecture and objects in its reflection on the city’s inhabitants, its traffic jams, the shipping of commercial goods and the nature of time itself.
A Man Imagined
Subscription access
67-year-old Lloyd gives filmmakers Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky a glimpse into his life on the margins of society. Blurring the boundaries of non-fiction cinema, the film reveals his gentle spirit and soulful solitude shaped by his troubled past.
