The Phantom of the Operator

artifact productions, 04-May-2005
artifact productions, 08-Mar-2005
Museum of Modern Art : Canadian Front 2005
Téléfilm Canada, dépliant MoMA 2005
Telefilm Canada, 22-Feb-2005
artifact productions, 15-Nov-2004
artifact productions, 26-Aug-2004
TIFF - Real to Reel, 03-Aug-2004

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For immediate release

Award-Winning Feature Documentary Home for First Time

Montreal, May 4, 2005 – On the heels of a successful international festival tour, LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE will finally appear on Montreal theatre screens. The Quebec première for local filmmaker CAROLINE MARTEL’s unique documentary will feature at the HTMlles Festival on May 21, then screen at Ex-Centris’ Cinéma Parallèle from May 27 to June 2. Press screenings will be held Wednesday May 18 and Tuesday May 24.

The 20th Century had its invisible workforce: telephone operators. Not just "voices with a smile", they starred in managerial dreams of infinite progress. LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE reveals their fate in a unique montage film crafted from 150 rarely-seen industrial, publicity and scientific management films produced in North America between 1903 and 1989. The voice of celebrated Quebec actress PASCALE MONTPETIT accompanies us on this voyage of science and fiction. Director Caroline Martel and her collaborators spent 50 weeks over four years splicing together fantastic remnants from an industrial era into this dreamlike documentary. LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE proposes a fascinating portrait of human society in a technocratic age.

“an enormously imaginative documentary… an hour of non-stop visual and intellectual stimulation.” – VARIETY

“A haunting oral history of old-time female telephone operators culled from found industrial films,
it's the kind of intelligent and dedicated work that will live on for much longer than the flavors of the moment.” – Village VOICE

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) – World Premiere
Brooklyn Underground Film Festival –BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM AWARD
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – Canadian Front
Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) – Canadian Images
International Documentary Filmfestival in Amsterdam (IDFA) – First Appearance Competition
Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) – International Competition
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival – Competition
Tampa International Film Festival – Closing Night Film

CAROLINE MARTEL made her début in professional filmmaking with Hold the Line (Dernier appel, NFB, 2001). She produced LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE with the vital support of the Programme d’aide aux jeunes créateurs (SODEC), the Canadian Independent Film & Video Fund, and the Aide au cinéma indépendant of the National Film Board of Canada, thanks to whom this unusual production was possible.

LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE
Caroline MARTEL (QUE/CAN, 2004) 65 min. French narration with French subtitles

Press screenings : Wednesday May 18 and Tuesday May 24
10 am, Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris)
3530 St-Laurent

Film images and Eacute;RATRICE: HYPERLINK "http://www.artifactproductions.ca" www.artifactproductions.ca

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Download this press release in PDF:
Award-Winning Feature Documentary Home for First Time (4-May-2005)

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For immediate release

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR rings up the U.S.

Montreal, 8 March 2005 — Reviewed as “an enormously imaginative docu… an hour of non-stop visual and intellectual stimulation” by VARIETY magazine, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR will have its American premiere this spring at the New Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. This unique montage film, the first independent feature by Montréal filmmaker CAROLINE MARTEL, is crafted from almost 150 rarely seen industrial films produced in North America between 1903 and 1989.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR will be screened as part of Canadian Front: New Films 2005, a nine-film programme featuring an eclectic selection of Canada’s brightest filmmaking talent. This prestigious event raises the U.S. visibility of some of the most creative recent Canadian works and provides them with an opportunity to connect with new audiences. Curated by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator of the Department of Film and Media at MoMA, in collaboration with Telefilm Canada, the inaugural edition last year was a huge success. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR will be screened on Saturday night March 19th at 8:30pm, and on Wednesday March 23rd in the New MoMA theatres.

Adding to the excitement of the last few months, artifact productions is proud to announce it teamed up with Women Make Movies (WMM) to distribute the film in the United States. Established in 1972, WMM is the largest distributor of women's films and videos in the world with a catalogue of more than 400 titles including documentary, experimental, animation, dramatic and mixed-genre work.

From April 7th to 10th, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR will continue its U.S. tour in competition at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Now recognized as the premier documentary film festival in the United States by both The New York Times and indieWIRE, Full Frame celebrates the power and artistry of documentary film. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR will also be honoured to be the closing-night film of the Tampa International Film Festival on April 9th. Caroline Martel will be on the panel « Technology, Film & The Future » to discuss how technology has been represented in film, and how in turn those images have impacted the past, present and future of science and technology — Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) and Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936) will be presented to both anchor and inspire this forum with beautifully-restored 35mm prints.

Splicing together fantastic remnants from our era into a dreamlike documentary, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR proposes a wry yet ethereal portrait of human society in a technocratic age. It unveils the little-known history of the telephone operators — an invisible workforce without which the 20th Century would never have been the same. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR brings out of the shadows not only the «Voices with a Smile», but also some amazing 20th century corporate films, as well as a strange musical instrument: the ONDES MARTENOT, played by SUZANNE BINET-AUDET. Adding to the mood, the voice of award-winning actor PASCALE MONTPETIT accompanies us on this voyage of science and fiction.

CAROLINE MARTEL is a documentary artist born in Montréal in 1973. Hold the Line (Dernier Appel, 52 min, National Film Board of Canada, 2001) was her début in professional filmmaking. She produced THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR with the generous support of the Programme d’aide aux jeunes créateurs (SODEC), the Canadian Independent Film & Video Fund, and the Aide au cinéma indépendant of the National Film Board of Canada, thanks to which this unusual production was possible.

Canada, 2004, 65 minutes, Colour and Black and White, English with subtitled French narration.

Canadian Front: New Films 2005 :
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_media/2005/canadian_front_2005.html http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/document/fr/07/BrochureMoMA2005.pdf
http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/data/Communiques/rel_532.asp?
Full Frame : http://www.fullframefest.org/
Tampa International Film Festival : http://www.tampafilmfest.com/
Women Make Movies : http://www.wmm.com/

For further information, please contact:
artifact productions
5449 Saint-Dominique, Suite A Montréal (Québec) Canada H2T 1V5
info -AT- artifactproductions.ca
514.495.0175

Téléchargez ce communiqué de presse en format PDF :
PHANTOM_Press_Release.pdf (8-Mar-2005)

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For Immediate Release

LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE is off to Europe and Asia

Montréal, 15-Nov-2004 — after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and a warm reception at the Vancouver International Film Festival, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR will next be in international competitions in Amsterdam’s (IDFA) and Taiwan’s (TIDF) Documentary Film Festivals.

Reviewed as « a documentary full of imagination… an hour of visual and intellectual stimulation » by Variety magazine, and already on the list for the selection of Canada’s Top 10 productions of the year, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR is a unique montage film. This first independent feature by Montréal filmmaker CAROLINE MARTEL is crafted from almost 150 rarely seen industrial films produced in North America between 1903 and 1989. The director and her collaborators spent 50 weeks in the editing room over a period of four years.

Fantastic remnants from our era, a dreamlike documentary, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR proposes a wry yet ethereal portrait of human society in a technocratic age. It unveils the little-known history of the telephone operators — an invisible workforce without which the 20th Century would never have been the same. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR brings out of the shadows not only the «Voices with a Smile», but also amazing 20th century corporate films, as well as a strange musical instrument: the ONDES MARTENOT, played by SUZANNE BINET-AUDET. Adding to the mood, the voice of well-known actor PASCALE MONTPETIT accompanies us on this voyage of science and fiction.

One of the biggest documentary film festival in the world, the INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL IN AMSTERDAM (IDFA) presents THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR in its first feature competition First Appearance, between November 20 and 26, 2004. Caroline Martel will also be present at the Emerging Visions round table coordinated by Peter Wintonick and moderated by well-known Dutch journalist Raymond van den Boogaard. The TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL (TIDF) is presently subtitling the film to include it in its international competition taking place in mid-December. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR was chosen alongside 29 other films from over 1000 submission! In the company of Jay Rosenblatt and Asian filmmakers, the director will participate in a public discussion about archival cinema.

CAROLINE MARTEL is a documentary artist born in Montréal in 1973. Hold the Line (Dernier Appel, 52 min, National Film Board of Canada, 2001) was her début in professional filmmaking. She produced THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERATOR with the vital support of the Programme d’aide aux jeunes créateurs (SODEC), the Canadian Independent Film & Video Fund, and the Aide au cinéma indépendant of the National Film Board of Canada, thanks to whom this unusual production was possible.

Visit the web sites of the documentary festivals in Amsterdam and Taiwan: http://www.idfa.nl/idfa_en_filmdescription.asp?filmid=20136
http://www.tidf.org.tw/
Canada, 2004, 65 minutes, Colour and Black and White, English with subtitled French narration.

— 30 —

For further information, please contact:
productions artifact
5449 Saint-Dominique, Suite A Montréal (Québec) Canada H2T 1V5

514.495.0175

Film images and the latest news about LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE: www.artifactproductions.ca

Téléchargez ce communiqué de presse en format PDF :
presskit_english_release_2004-11-15.pdf

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For Immediate Release

World premiere of début montage documentary
LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE
at the 29th Toronto International Film Festival

Montréal, 26-Aug-2004 — CAROLINE MARTEL's first independently-produced feature LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE (The Phantom of the Operator, 2004) will screen as part of the Wavelengths programme of the Toronto International Film Festival September 11th and 12th, 2004. This exceptional doc is crafted from almost 150 rarely-seen industrial films produced in North America between 1903 and 1989. It reveals the little-known history of the telephone operators — an invisible workforce without whom the 20th Century would never have been the same.

LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE is an archaeological exploration of the culture of technological progressivism as it was represented in the corporate, scientific, and popular imaginations of the past century. It's not only an ode to the “Voice with a Smile”, but also to an unacknowledged form of production : that of ephemeral films. Director Caroline Martel and her collaborators spent 50 weeks editing this montage film over a period of four years.

Image editor ANNIE JEAN took on this labour of love with flair and tenacity. Talented film artisans, such as MATHIEU BOUCHARD-MALO (extra image editing) and SYLVAIN BELLEMARE (sound editing), later came on board. Award-winning actor PASCALE MONTPETIT is the phantom voice who guides us into a world where science meets fiction. Varying its frequencies along with the complex orchestration of images, the soundtrack features an otherworldly electronic musical instrument: the ONDES MARTENOT, invented by Maurice Martenot in 1928, and played by SUZANNE BINET-AUDET creating a mood of timelessness and fragility.

CAROLINE MARTEL is a documentary artist born in Montréal in 1973. Hold the Line (Dernier Appel,
52 min, National Film Board of Canada, 2001) was her début in professional filmmaking. She produced
LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE with the vital support of the Programme d’aide aux jeunes créateurs (SODEC), the Canadian Independent Film & Video Fund, and the Aide au cinéma indépendant of the National Film Board of Canada, thanks to whom this unusual production was possible.

Canada, 2004, 65 minutes, Colour and Black and White, French with English subtitles.

— 30 —

For further information, please contact :
Matthew Hodgins, productions artifact
5449 Saint-Dominique, Suite A
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2T 1V5

514.346.7331

Film images and the latest news about LE FANTÔME DE L’OPÉRATRICE: www.artifactproductions.ca

Download this press release in PDF :
presskit_english_release_2004-08-26.pdf