de Coeur

Director: Tahani Rached – Producer: Eric Michel

Diary by: Joanne Latimer

Spring 1984: ‘My brother, a doctor, was (working) in a hospital in France that specialized in aids treatment,’ recalls director Tahani Rached. ‘He phoned me and said that I must do a film about it. As a full-time filmmaker at the National Film Board, I could, so I submitted the project immediately. It wasn’t accepted then, so I continued with other projects – on Beruit (Beyrouth! A defaut d’etre mort), on racism, poverty and Haitians.’

Spring 1991: Producer Eric Michel at the nfb asks Rached if she is still interested in making a documentary on aids and physicians fighting the disease. The project is greenlighted when Rached agrees to direct.

June 1991: Rached attends a week-long aids conference in Florence, Italy, accompanying Dr. Rejean Thomas and Dr. Michel Marchant from Montreal. She spends the next three months at Montreal’s Clinique L’Actuel learning about how the medical profession is handling aids and how patients live with the disease.

Fall 1991: Dr. Thomas is teaching a medical school class on aids, and Rached begins production by filming his lectures. For nine months, Rached films in the Clinique L’Actuel. Some patients are willing to share their experiences and feelings, but refuse to appear on-camera because they fear the prejudice the exposure might elicit.

July 1992: Dr. Thomas and Rached attend a conference on aids in Amsterdam that focuses on the ethical issues of treating patients. International specialists are present and willing to participate in the film.

September 1992: ‘We had a long edit,’ recalls Rached, ‘until May 1993. There was just so much touching and important material. We got the film down to one hour, 52 minutes, finally. Rejean (Thomas) sat in on the crucial stages of editing for discussion. He was the most valuable recourse, as an engaged aids activist and a learned doctor.

‘My producer, Eric, trusted my decisions on content and there was no censor from the nfb. It was ideal. We made the film on a trust basis.’

October 1993: Medecins de coeur, with a final budget of between $400,000 and $500,000, has its premiere at Montreal’s Place des Arts, where 15,000 show up for the screening. Rached is swamped with letters of thanks from aids sufferers and their families.

September 1994: Medecins de coeur screens at the Toronto International Film Festival.