Film Screening of Dorchester: In the Midst of the Fray

Join us for a visioning and sound exploration of Dorchester: au coeur de la mêlée. Please note that this film will be screened in English.

In the heart of the city of Montreal and in the midst of Montreal’s business district lies one of Canada’s most beautiful squares: Dorchester Square.

Neglected for years, its renovation was entrusted to landscape architect Claude Cormier in the early 2000s. The challenge was immense, for beneath the square lie the remains of 55,000 Montrealers, victims of five cholera epidemics between 1830 and 1850.

And so began an exceptional artistic and historical adventure. The 20-year project brought together a team of Montreal artists, architects and archaeologists, and resurrected the secrets of the city’s history. From the Catholic movement of the 1870s to the beheading of the John A. McDonald statue in 2020, via the two referendums and the Maple Spring in 2012, the square condenses 150 years of social conflict in modern Quebec in its architecture and public art.

Delve into the soundtrack of the documentary featuring sound takes from Dorchester square, followed by a discussion with composer and COHDS Scholar-in-Residence Jad Orphée Chami.

The screening of Dorchester: au coeur de la mêlée followed by a Q&A with Director Eli Jean Tahchi (Nemesis Films), Producer Karim Haroun and Composer and COHDS Scholar-in-Residence Jad Orphée Chami.