To mark Remembrance Day, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will make Claude Guilmain’s documentary The Van Doos in Afghanistan available online at , free of charge, for a 24-hour period starting on November 11. Shot in March 2011 during ground operations in Afghanistan, where members of the Canadian Forces Royal 22e Régiment are deployed, the film seeks to give these soldiers a voice. Their frank and sincere comments convey a complex, little-known reality. During Veterans’ Week (November 7 to 11), six short vignettes from the film will be posted online as a special preview, giving the public a chance to become acquainted with a different soldier each day. During the same period, the full documentary will screen in a number of Canadian cities as well as in France. 


Filmed by Claude Guilmain, who was accompanied by NFB producer Jacques Turgeon, the material in The Van Doos in Afghanistan will form part of a feature documentary film slated for release in 2014, to coincide with the Royal 22e Régiment’s 100th anniversary. The infantry regiment is one of the Canadian Forces’ largest. Stationed primarily at CFB Valcartier near Quebec City, it is the only entirely francophone regiment in Canada, hence its French name and the nickname for its soldiers—―the Van Doos,‖ derived from a mispronunciation of the French word for twenty-two, vingt-deux.

The soldiers of the Royal 22e Régiment—all of whom are French-speaking—talk simply and openly about themselves and their work between patrol missions and their activities back at the base. These images and comments constitute a rare document that conveys the impact and complexity of the issues on the ground, shedding light on a little-known reality. Director Claude Guilmain has worked with the NFB on several occasions to date, notably in 2006 for his highly personal documentary Portrait of a Perfect Stranger (NFB). In 2008, he also directed Front Lines (NFB), a tribute to Canadian combattants in the First World War that chronicles the conflict through evocative archival images and heartfelt emotions expressed in private letters.

Starting today, November 7, viewers can catch the following vignettes online: My Battalion and The Patrol (November 7); The Road to Mushan (November 8); Proud Infantryman (November 9); Mission Accomplished (November 10); and A Minute of Silence (November 11). The complete version of The Van Doos in Afghanistan will also be available for viewing online throughout a 24-hour period on November 11.

There will also be free public screenings of The Van Doos in Afghanistan in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

Montreal: Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at the NFB CineRobotheque, in French; followed by a discussion with guests.
Toronto: Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at the NFB Mediatheque, in French with English subtitles; followed by a discussion with guests.
Ottawa: Nov. 11 at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Canadian War Museum, in French with English subtitles; presented in collaboration with the museum.

Also available online starting today (Nov 7) is Soldier Brother. Toronto artist Kaitlin Ann Jones contemplates a lifetime as she watches her 20-year-old brother serve in Afghanistan. Through an interactive exploration of his possessions and their shared text messages, she examines the nuances of sibling relationships, her displaced role as ―big sister‖ in the face of what her brother is doing, the challenges of instant communication, the conflict of her own emotions, and the haunting, indelible feeling that there’s no turning back. Produced by Alicia Smith and executive produced by Loc Dao and Robert McLaughlin at the NFB. To view Soldier Brother, go to http://soldierbrother.nfb.ca/#/soldierbrother.