Sound creation – whether fiction, documentary or field recording – is flourishing in French-speaking Europe. Quebec is slowly following suit, and new avenues are opening up for the genre: public listening evenings are taking place, festivals are being organized and others are integrating sound documentaries into their programming. And the audience is there. But while the production of talk show-style podcasts is on the rise, there are still few Quebec productions making their mark in the world of sound documentaries. But not all stories need images to be told.

In this informal conversation, documentary filmmakers and audio artists Jenny Cartwright and David Cherniak draw on their practice and case studies to reflect on sound documentary, its production, distribution and form.

Jenny Cartwright

Jenny Cartwright explores themes of self-determination and inequality through subjects such as gentrification, activism, work and poverty. It is through this bias towards the sidelined that she attempts to combine poetry and manifestos. In 2019, she produced her first sound documentary, Debouttes!, which won the NUMIX award for best podcast in the history category. With this project, she discovers a medium reminiscent of literature in its strong evocative power: it’s love at first sight, and sound creation becomes her medium of choice. In 2022, Quels morceaux de nous a-t-elle emporterés avec elle? won the NUMIX international award in the immersive sound experience category. Jenny is co-programmer of the ÉCOUTE section of tënk.ca.

David Cherniak

David Cherniak collaborates on numerous visual arts and documentary projects, designing professional production workflows. The documentary Je me souviens d’un temps où personne ne joggait dans ce quartier (RIDM 2020, Doc-Cévennes) was his first feature-length film as director of photography, and led to the NFB production of Jenny Cartwright’s La Course. At the same time, he developed a multifaceted sound practice, co-directing his first sound documentary, Bienvenue aux dames, which was in competition at the Longueur d’ondes 2020 festival in Brest. He is currently developing immersive sound fiction projects as a producer.