Roachpicsforticketsposter-3 - Flickr - Eye Steel Film

Eric Denis better known as Eric "Roach" Denis is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

maker and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...

whose films deal with social justice, and particularly

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

Earlier Life

Denis was born in Grenville,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

. At age 9, his parents divorced and he went on to live with his mother in

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada *Hawkesbury Island, Queensland, ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. After a brief stay with his father, he was put in a juvenile detention centre because he had been hooked on smoking

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...

. At the age of 14, he escaped from the center he was assigned to and started living as a

street kid Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policyma ...

in the streets of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

acquiring

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...

hard drugs Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

in the process as a teenager. Denis assuming the pseudonym "Roach" became a squeegee teenager sleeping in parks, abandoned cars and refuge centers and was arrested many times. It was during these troubled times that he met

EyeSteelFilm EyeSteelFilm is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company co-founded by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression. Today the studio is run ...

's director Daniel Cross who was planning to shoot a

about squeegees and Roach offered to tell his part of the story by film thus beginning his career as a documentary filmmaker and

Movie career

Denis began first by documenting his own life as an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English p ...

, entitled "RoachCam" as part of the acclaimed '' S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic'' directed by Daniel Cross and

Mila Aung-Thwin Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice. He had a multi-disciplinary education in arts, journalism, and photography. In 1998, he met his fellow director/producer Daniel Cross ...

. Using cinema as a motivation to get cleaned up, "Roach" has gone on to make two other films with EyeSteelFilm: ''

RoachTrip ''RoachTrip'' is a 2003 Canadian documentary film, documentary about two punk subculture, punks, Roach and his friend Smash down the invisible punk highway across Canada. It captures their goal to escape the streets of Montreal as they cross to r ...

'' is his directorial debut film. It is

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English p ...

take about the invisible punk highway from

to the orchards of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. In August 2004, the film went on to win the second prize in the "Portraits" category" in

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russia ...

festival in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. He recently directed ''

Punk the Vote! ''Punk the Vote!'' (in French ''Punk le vote!'') is a 73-minute 2006 Canadian documentary about the Canadian elections, and a hilarious and at the same time a critical take on Canadian politics punk-rock style, when two punks decide to run as i ...

'', again an autobiographical documentary which saw Roach and fellow punker Starbuck run for Canadian federal elections against Liberal incumbent

Jean Lapierre Jean-Charles Lapierre (May 7, 1956 – March 29, 2016) was a Canadian politician and television and radio broadcaster. After retiring from the government in 2007, he served as a political analyst in a variety of venues. He was Paul Martin's Q ...

, in an informative, hilarious take on Canadian politics punk-rock style. Eric Denis didn't win the election. Roach had 101 votes. His main goal in this film was to give the homeless the opportunity to vote. From his works also is the short film ''ZLEA: Zone Libre d'Expression Anarchiste'' (translated as Free Zone for Anarchist Expression) in 2005. Denis' films have played in festivals such as

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ont ...

, in

(

), DocsDF (Mexico City) and Nemo (Paris). ''Tickets'' is about the police tactic of issuing large numbers of minor infractions against homeless people in order to “evict” them from public areas, eventually relocating them to prison. This new film examines the social, financial and human cost of criminalizing Montreal's homeless community. By following this issue from the Ministry of Justice, to the streets, and finally to prison, the film aims to investigate what is happening to the rights of society's already alienated street community. It was shown at Festival du Nouveau Cinema, FICFA, RVCQ and other festivals. Denis has also did some conferences on the subject around the province of Quebec.

Filmography

* S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic *

* ''ZLEA: Zone Libre d'Expression Anarchiste'' * ''Les Tickets''

Electoral record

''Source
Official Results, Elections Canada
an
Financial Returns, Elections Canada
''

References

External links