''Guidelines'' () is a 2014 Canadian feature-length documentary by
Jean-François Caissy Jean-François Caissy (born September 15, 1977) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker from Quebec.
Originally from Carleton-sur-Mer, he trained as a photographer before making films. In addition to his films he has also exhibited as a video artist, a ...
about adolescent students at the École Antoine Bernard high school in the rural community of
Carleton-sur-Mer
Carleton-sur-Mer () is the fifth largest town of the Gaspésie's south shore, in southeastern Quebec, Canada, located on Route 132, along Chaleur Bay. It is the seat of the Avignon Regional County Municipality.
The town's territory includes ...
, in the
Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine
() is an administrative region of Quebec consisting of the Gaspé Peninsula () and the . It lies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the eastern extreme of southern Quebec. The predominant economic activities are fishing, forestry and tourism.
...
region. The film uses a
fly on the wall
Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, ...
style of documentary storytelling as it chronicles such issues as drug use, bullying and disruptive behaviour, while contrasting school life with the freedom of the outdoors. In conversations between teachers or social workers and students, Caissy often makes use of a fixed camera, so that voices of adult authority are off-screen and unseen.
Caissy has stated that ''Guidelines'' is part of a series of films he plans to make on five stages of human life: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age as well as old age, which was the subject of his 2010 feature documentary ''La belle visite''. Caissy grew up in the Gaspésie region, and was drawn to the Antoine Bernard school because it reminded him of his own experiences as a youth.
The film is produced by the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
.
Release
''Guidelines'' had its world premiere at the
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
. Its awards include the World Pulse Award for best documentary at , as well as
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...
Nicolas Canniccioni
Nicolas Canniccioni is a Canadian cinematographer.
In 2009, Canniccioni served as additional director of photography for Xavier Dolan's '' I Killed My Mother''. In 2015, he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Cinematography in a D ...