YOU LOOK LIKE ME

I passed you by, I only passed you by, on the street, in the subway,

or rather I saw you, I only saw you, on television, in the newspapers,

I read the story of your life, I saw photos of you,

I saw you passing by, only passing by,

but I could’nt forget your eyes, they said to me :

“Little brother, little sister, you look like me.”

Festivals and other screenings :

Festival du nouveau cinéma, Montréal, October 2014; Sommets du cinéma d’animation, Québec and Montreal, from November 27 to December 7 2014 (best Canadian film Award); Picolo Festival Animazione, December 11 to 30 2014, in Udine, Pordenone and Trieste; Animac, Lleida, and CCCB, Barcelona, Spain, 2015; Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, February 19 to 28; Official competition at the Regard sur le court métrage au Saguenay, March 11 to 15 2015; official competition at the Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, Nederlands, March 18-22 2015; official competition, Animation Avant-garde, Vienna Independent Shorts Festival, May 26-31 2015; official competition Off Limit, Festival international du film d’animation d’Annecy, June 15-20 2015; June 24-28 2015, The Extremely short films non-competitive section at the 8th International Animation Festival Fest Anca, Zilina, Slovakia ; July 13-18 2015, 14th Countryside Animafest Cyprus – Views of the World; July 14 – August 7 2015, Fantasia Festival, Montreal; September 16-20 2015, Ottawa 2015 International Animation Festival; October 31/November 3, New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival 2015, Japan; October 31 – November 5 2015, Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue; December 7-13 2015, Animateka Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 8 et 9 février, Anima festival in Brussels; February 19 2016, Limited Access Festival in Tehran; April 28 – May 2 2016, Stuttgart animation Festival; June 6-11 2016, World Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Animafest; October 13 2016, Ethnography Museum of Geneva; Animation and Contemporary Art exhibition, Taalinn, Estonie, August 18 to 21, 2021, retrospective at the Tehran International Animation Film Festival, March 2024.

Awards :

Guy L. Côté award for the best Canadian animation film at Les Sommets du cinéma d’animation, Dec. 2014.

Direction and production: Pierre Hébert and René Lussier

Text : Paule Marier

Translation and narration : Jim Corcoran

Music : René Lussier

Animation : Pierre Hébert

Sound mixing : Martin M. Messier

Thanks to the Audio Zone studio

5:45, HDvideo

Stills are available here.

Context:

First, about ten years ago, there was a text by Paule Marier. Then, René Lussier made a song from that text for his 2014 album (Toucher une âme). Jim Corcoran translated the text to English and recorded it for his CBC radio program, but instead he decided to send it to René Lussier suggesting that maybe he could do something new out of it. René created a new music over the recorded text and after listening to the finished sound track, the two decided that it would be good if there were images to it. This is how it finally ended up in my Drop Box and it gave birth to this film. Afterward, a French version of the film was made with the original French text.

Text:

YOU LOOK LIKE ME

I passed you by – I only passed you by

On the street – in the subway – or rather I saw you

I only saw you – on television – in the newspapers

I read the story of your life – I saw photos of you

I saw you passing by – only passing by

But I couldn’t forget your eyes

You look like my little brother Eugene

So shy, it’s embarrassing.

You look like my little brother Theo

A timid heart – his eyes hidden behind curtains

You look like my little sister Laurence

Her heart under lock and key – her eyes silenced

You look like my little sister Carole

Her damp heart – her basement eyes

You look like me

You look like my little brother Nico

His heart beaten in the ring – his eyes knocked unconscious

You look like my little sister Esther

Her swindled heart – Her forged eyes

You look like my little brother Peter

His exhausted heart – his poker eyes

You look like my little sister Annette

Her wasted heart – her gambling eyes

You look like me

You look like my little sister Sabine

Her punctured heart – her heroine eyes

You look like my little brother Paulo

His liquid heart – his bottleneck eyes

You look like my little brother Leon

His heart pounded – Her screeching eyes

You look like my little sister Catou

Her raped heart – her fuck you eyes

You look like my little brother Raoul

His scalped heart – his hooded eyes

You look like my little brother Charlot

His welded heart – his blow torch eyes

You look like me

I passed you by – I only passed you by

On the street – in the subway – or rather I saw you

I only saw you – on television – in the newspapers

I read the story of your life – I saw photos of you

I saw you passing by – only passing by

But I couldn’t forget your eyes

You look like my little sister Delphine

Her purchased heart – her storefront eyes

You look like my little sister Senka

Her soiled heart – her soldier eyes

You look like my little sister Waris

Her excised heart – her tortured eyes

You look like my little sister Salem

Her repudiated heart – her harem eyes

You look like my little brother Rachid

His humiliated heart – his suicide eyes

You look like my little brother Nazir

His sacrificed heart – his martyr’s eyes

You look like my little sister Gunar

Her muzzled heart – her memory eyes

You look like my little brother Atom

His heart riddled with bullets – his massacre eyes

You look like my little sister Sarah

Her gas chambered heart – her Shoah eyes

You look like me

You look like Tchang

You look like Chou

You look like Han

You look like Liu

Like Baima – Like Wanerma

Like Sachiko – Like Shiwichi

Like Chandrika – Like Suleyman

Like Khadijat – Like Zoulikan

You look like my little sister Muzzo

Like Akesa – Like N’Dolo

Like Kefentse – Like Siwatu

Like Mamadou – Like Tebogo

Your bullet riddled heart – Your trigger eyes

Your bludgeoed heart – Your machété eyes

You look like my little sister Tupac

Like Manichan – Like Sanaac

Like Irupé – Like Alihuen

Like Amaru – Like Tasunke

You look like my little brother Suashem

Like Tsitshennish – Like Tshiuetin

Stripped heart – Enslaved heart

Decimated heart – Colonized heart

You look like me

Our booby trapped hearts – Our amputated eyes

Our avenged hearts – Our dead end eyes

I passed you by – I only passed you by

On the street – in the subway – or rather I saw you

I only saw you – on television – in the newspapers

I read the story of your life – I saw photos of you

I saw you passing by – only passing by

But I couldn’t forget your eyes

Your hunted eyes – your free range eyes

Your starving eyes – your broken eyes

Your nightmare eyes – your dagger eyes

Carved into my heart like windows for your screams

like windows on my emptiness

My blind heart – my bellybutton eyes

My greedy heart – my profit eyes

My frozen heart – my mirror eyes

My closed heart – my closet eyes

I passed you by – I only passed you by

On the street – on the subway – or rather I saw you

I only saw you – on the television – in the newspapers

I read the story of your life – I saw photos of you

I saw you passing by – only passing by

But I couldn’t forget your eyes

They said to me

Little brother – Little sister

You look like me – You look like me

Two simultanous voices, English/French.