Mary Ellen Davis
Canada 2007, 65 minutes
Peripheria Productions www.peripheria.ca

LARRY TOWELL is the only Canadian member of the legendary Magnum Photos agency, known for its humanist and universal approach. Towell belongs to this tradition. His curiosity may guide him sometimes to the heart of conflicts, but his works express a particular sense of intimacy. More than a war photographer, Towell considers himself a family photographer. This documentary reveals the artist and the man through his photographic work and his open meditations on life and the creative process.

Filmed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (West Bank and East-Jerusalem), at the border between Mexico and the United States (States of California and Baja California), New York and Southern Ontario in Canada.

Through Larry Towell's lens...

Palestinians form a procession around the coffin of a child killed by Israeli bullets. These are territories in dispute.

In Mexico, Mennonite communities resist modernity and retain their culture of peace and spirituality - territories of the soul. Nonetheless, drought and globalization force them into poverty and migration - territories as land.

Impassible walls and fences are built to separate people – forbidden territories.

Larry Towell, through his photographs, captures reality with a personal approach, a sense of poetry, and even mysticism, that does not undermine the journalist’s rigor and curiosity - territories of creation.

Back home, the photographer works to reveal the beauty of his own universe: the farm, the family, a winding river in southwestern Ontario. A testimony of the precious and the sacred - territories of refuge.

Photos by Larry Towell http://www.magnumphotos.com
Director Mary Ellen Davis
Producer Yanick Létourneau
Composer Antoine Bustros
Cinematography Mark Ellam
Sound Recordists Pablo Villegas Hernandez, Juan Gutierrez
Editing Mariano Franco
Sound Editing Hugo Brochu, Patrice LeBlanc
Prod. Périphéria Productions www.peripheria.ca

Produced with the financial participation of :
SODEC Société de développement des entreprises culturelles - Québec
FCT Fonds canadien de télévision
Crédit d’impôt cinéma et télévision - Sodec
FCFVI Fonds canadien du film et de la vidéo indépendants
Crédit d'impôt pour production cinématographique ou magnétoscopique canadienne
CAC Conseil des Arts du Canada
In association with Bravo!
With the collaboration of Téléquébec, TVOntario-TFO, and CBC Newsworld