Hot Docs 2009 Review: Professor Norman Cornett, Bitch Academy, Intangible Asset No. 82

Title: Professor Norman Cornett
Director: Alanis Obomsawin

Professor Norman Cornett (pictured, top left) worked at McGill University for 15 years. He never had tenure and one morning, his contract was simply not renewed. No explanation is given, but the director posits that the administration has finally had enough of Cornett’s unorthodox methods.

“It’s like a slumber party, you know? When are the parents going to say, ‘pipe down!'” one student described the class.

Professor Cornett’s course consisted of daily stream-of-consciousness writing exercises and thrived on discussions. Indeed, 80 per cent of the final grade was based on participation. Students were asked to engage with music, art, religion and encouraged to question what they had been taught. Guest speakers included jazz musicians, Jewish leaders on all sides of a debate about Israel, former prime minister Paul Martin and a Supreme Court judge.

It was Cornett’s explicit goal to break with teaching tradition and encourage a love of learning. The abrupt change was sparked, he said, when he saw first-hand the effects of churning out essay after essay.

“Do you care about anything you study?” a former student of Cornett’s asks in the documentary. At McGill, he added, “you’re not required to.”

But in Cornett’s class, students were encouraged to care very much and to learn about themselves as much as the world around them.

He even allowed students to choose their own name. There’s a great scene where he calls on different speakers: “Woodstock! Sopranos Gal! Problem Child! Lieutenant Dan! Jefferson Cake! Little Mermaid had a question!”

Cornett’s dismissal was not only a shock to the students who adored him, but also his family. His wife Linda is fighting her own battle with cancer when he is fired.

So far, McGill has refused to say why Cornett is no longer teaching at the university.

Note: Director Alanis Obomsawin is the subject of a Hot Docs retrospective. Nine of her films, spanning over 30 years of work, will be shown this year.

Title: Bitch Academy
Director: Alina Rudnitskaya

Bitch Academy is a short film that follows a group of women who want to get married. But not to just anyone: a rich man, preferably a millionaire. Instructor Volodya promises his class of single ladies that they will do just that, if they follow his simple rules.

The women at the school, also called the Vixen Academy, are taught how to walk, how to approach men, how to turn off their heads. Then, it’s off to the Russian lesbian disco as the students strip down to their underwear and practice their dance moves. There is actually a lesson in banana-eating.

Volodya clearly loves having the camera around. He encourages one student to flirt with the cameraman, to admittedly cute effect.
Screens with Boris Ryzhy.

Title: Intangible Asset No. 82
Director: Emma Franz

It’s the most unlikely of road-trip movies. Simon Barker is already a noted Australian jazz drummer when he first hears the music of Korean shaman Kim Seok-Chul (pictured above). He’s so inspired he travels to the country to seek out the source of this incredible sound, but there are a few problems.

For one, his guide takes it upon himself to decide if Barker is worthy of making the journey, or if he’s just another Westerner who wants to exploit the centuries-old culture. For another, Seok-Chul is an 80-year-old recluse, protected by the government. The shaman and drummer is one of the country’s most important cultural treasures, so much so that he has his own designation: Seok-Chul is the Intangible Asset No. 82.

It’s a race against time to meet the ill man and part of the journey is spent learning the intricacies of Korean music. The style is all about relaxed power, Barker describes.

“I was sitting in the practice room, throwing myself on the ground as if someone in my life had just died,” he says in astonishment.

Once he’s mastered some of the techniques, and performed with Korean musicians, he’s finally deemed ready to meet the master himself. Barker and his guide travel to a remote area to witness a ceremony few have seen: a shaman praying for himself.

Hot Docs 2009 runs from April 30 – May 10. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.hotdocs.ca