First Stripes

As they undergo 12 weeks of intensive training, a group of young civilians is gradually moulded into soldiers. The Basic Training, a prerequisite for joining the Canadian Armed Forces, becomes the gateway to exploring the inner workings of a world governed by its own rules and values.

Guidelines

In scenes set behind closed doors that play out in real time, a fixed frame on adolescents being addressed by authority figures reveals the complexities of their daily lives. Conversely, seasonal outdoor activities like bridge diving, paintball and snowmobiling test unspoken boundaries of safety and beliefs of invincibility. Caissy masterfully allows silence to permeate scenes so that singular actions have great resonance. Almost half a century after Frederick Wiseman’s High School, Guidelines provides a fresh perspective on modern adolescen...