Supplied – Martin LapriseInterrupt This Program is a CBC series that profiles five war torn cities as the creators of the show, Nabil Mehchi and Frank Fiorito search through “the inspiring underbelly of the city.” The duo set out to understand the power of the underground art scenes in Beirut, Kiev, Athens, Port-au-Prince and Medellin. The docu-series follows young artists attempting to rebuild their city’s identity from various trauma while preserving the culture.
“We wanted to show that there is more than meets the eye in each and every one of these cities,” explains Mehchi.
Despite choosing cities that have gone through major events, they wanted to ensure that they were showcasing cities that were improving.
“We want to focus on cities that are getting better and that are dealing with their past … and the people who are provoking that change in most of these cities are the artists,” Fiorito elaborates.
The unifying theme in the series is that there are artists around the world who want to implement the common goal of transformation and change the conversation regarding their home and their fading culture.
“Their culture is being eroded,” Mechi states. “Those stepping up to preserve it are the passionate young artists saying ‘we were once a very strong militant people … we can be victorious again in a more modern way.’”
The people were excited about finally showing another image of their cities, Fiorito found it easy to find people to talk to, as the media generally enters to show nothing but misery in the aftermath of some disaster. In the Haitian earthquake aftermath, citizens in Port-au-Prince were excited to share their dynamic musical scene after seeing nothing but the devastation of the earthquake. They were taking new things in the destruction and finding hope in the medium.
“Its interesting that it’s the young generation waking up and saying, ‘how about we do rap and hip hop in our own language?’ How about we do graffiti using the old Arabic calligraphy letters? I find that actually very inspiring and humbling,” Mehchi reflects.
The artists the duo spoke with found various mediums important to helping the rest of the population deal with anger about their situations. Whatever they were trying to do, be it exist under an oppressive government or an undesirable status quo, globally, artists are reminding people to move forward.
“Anywhere you go in the world whether they’re going through a war or social unrest or they’re in a very comfortable westernized setting, artists are still trying to push certain buttons and bring up the issues that need to be brought up,” Mehchi illuminates.
This team is giving viewers a glimpse of the courage that young people have around the world as they take a stance in their own city and it truly reminds Canadians what an amazing country we live in. Mehchi and Nabil outline how important it is as Canadians to know more about the different backgrounds we come from so that people can be more aware of their collective identity as global citizens.
Fiorito says that after meeting all these inspirational young artists, their advice to young people is that if you feel you have a project you want to do, just do it.
“Instead of waiting for galleries these artists just jumped in and took to the streets,” Mehchi says. “They used any medium they could in order to present their message to whoever is watching. They have very little infrastructure to present their art in but somehow they find a way. Art finds a way.”
