Yao in Ottawa, Ont.
[Opening with a black screen.]
[Music plays. French text appears on the screen: “Balade à Toronto”. More text is added: “présente”, then “Yao à Ottawa, Ont.”]
[Shot of two pedestrians crossing a steel truss bridge, with Parliament visible in the background, overlooking the Ottawa River.]
[Close-up of a tall young black man, bald and smiling. He is sitting in a car parked in an urban center. ]
[The music volume decreases.]
Young man: Coming to Canada, I confess, ...
[Shot of the young man walking beside a multi-storey stone and glass building. He is carrying a large red binder.]
Young man: ... I didn’t know I was coming to stay. I came with my parents at the time and ...
[Close-up of the young man, standing in front of a grassy area, separated from the street by a fence.]
Young man: ... they told us we were going on vacation and then, ...
[Shot of the young man walking on a sidewalk beside a wrought iron fence; behind the fence, tall trees; in the background, Parliament Hill.]
Young man: ... we leave in the middle of the night, we arrive at the airport. When we’re filling in the boarding information, we ...
[Shot of river spanned by a concrete bridge. On the bank in the distance, trees and a high-rise building.]
Young man: ... ask, “Mom, where are we going?” She says, “Don’t worry about that, I'll fill it in.” OK.
[Shot of Parliament Hill.]
Young man: So, we arrive in Ottawa, we go into an apartment, ...
[Shot of person lying in the grass, next to a bicycle.]
Young man: ... there’s nothing in the apartment. We spend the night on the floor that day.
[Close-up of the young man standing in a green space near a multi-storey institutional building.]
Young man: It's been sixteen years now, that’s a very, very, very, very, very long vacation ... [LAUGHS] you could say.
[The music volume increases.]
[Shot of a multi-storey institutional building made of white stone, with a glass roof. Near the building, a green space and a sculpture made of lamp posts.]
[Close-up of the young man standing on a high concrete structure, with a river in the background. Three girls are taking pictures behind the young man. The music volume decreases.]
Young man: When I arrived, you, you’re searching for yourself a little. I arrive in an English-speaking city. I don’t speak English.
[Shot of a river spanned by a steel truss bridge, with trees in the foreground. On the opposite bank, an urban landscape.]
[Shot of the young man walking under the sculpture of a giant spider. In the background, a large church.]
Young man: Fortunately, I wrote poems. I remember that when I arrived, I wrote poems about belonging, to be exact. How to find yourself in this environment? You try to ...
[Close-up of the young man seen from behind. He is standing in front of a concrete underpass. There is a flare effect. Traffic noise.]
Young man: ... to integrate. How exactly, do you integrate?
[Close-up of the young man playing bass guitar. Sound of the bass guitar and sound of a camera.]
[Close-up of the young man's left hand playing chords on the bass guitar.]
[Close-up of the young man playing the bass guitar.]
[Another shot of the young man playing the bass guitar. He is smiling.]
[Close up of the young man's hands. He is holding photographs, including a photograph of two young black men, on stage with microphones. The sound volume decreases.]
Young man: We’ve seen the evolution of rap take a certain direction.
[Close up of the young man's left hand. He is holding a photograph of a young black man wearing a green T-shirt and a white cap, a microphone in his hand.]
Young man: Of course, there are certain types of rap and that's what many people don’t know.
[Close up of the young man's right hand. He is holding a photograph of a group of three young black men and a young Latin American man.]
Young man: We started to get everybody together in gangster rap.
[The music starts again.]
[Close-up of the young man sitting on a couch, looking down.]
Young man: So for me, it was a little ... When you tell someone that you rap, people are like, “Oh!”
[Close-up of the young man sitting on couch, looking at photographs.]
Young man: I found that the medium the most interesting for me would be slam ...
[Close-up of the young man's left hand. He is holding a photograph of two young black men, dressed in green and white, on stage with microphones. The sound of slam in the background.]
Young man: ... which is my first love, for writing, for poetry.
[Slam with music and French lyrics:
J'ai la mine dure, des cicatrices dans l'émail.
Léger regain d'un phénomène qui me tenaille.
Donc je t'écris : “Viens prendre un verre, qu'on se défonce aux retrouvailles.”]
[Close-up of the young man's hands holding a collection of Émile Nelligan poems.]
[Close-up of the young man's hands, holding the big red binder that is open, and a small black notebook that is closed.]
[The slam volume decreases.]
[Close-up of the young man's hands, leafing through the binder. Pages with words handwritten or typed. Pages with drawings.]
Young man: My big red binder is really ... it's my Bible.
[Slam with music and French lyrics:
D'y laisser nos souliers et le fardeau de nos déceptions.]
[The volume decreases at the end.]
Young man: I’m always writing ideas, I scribble titles, concepts. So, I still have ideas ...
[Close-up of the young man sitting on couch, notebook in hand, eyes raised.]
Young man: ... and when I open my binder, I go through it and I come across something that says to me: “Ah wow, that inspires me with something!”
[Slam with music and French lyrics:
Si j'suis parti, c'est de leur faute, tu dois me croire
J'aurais tout fait pour éviter.]
[The slam volume decreases.]
[Shot of the young man walking, holding his big red binder, down a busy pedestrian lane, with buildings on one side and green space on the other. Ambient noise.]
[Shot of four cellos on their support. The young man and another individual are reflected in a mirror to the right. Sounds of a music rehearsal.]
[Shot of a large sink stained with paint. A brush and a tray are in the sink. Ambient noise.]
[Shot of the young man, seen from above, standing in the lobby of a school. Behind him, a series of panels. Woven into the carpet, a logo and the name “De La Salle” in red. Sound of a school bell ringing, and ambient noise.]
[Photograph of a smiling young black man. He is dressed in a black robe and a red and white graduation hood.]
Young man: Right now, we are in a public high school ...
[Close-up of the young man seen from behind. He is walking down the hallway of an institution. Young people are standing in the corridor, where works of art are displayed. Ambient noise.]
Young man: ... De-La-Salle. It, it's my second home.
[Shot of the young man, smiling, playing basketball in a gym. In the background, several young teenagers. Sounds of balls bouncing.]
Young man: This is where I started. This is where I ...
[Close-up of the young man, holding plastic armor to his chest.]
Young man: ... started in theater. I did two years of theater. Then I did writing and literary creation.
[Shot of the young man, seen in profile. He is leaving through an open metal door.]
Young man: It's a place that makes me ... that reminds me ...
[Close-up of the young man, seen in profile. He is on stage with technical equipment behind him. Ambient noise.]
Young man: ... of where I come from. It’s a place that allows me to remain humble. And it's a place that inspires me ...
[Shot of five young people on a red-lit stage. They are doing acrobatics, dressed in black with white masks. Ambient noise.]
Young man: ... still, still until today.
[Ambient noise.]
[Shot of the young man meeting youth in an institutional environment. In the foreground, black teenagers. Ambient noise.]
Young man: I come to school, I walk in the corridors. I have eyes that ...
[Shot of the young man shaking hands with black teenager in an institutional setting. Two other black teens and a white teenager are also present. Ambient noise.]
Young man: ... are shining, my heart is beating.
[Shot of the young man, seen from behind, face turned back toward the camera. He is walking down the empty hallway of an institution. Ambient noise.]
Young man: You are free to do what you want to do. Decide what you want to do. You have all the resources ...
[Shot of the young man standing on a landing, in front of a mural depicting a multicoloured urban landscape. Ambient noise.]
Young man: ... possible and imaginable at your disposal.
[Slam with music and French lyrics:
J'ai hâte de te revoir, sourire
Signé... bof, tu sais c'est qui.]
[Shot of the young man smiling, walking down the street in front of multi-storey red brick building. He is carrying his red binder.]
[Shot of the young man, seen from behind, entering a restaurant in a brick building.]
[Close-up of the young man, seen from the front, sitting at a table leafing through his big red binder.]
[The slam volume decreases.]
Young man: I like the city.
[Close-up of the young man, seen from the side, sitting at a table leafing through his big red binder.]
Young man: I like being a child of the city, as we tend to say.
[Close-up of a baked cheese dish, served with a piece of lemon and slices of bread.]
Young man: I like restaurants, I like going out. I love life …
[Close-up of the young man, seen in profile. In the background, a window and a red outdoor umbrella. Ambient noise.]
Young man: ... as we tend to say, but I really like nature.
[Shot of a concrete dam, with a waterfall and pedestrian bridge. Sound of the waterfall.]
[Close-up of the young man, seen in profile, looking out a window, with the dam and waterfall in the background. The sound of waterfall continues.]
[Close-up of the young man, in the late-afternoon light. In the background, a river and concrete institutional buildings. The sound of waterfall continues.]
Young man: The breeze, the wind, the view, it's really those things that pull me back here all the time.
[Shot of a person lying on the grass next to a bicycle, seen from the top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill, a fence and a river. Bird song.]
Young man: And every time I come back, it's a new experience.
[Back to a shot used earlier in the video, of a river spanned by a concrete bridge. On the bank in the distance, trees and a high-rise building.]
Young man: There’s always a good fresh wind that hits you here. There’s a nice breeze ...
[Close-up of the young man sitting; in the background, the river and downtown Ottawa.]
Young man: ... that’s blowing all the time, all the time. So when you get here, let's say you had a big day ...
[Shot of couple sitting in park, near a steel truss bridge crossing the river. On the other side of the bank, an urban landscape.]
Young man: ... you get here, the wind hits you in the face, ...
[Close-up of the young man sitting high up, his red binder at his feet. He is looking down at a river, at the steel truss bridge and the urban landscape.]
Young man: ... you take a good breath and you say, “Wow, OK.”
[End of bird song.]
[Music]
[Black screen.]
[French text on screen:
“Pour en savoir plus sur Yao et sa musique, visitez baladeatoronto.ca”]
[Black screen, and sound fades out.]
(Translated from the original)
