Top picks from Raccords and our guests

Contributors to this thirteenth issue of Raccords – Jessica Bolduc, Marc Freedman, and Thaïla Khampo – share their top picks in line with our theme, hoping to encourage the normalization of cross-generational exchanges of perspectives and ideas.

Resources for cultivating a cross-generational perspective

The Movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once“
For his top pick, Thaïla Khampo recommends the movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“the Daniels”). Why this film? Because it dares break with the stereotypical depiction of an all-powerful young, or very young character (Harry Potter, for instance), instead featuring a heroine who is older, female, and Asian. The main character, Evelyn Wang (played by Michelle Yeoh), runs a laundromat and is living a humdrum life with a myriad of small problems that include trouble with the IRS. When called upon to become an unlikely superhero, Wang uses her own life experience and worldview to do battle with an evil sweeping through the multiverse. It’s a generational reversal to tackle the world’s complexity… and a perfect top pick to illustrate this issue of Raccords!
The Movie “Beans“
Jessica Bolduc suggests we watch the film “Beans” (2020) by Mohawk director Tracey Deer. The movie examines the events around the 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec, which Deer experienced as a child. In this semi-autobiographical narrative, the director focuses on Tekehentahkhwa, a 12-year-old girl (nicknamed “Beans”) who experiences a historic moment of Indigenous sovereignty and resistance in Canada as her community strives to protect its sacred lands from development. By complementing Beans’ teenage perspective with strong, older female characters and archival footage, the director enables intergenerational audiences, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ones, to connect today’s impacts of colonial policy and capitalism to the real experiences of Indigenous peoples, whether or not they know what happened that summer.
The Soccer Grannies of South Africa Initiative
Marc Freedman informs us of an initiative that has had a widening impact on social and cultural norms. Seeking to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, a group of South African women between the ages of 55 and 84 started to play soccer back In 2003. Their aim was to stay active and healthy and use the sport as therapy to leave behind, if only temporarily, the harshness of their lives. The idea has since spread like wildfire, now boasting some 40 informal teams in three African countries. The players are featured in a documentary, Alive & Kicking: The Soccer Grannies of South Africa. Becoming proficient in a popular sport dominated by men, the soccer grannies are breaking taboos – age, the place of women in the world – and normalizing the image of dynamic, resilient and socially active seniors.
The Innovating Neighbourhood Project
Maison de l’innovation sociale (MIS), the team behind the Raccords quarterly, is involved in the Innovating Neighbourhood initiative. Launched in 2019 and supported by the Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (Montreal University Institute of Geriatrics Research Centre, or CRIUGM), the living lab created by Innovating Neighbourhood works with and on behalf of senior citizens to find ways to maintain their quality of life in the Côte-des-Neiges district of Montréal. The living lab takes an innovative approach that prioritizes the people who are so often excluded from the process of developing new products or services that concern them.
Cross-generational daycare centres
Another top pick from the Maison de l’innovation sociale, is Tom & Josette. Like similar ideas emerging in Quebec and Canada, this network of micro-daycares hopes to reconnect generations. It’s an innovative project in France created to enhance the growing up and ageing process. Through daycare centres inside seniors’ residences, the very young and the less young interact daily. More than a social connection, these cross-generational relationships foster well-being and fulfilment while dispelling ageist preconceptions.

Read the other sections of this issue

THE EDITORIAL

What if adopting an intergenerational lens helped us to move forward?

We had the Silent Generation, then the Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials (Gen Y), Gen Z, Alpha… and coming up now, Beta. Far from sharing the demographic landscape on an equitable footing, these generational groups compete with each other to make their voices heard. Read more

THE PODCAST

Écoutez le balado de Raccords avec Marc Freedman, directeur de CoGenerate. Innovation sociale, social innovation, intergénérationnel

Solving today’s wicked problems with intergenerational power

Marc Freedman explains the transformative potential of a co-existence model based on bringing generations together, and some ways it can be achieved. Listen to the podcast

THE INTERVIEW

Jessica Bolduc, invitée de Raccords #13 de la Maison de l'innovation sociale et directrice générale du 4Rs Youth Movement

Reimagining reconciliation from the perspective of Indigenous youth

An interview with Jessica Bolduc, executive director of 4R’s Youth Movement, an inclusive, youth-led, Indigenous-centered initiative. Read the interview

THE ART WORK

Découvrez l'oeuvre «Les rencontres» de Thaïla Kham Po dans l'édition #13 de Raccords, la publication numérique sur l'innovation sociale, qui porte sur le potentiel d'innovation des relations intergénérationnelles.

Two generations shape the world together

The illustration « Les rencontres » by Thaïla Khampo explores the connections forged between generations through the depiction of its creator’s artistic vocation. Read more and discover the illustration

Browse previous issues of Raccords