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vol.#12 no 1, June 2006
� Mr. P�trowski ?
� Yes ?
� l'm Marie Boisclair, a Granby businesswoman.
� Oh, yes...
� l've heard that you're the expert in Quebec when it cornes to marketing video stores.
� Who told you that ?
� A Mr. Cournoyer from the NFB.
� I see. And what can I do for you ?
� Well, l've decided to open a video store in Granby and I need your expert advice. l'd like to invite you to dine at Latini (very chic restaurant in Complex Guy Favreau at the time when the NFB offices were located there)
Who am I to turn down such an invitation ?
So here's Mr. P�trowski, video marketing expert, sitting with a Granby businesswoman at the Latini.
Conversation flowed. I was no expert, but I did know something of videos, having inherited the file.
So, talk away, explain, extol the virtues of video, a field about to undergo EXPONENTIAL growth - why, the term might have been coined just for video.
l'll spare you the details of the extremely long conversation with the lady.
But as I was talking to her, I noticed something through the restaurant window. Out there in the garden, I thought I saw a camera (video, of course). Yes, that's what it was.
And the lady also seemed a little embarrassed, especially when I insisted she turn around to see said camera.
That, Madam, is the modern world, today's technology. Most likely the restaurant's managers have adopted this procedure to check up on their employees.
Reassured, the lady continued to ply me with questions about opening a video store in Granby.
And P�trowski the expert continued to dole out advice. Even beyond the call of duty. Keep going, you'll soon get the picture.
Briefly, at the end of an excellent meal and CONSUL-TA-TION, a gratified P�trowski phoned his colleague Guy Maguire to describe the fabulous encounter he had with this wonderful businesswoman from Granby. Maguire kept mum.
End of this chapter. One month later.
Fabulous reception in honour of Andr� P�trowski's retirement.
120 guests were present - including the "wonderful businesswoman from Granby," who was none other than... Guy Maguire's sister-in-law.
Then, the high point of the ceremony: a very NFBstyle short film showing Andr� P�trowski wildly gesticulating to the wonderful businesswoman from Granby at the Latini restaurant, complete with sound. What dialogue! What images! Maguire, Ducharme, Vall�e and company had contrived to produce a hilarious documentary on my pseudoknowledge of marketing video stores.
And the cherry on top. The last word: 120 guests got to see Mrs. P�trowski appear onscreen and say, not without irony, "My dear, I always said you'd be screwed by a woman."
For me, even today, 20 years later, sure, the NFB is all about the SHOTS, but it's also about friendship, camaraderie, and being one of the gang.
And making film on a daily basis.
Long live THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD.
Andr� P�trowski
