Regarding the additional work of Mr. Davis, his 10-minute fictional short, Aruba, was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. He received the Don Haig Award for top emerging Canadian director at the 2007 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Hubert Davis worked on other films such as The Republic of Love as an assistant editor and Bollywood/Hollywood (directed by the Indo-Canadian Deepa Mehta, who received an Oscar nomination and Genie Awards for Water in 2006 and 2007). She had an early influence on Davis’s filmmaking career: “ Before directing, I worked on post-production. I had the chance to work with Deepa Mehta. She was one of the first directors I got to see work behind the scenes. It always becomes more realistic to pursue your dream when you get a chance to see people doing it – it makes it real”, he said.
Invisible City (a TVO-NFB production) is Hubert Davis's latest documentary. It is the story of young residents from Toronto’s Regent Park, Canada’s oldest public housing project. The Regent Park Revitalization plan involves tearing down the existing community over the next 15 years, which has raised many questions, one of the most important being: What will happen to the displaced community?
Invisible City focuses mainly on the lives of two teenagers, Kendell and Mikey (who are childhood friends), in their last years of high school. Those teens and their mothers could share very personal issues in front of the camera. When asked how he was able to make them open up in such a profound way, Davis stated: “I think I just try and come from a place of understanding. I am not there to judge anyone – I am there to ask questions and really listen to what people are saying”.
In the film, Davis introduces viewers to Ainsworth Morgan, a former Canadian Football League player who grew up in Regent Park and returned to work as a teacher and mentor. Mr. Morgan introduced Mr. Davis to the two teenagers and was instrumental in allowing the filmmaker to enter the world of Kendell and Mikey.
Hubert Davis explained during our interview why it was important for him as a director to make a film touching subjects such as racial profiling, issues surrounding the school system, and the absence of older male role models: “I wanted the film to reflect candidly and honestly the many issues that several young, black men face in the city today. At the same time, I don’t want to simplify or sensationalize those issues either.”
Redemption is a recurring theme in Davis’s documentaries. The filmmaker commented on this aspect, which we also find in Invisible City: “Redemption is an important part of my films because I believe we can always change our lives for the better.”
It is essential to note that Mr. Davis was inspired by Ralph Ellison’s classic American novel Invisible Man, which used numerous images, metaphors, and allusions to enhance the book's emotional and intellectual impact. Hubert Davis related why it was fundamental to use Ellison's invisibility allegory for his documentary: “I think most young people feel invisible. Growing up isn’t easy for anyone, but if you are also facing issues of race and poverty, then I think the realities of how one is perceived are even more profound. Do people really see you, or do they just see the clothes you wear and the neighbourhood where you are from?”
