Appearances are deceptive. This proverb doesn’t just apply to Anita Rowan’s characters, who keep secrets; it also applies to the author. Because behind her calm and reserved smile, hides a fighter. “A door is made to be knocked on. »
This quiet assurance destabilizes us. And for good reason. A few minutes earlier, once the press screening of the first episodes of Révoltés had finished, we had surprised her, lurking in the shadows, microphone closed, behind the rest of the team, who were posing under the flashes of the photographers.
But far from the spotlight, Anita Rowan takes her place. She doesn’t really have a choice. As the mother of a young autistic girl with special needs, she often has to fight against a rigid system that shows its limits every time a situation “steps out of the established boxes.”
This is also the reason why the premise of Les Révoltés touched her so strongly when producers Fabienne Larouche and Michel Trudeau (Aetios) contacted her to gauge her interest.
Starring Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse and Pier-Luc Funk, this drama directed by Louis Choquette (The Red Bracelets, The Honorable) relates the adventures of a journalist and a lawyer thirsty for social justice who try to help those left behind. -on behalf of institutions: an illegal immigrant, ex-spouse of a violent man, who is threatened with being sent back to Haiti, a drug addict patient subjected to harmful treatment in the hospital, a homeless person, etc.
“To make the project my own, I thought about everything I had experienced with my daughter,” explains Anita Rowan. When I took these steps, I often thought: but what do these parents do who don’t have hours to spend on the phone every day? Whose job doesn’t allow them to be free for a few hours to meet officials? How do these people who don’t necessarily have the money to clean up the system do it? And above all, people who don’t have the intellectual means? Because you need to have arguments and a lot of energy to fight against people who release their tapes and who refuse to admit that sometimes, situations are much more complicated than those they see on a daily basis. »
Anita Rowan says she did “a lot of digging” to accurately portray the current issues she wanted to address in The Rebels. Another detail to highlight: despite her frustrations with the system, the 44-year-old screenwriter did not want to write a pessimistic and hopeless series. “I’m a perseverer. A door is made to be knocked on. We knock two, three, four times, and when no one answers, we go elsewhere. »
Fabienne Larouche and Michel Trudeau discussed the Révoltés project with “several screenwriters” before opting for Anita Rowan. In an interview, the duo talks about a natural choice. “Anita had this sensitivity… She had this social concern that we were looking for,” emphasizes Fabienne Larouche.
A graduate of the University of Quebec in Montreal in communications, Anita Rowan was a designer, editor and artistic director for several advertising agencies before beginning a shift as a screenwriter in the early 2010s. During the last decade, she collaborated to the writing of successful series like O’, Les Parent, Une autre histoire and L’écuée.
In an interview, she declared that she never considered writing a series – or even a plot – inspired by the journey strewn with pitfalls that she is pursuing with Béatrice, her daughter, now 13 years old.
“I have a certain modesty about everything,” says the woman who until now had never publicly addressed her family reality. But one thing is certain, it is a powerful engine. This is why I write for a living. »
“My perseverance, the fire within me, this desire to work hard, even in difficult conditions, at times when everyone is asleep, is to be able to support my daughter. […] My work as a screenwriter was a blessing, because it allowed me to be there for [her], to go to multiple appointments, to therapy on a daily basis. She needed me so much that I could never have held a 9 to 5 office job. »
Although she questions the relevance of addressing her situation through fiction (“For me, it’s not necessarily newsworthy,” she admits), Anita Rowan admits, after a few seconds of reflection, the awareness-raising power of the small screen. She also welcomes the existence of Autiste, soon to be an adult, this documentary series produced by Charles Lafortune which exposes the obstacle course of parents of children who, as its title indicates, require special care.
“When the show came out, in the following days, I immediately noticed a change. People looked at my daughter differently. People looked at me differently. They had a better understanding. »
The Rebels is not the only offering from Anita Rowan to benefit from a showcase this fall. Released last January on ICI Tou.tv Extra, the miniseries Eyes Closed, with Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, will be broadcast on ICI Télé starting next month. Directed by Jeanne Leblanc (5th Rang), this psychological drama relates the quest of a woman who seeks to elucidate the death of a loved one, which occurred 27 years earlier.
Like The Rebels, Eyes Closed features several protagonists who can be described as “Russian dolls”, who give off a first (and perhaps even a second, a third…) erroneous impression.
“It represents human nature,” observes Anita Rowan. We are complicated beings with many facets. And as a viewer, I like to be taken on a trip. I don’t want to guess everything at first. »
