When filmmakers and producers converge in Montreal Quebec this week for the Montreal International Animation Film Festival, they will view Rebekah Modrak’s film “The Implicit Jacques Panis,” which was accepted into the competitive festival. The Montreal Animation Film Festival screens an international selection of animation features, shorts and experimental films. The festival runs from August 29 to September 1, 2019.

“The Implicit Jacques Panis” is a rectified readymade, made by painting on a found video promoting the company Shinola. The source footage shows a day-in-the-life of Shinola’s former president Jacques Panis. Detroit is the playground for his activities and his scene of conquest. The altered film creatively comments on the original by dressing Panis in a series of hats that hint at the implications of power in each scene. The Implicit Jacques Panis is dense with allusions to American history, politics, and pop culture, humorously trapping Panis as a deadpan actor in his role as a leader marketing Detroit authenticity for the consumption of affluent whites. The work is part of RETHINK SHINOLA, a net-based artwork analyzing luxury-goods company Shinola’s brand messages.