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In all aspects of work we prize speed. But perhaps our ancestors, with their abilitiy to wait, had a better sense of priorities than us today?
 

Naomi Kawase

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© <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>EXIST, WHATEVER THE COST</strong></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: right;"><strong>BY HELEN FARADJI*</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><br> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Since the very beginning, cinema in Quebec has faced two considerable challenges: successfully asserting its own identity and doing so by creating a loyal audience.</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><table width="205" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" class="fr"><tbody><tr><td bordercolor="#ffffff"> <p> </p> </td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"><img width="200" height="140" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/Albert_Tessier.jpg" alt=""></td> </tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" bordercolor="#ffffff"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br></span></td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Albert Tessier</span></td> </tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">The omnipotent Church avoided it like the plague. The five elections between 1936 and 1956 with Maurice Duplessis as Prime Minister, established a climate of Great Darkness which was ill-suited to any creative experimentation. American neighbours simply included it in their own domestic market. Yet for early Quebec cinema, the simple fact of existing, albeit in its most inoffensive form (its main films being those by the priest <strong>Albert Tessier</strong> and the abbot, Maurice Proulx, which proudly depicted the values of a good, submissive people, nature and rural life), seemed an achievement in itself.<br><br>However, while the Government of Canada established the National Film Board (NFB) in 1939, at the heart of which the animation department led by the brilliant <strong>Norman McLaren</strong> rapidly gained ground, a neglected industry attempted to free itself by tapping into the great successes of cultural heritage led by international directors (long live colonisation!). Amongst these directors (which included the French filmmaker, Paul Gury, who produced <em>Un homme et son péché</em> – <em>A Man and his Sin</em> – 1949, and <em>Séraphin</em>, 1950), was Fédor Ozep, a pioneer of Soviet cinema who directed <em><strong>Whispering City / La Forteresse</strong></em> (<em>The Fortress</em>) (1947), a police drama which was filmed simultaneously in both French and English language versions and had two different distributors! A historical curio, but also a symbol of the questions which would, from that point onwards, be associated with the growing Quebec film industry: should the American or the French market be targeted? Should films be shot in the local French or international French, or even in English? How could these differences be managed?</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><table width="516" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc" style="text-align: left;"><img width="197" height="300" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/Whispering%20City.jpg"></td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc" style="text-align: right;"><img width="224" height="300" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/La%20forteresse.jpg"></td> </tr><tr><td bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> </td> </tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><embed width="516" height="337" flashvars="mID=IDOBJ992&bufferTime=10&width=516&height=337&image=http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/nfb_tube/thumbs_large/2008/voisins_Tv-Bigjpg.jpg&showWarningMessages=false&streamNotFoundDelay=15&lang=fr&getPlaylistOnEnd=true&playlist_id=REL179&embeddedMode=true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/flash/ONFflvplayer-gama.swf"></embed><br> </p><table width="205" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" class="fr"><tbody><tr><td> </td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"><a href="http://archives.radio-canada.ca/arts_culture/cinema/clips/3863/%20" target="_blank" name="Ecouter%20le%20topo%20diffus%C3%A9%20sur%20Radio-Canada%20%C3%A0%20la%20mort%20de%20Claude%20Jutra" title="Ecouter le topo diffusé sur Radio-Canada à la mort de Claude Jutra" rel="noopener"><img width="200" height="150" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/jutra2.jpg"></a></td> </tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;"> </td> <td bgcolor="#cccccc" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Claude Jutra</span></td> </tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">In 1948, an answer began to emerge. Written by the painter, Paul-Émile Borduas, the <em>Refus global</em>, a socio-political-artistic manifesto, united French-speaking artists and above all demanded the right to creative freedom. Other manifestations expressing this same desire appeared, such as the first short film by a young<strong> Claude Jutra</strong>, aged just 18 years old, which he filmed with his friend Michel Brault: <em>Le Dément du lac Jean-Jeunes</em>. Even mass-market productions, such as <em>Tit-Coq </em>directed by René Delacroix and Gratien Gélinas, started to assert their Quebec identity ever more clearly. Quebec cinema seemed to be ready to emerge from its chrysalis.<br><br><br><br>Whilst the NFB was established in Montreal in 1956, and film clubs and magazines were created, the effort underwent a transformation in 1958 when Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx directed <strong><em>Les Raquetteurs</em></strong> (<em>The Snowshoers</em>). Although they did not know it, the film was a pioneer of the Direct Cinema movement: it embodied this young form of cinema, which was confident and full of a real sense of national conscience, and was also present in <em>Golden Gloves </em>directed by Gilles Groulx and <strong><em>La Lutte</em></strong> (<em>Wrestling</em>) directed by Michel Brault, Claude Jutra, Marcel Carrière and Claude Fournier. Using a light, mobile camera, filmed in synchronous sound and capturing real-life, unique events, young Quebec cinema refused to educate or set an example. It aimed to stay loyal to the reality of a society undergoing great change. It was "film that claimed to distance itself from commercial success in in order to serve as the mouthpiece of real people and not pander to the dreams of the audience", as documentary filmmaker Pierre Perrault put it perfectly in Caméramages.<br><br><br><embed width="516" height="337" flashvars="mID=IDOBJ189&bufferTime=10&width=516&height=337&image=http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/nfb_tube/thumbs_large/2008/759_4.WEB.BIG.jpg&showWarningMessages=false&streamNotFoundDelay=15&lang=fr&getPlaylistOnEnd=true&playlist_id=REL179&embeddedMode=true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/flash/ONFflvplayer-gama.swf"></embed><br><br><br><br><embed width="516" height="337" flashvars="mID=IDOBJ241&bufferTime=10&width=516&height=337&image=http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/nfb_tube/thumbs_large/2008/680_2.WEB.BIG.jpg&showWarningMessages=false&streamNotFoundDelay=15&lang=fr&getPlaylistOnEnd=true&playlist_id=REL179&embeddedMode=true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/flash/ONFflvplayer-gama.swf"></embed><br><br><br>Making the most of the revolutionary air that seemed to be inspiring young directors all around the world, a handful of filmmakers put Quebec on the map in moving images, while the Quiet Revolution created an atmosphere conducive to change and made it possible to assign the adjective "Quebec" as opposed to "French Canadian". Some people credit the beginnings of this socially engaged form of cinema to the sublime documentary by Arthur Lamothe,<strong><em> Bûcherons de la Manouane</em></strong> (<em>Manouane River Lumberjacks</em>) (1962), others to Jutra with <strong><em>À tout prendre</em></strong> (<em>Take It All</em>) and his discourse on identity, racism, homosexuality and abortion (in 1963!). Others quote <strong><em>Pour la suite du monde</em></strong> (<em>The Moontrap</em>) by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault, the first Quebec entry In Competition at the Festival de Cannes, or <em><strong>Le Chat dans le sac </strong></em>(<em>The Cat in the Bag</em>) by Gilles Groulx, who described the then current situation by depicting the end of a love affair between a francophone and an anglophone. Nonetheless, this burst of energy did not escape the interest of the rest of the world, with the Cahiers du Cinema even dedicating a special edition to Quebec cinema in March 1966. The mood of the time was also one of emerging feminism, the NFB opened its doors to women and created a studio dedicated to them, at the instigation of Anne Claire Poirier (<em>De mère en fille</em> (<em>Mother-To-Be</em>), <em>Mourir à tue-tête </em>(<em>A Scream from Silence</em>) and <a href="http://cinemaquebecois.telequebec.tv/#/Films/235/Default.aspx%20" target="_blank" name="Voir%20un%20extrait" title="Voir un extrait" rel="noopener"><strong><em>Il y a longtemps que je t’aime</em></strong></a>). <br><br><br><img width="520" height="436" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/Montage_1.jpg"></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><br>Yet, as in any good film, the honeymoon period did not last long. Although the Expo '67 and the repertory cinemas were encouraging the boldness of this new cinema, censorship became the preferred instrument of control. Originally religious in nature, censorship became political, and despite allowing the booming popular cinema to be coloured by light-hearted eroticism (<em>Valérie </em>by Denis Héroux received unbelievable success in 1969, as did <em>Deux femmes en or </em>(<em>Two Women in Gold</em>) by Claude Fournier the following year), the October Crisis in 1970 solidified tensions between Quebec Nationalists and Canadian Federalists and intensified its severity. In 1971, the documentary <strong><em>On est au coton</em></strong> (<em>Cotton Mill Treadmill</em>) directed by Denys Arcand was consequently banned. <em>Cap d’espoir</em> by Jacques Leduc, 24 heures ou plus… by Gilles Groulx, <em>Un pays sans bon sens!</em> ou<em> Wake up, mes bons amis!!! </em>by Pierre Perrault also fell victim to the same fate. Yet filmmakers were inspired by the climate of agitation that was all around them: <em>Réjeanne Padovani </em>by Denys Arcand explored the behind the scenes of corrupted power and<em> </em><strong><em>Les Ordres</em></strong> (<em>Orders</em>) by Michel Brault (Best Director Award Ex-aequo at Cannes in 1975) was based on the testimonials of people wrongly imprisoned during the crisis in order to better marry the assets of Direct Cinema with the new force of Quebec fictional cinema. International attention was also received by Claude Jutra for<strong><em> Mon Oncle Antoine</em></strong> (<em>My Uncle Antoine</em>) which reaped 21 prizes from around the world and established one of the recurrent themes of Quebec cinema: the absent father. Haunting and essential viewing, it would later influence the magnificent <em>Bons débarras</em> (<em>Good Riddance</em>) by Francis Mankiewicz.</p><p> </p><embed width="516" height="337" src="http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/flash/ONFflvplayer-gama.swf" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="mID=IDOBJ745&bufferTime=10&width=516&height=337&image=http://media1.nfb.ca/medias/nfb_tube/thumbs_large/2008/on-est-au-coton_tv-Big.jpg&showWarningMessages=false&streamNotFoundDelay=15&lang=fr&getPlaylistOnEnd=true&playlist_id=REL179&embeddedMode=true"></embed><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><br><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IgY_D9KYXdI" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Final scene of <em>Orders</em> directed by Michel Brault </span><br><br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="380" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q5y6v3YAjlQ" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for<em> My Uncle Antoine</em> directed by Claude Jutra</span><br><br><br>Indeed, Jutra was not alone in his success: Gilles Carle burst onto the scene at Cannes with <em>Le Viol d’une jeune fille douce</em> (<em>The Rape of a Sweet Young Girl</em>) (1968), <em>La Vraie nature de Bernadette</em> (<em>The True Nature of Bernadette</em>) (1972) and <strong><em>La Mort d’un bûcheron</em></strong> (<em>Death of a Lumberjack</em>) (1973) which launched Carole Laure’s acting career and confirmed the special status of filmmakers in France. In 1970, the prolific Jean Pierre Lefebvre saw three of his films (<em>La Chambre blanche</em> (<em>The House of Light</em>), <em>Mon amie Pierrette</em> (<em>My Friend Pierrette</em>) and <em>Q-bec my love</em>) selected for the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. <em>L’Eau chaude, l’eau frette </em>(<em>A Pacemaker and a Sidecar</em>) (1976) by André Forcier was awarded the Press Grand Prix at Chamrousse and impressed the Jury’s President, Romain Gary. The amazing animated filmmaker, Frédérick Back, received his first Oscar for<em> Crac!</em> and Monique Mercure was awarded, ex-aequo, the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her role in <strong><em>J.A. Martin photographe</em></strong> (<em>J.A. Martin Photographer</em>) by Jean Beaudin. Quebec cinema was burning bright, everywhere, that is, except in Quebec.<br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="380" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kR0-7auj3Iw"></iframe> <br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for <em>Death of a Lumberjack</em> directed by Gilles Carle</span><br> </p><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" class="fr"><tbody><tr><td> <p> </p> </td> <td> <p><img width="200" height="269" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/JA%20Martin%20Photographe.jpg"></p> </td> </tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">Was this due to unfair competition from television? Or widespread indifference? The fact remains that Quebec audiences were abandoning Quebec film. To solve this problem, the industry settled on the sure values of heritage, via big-budget co-productions destined for both cinematic and televisual release. Although<em> Les Plouffe</em> <em>(The Plouffe Family</em>) by Gilles Carle came out on top, others such as <em>Le Matou </em>(<em>The Alley Cat</em>) or <em>Bonheur d’occasion </em>(<em>The Tin Flute</em>) displayed the limits of this type of luxury television-cinema. This status quo was, however, suddenly interrupted in 1986, by the surprise success of <strong><em>Déclin de l’empire américain</em></strong> (<em>The Decline of the American Empire</em>) directed by Denys Arcand. This film perfectly combined the author’s vision: box-office success and international recognition (the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film). His unprecedented success - reproduced on a smaller scale by<em> Jésus de Montréal </em>(<em>Jesus of Montreal</em>), three years later - set the pace for Yves Simoneau (<em>Pouvoir intime </em>–<em> Intimate Power</em>), Jean-Claude Lauzon (a rising star of Quebec cinema, who died after having produced <em>Un zoo la nuit</em> (<em>Night Zoo</em>) and <em>Léolo</em>) and Léa Pool (who became the most well-known Quebec filmmaker worldwide, largely due to<em> La Femme de l’hôtel</em> (<em>A Woman in Transit</em>), Anne Trister and <em>Emporte-moi</em> (<em>Set Me Free</em>)). The fallout from the defeat of the "Yes" vote in the first referendum lead to indifference regarding questions of national identity. One filmmaker, however, bucked this trend: Pierre Falardeau, himself the very embodiment of political cinema of the time, revisited both the October Crisis of 1970 (<em>Octobre</em>), and the Rebellions of 1837 (<em>15 février 1839</em>), using the same cutting satire through his character<em><strong> Elvis Gratton</strong></em>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img width="450" height="299" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/QUEBEC/Course-destination-monde.jpg" alt=""></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: smaller;">The TV series "La course destination-monde" 1990-91</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Yet his films stayed off the radar at a time when a new generation was emerging via "La course destination-monde", a TV series featuring young apprentice, globe-trotting filmmakers such as Philippe Falardeau (<em>Congorama</em>), Ricardo Trogi (<em>Québec-Montréal</em>), Yves Christian Fournier (<em>Tout est parfait</em> – <em>Everything is Fine</em>), Robin Aubert (<em>À l’origine d’un cri</em>) and Denis Villeneuve (<em>Un 32 août sur terre</em> - <em>32nd Day of August on Earth</em>). This new generation slowly made its mark on Quebec cinema: a generation of talented stylists, fully versed in the aesthetics of advertising and music videos, and who leisurely pondered on all the mistakes made by dissatisfied thirty-somethings. Women’s cinema, motivated by a deep desire to break down prejudices, continued to expand as much in the fiction as the documentary genre, under the leadership of directors such as Paule Baillargeon (<em>Le Sexe des étoiles</em> - <em>The Sex of the Stars</em>), Micheline Lanctôt (<strong><em>Sonatine</em></strong>) and Catherine Martin (<em>Les Dames du 9e</em>).<br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="380" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x8XbDQkpQr0"></iframe><br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for</span><em><span style="font-size: smaller;"> The Decline of the American Empire</span></em><span style="font-size: smaller;"> by Denys Arcand</span><br><br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="380" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lZS7sOOpELI"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"> Extract from</span><span style="font-size: smaller;"> <em>Elvis Gratton</em> by Pierre Falardeau</span><br><br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="380" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vp7qdGF6n14"></iframe> <br><span style="font-size: smaller;">First sequence of <em>Sonatine</em> by Michèle Lanctôt</span><br><br><br>During the 1990s, this emphasis on form and originality inspired once more the films of André Turpin (<em>Zigrail</em>), Robert Lepage (<em><strong>Le Confessionnal </strong></em>- <em>The Confessional</em>), Manon Briand (<em>2 secondes</em>), Charles Binamé (<em>Eldorado</em>) and François Girard (<em>Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould</em>). Yet a new breed of films emerged, one somewhere between the heritage of Direct Cinema and the beginnings of low budget films, which would later infect the film industry with their boldness and urgent need to create: Robert Morin from <em>Requiem pour un beau sans cœur </em>(<em>Requiem for a Handsome Bastard</em>) through to <strong><em>Yes Sir!</em></strong><em> <strong>Madame</strong>…</em>, presented a way of both filming and viewing that was as unique as it was striking. However, despite these undeniable artistic successes, it was commercial cinema, more specifically popular comedies, in the form of series such as <em>Cruising Bar</em>, <em>Les Boys</em> (<em>The Boys</em>) and <em>C’t’à ton tour</em>,<em> Laura Cadieux</em> (<em>It’s Your Turn, Laura</em>) that were most prosperous.<br><br><iframe width="516" height="380" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z-xmrUC_Ugw" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for <em>The Confessionnal</em> directed by Robert Lepage</span><br><br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iKHsoAkAYWo" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Extract from <em>Requiem for a Handsome Bastard</em> directed by Robert Morin</span><br><br><br><br>Although Quebec’s cinematic identity had been fully asserted (in 1999, the first Jutra Award ceremony took place, affirming its uniqueness in a national context), the quest for revenue became even more of a priority in 2001, when Telefilm Canada implemented the policy of "performance envelopes", thereby automatically awarding the majority of its funds to film producers who had already experienced the greatest successes at the box office. This situation did not, however, abate the emergence of several atypical works that periodically displayed the irrepressible diversity of Quebec cinema. The following list is by no means exhaustive: <em>Les Invasions Barbares</em> (<em>The Barbarian Invasions</em>) which followed <em>Déclin </em>(<em>The Decline</em>), was the biggest success of Denys Arcand’s career; <em>La Grande Séduction</em> (<em>Seducing Doctor Lewis</em>) by Jean-François Pouliot, remains to this day, the only mainstream Quebec comedy to have enjoyed international success;<em> Gaz Bar Blues</em>, the second feature film by Louis Bélanger, which casts a tender glance on a bygone Quebec that had all but disappeared; <em>La Neuvaine</em> (<em>The Novena</em>) by Bernard Émond was the first installment of a trilogy that illustrated theological virtues with unique thoroughness and an incomparable way of laying them bare;<em><strong> À l’ouest de Pluton</strong></em> (<em>West of Pluto</em>) by Henry Bernadet and Myriam Verreault presented a bittersweet portrait of contemporary adolescence and <em>J’ai tué ma mère </em>(<em>I Killed My Mother</em>) and <strong><em>Les Amours Imaginaires</em></strong> (<em>Heartbeats</em>) uncovered the talents of Xavier Dolan, who captured imaginations in both Quebec and France. In addition, <em>C.R.A.Z.Y. </em>by Jean-Marc Vallée and <strong><em>Incendies </em></strong>by Denis Villeneuve, both enjoyed runaway success on both sides of the Atlantic.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><br><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nxIQ87JCYXc" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for <em>West of Pluto</em> directed by Henry Bernadet and Myriam Verreault</span><br><br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9KLvhhYU__w" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <br><span style="font-size: smaller;">Extract from <em>Heartbeats </em>directed by Xavier Dolan</span><br><br><br><br><span style="font-size: smaller;"><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YStpiwG3CiE" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <br>Trailer for <em>Incendies</em> directed by Denis Villeneuve</span><br><br><br>Yet despite the exceptions outlined above, Quebec cinema is still, to this day, torn between two conflicting poles. On the one side, the supposedly commercial productions (which are in fact financed by the State), revisit the conventions of supremely digestible and inconsequential cinema. On the other, independent film (often filmed in less than ideal circumstances), is shunned by its own audience, yet revered on an international level (films by Denis Côté at Locarno, Rafaël Ouellet at Karlovy Vary and Stéphane Lafleur at Berlin, as well as newcomers like Anne Émond, Guy Édoin and Sébastien Pilote). Marginal on its own soil, Quebec cinema, which remains steadfastly the reserve of film enthusiasts, is morphing into confused poetry, lined with traces of bittersweet humour, permeated by a sad downward force which reflects the state of Quebec cinema of today. A cinema which is losing its sense of self: in search of itself and unsure. A film industry in crisis, yet one which is ardently contemplating, with passion and integrity, the ways in which Quebec cinema can solve its own problems, by itself.<br><br><br><br><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r_9tCVEziDI" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for <em>Curling</em> directed by Denis Côté</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br> </p><p><iframe width="516" height="292" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hScXCqbyYbk" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: smaller;">Trailer for <em>The Salesman</em> directed by Sébastien Pilote</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><br><br><br>> <a target="_blank" href="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/File/Filmographie%20Pays/CINEMA%20QUEBECOIS.pdf" rel="noopener">DOWNLOAD THIS ARTICLE AS A PDF</a></span><br><br><span style="font-size: smaller;">* Helen Faradji is a writer and film critic</span><br><br><em><span style="font-size: smaller;">The Festival de Cannes would like to thank all of the authors for contributing to the website for free.</span></em><br> </p>
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© <p style="text-align: right;"><strong>BY PAULO PARANAGUA*</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img height="202" align="left" width="160" alt="" style="margin-right: 10px;" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Eug%C3%A8ne%20Py.JPG">The Lumière cinematograph was unveiled for the first time in Buenos Aires on 18 July 1896, two days before Edison’s Vitascope. Frenchman <strong>Eugène Py</strong> shot the first few metres of film, capturing an Argentinian flag flying in the wind. The first public success, <strong><em>Gaucho Nobility </em></strong>(Humberto Cairo, Eduardo Martinez de la Pera and Ernesto Gunche, 1915), was imbued with a nationalistic spirit and staged a series of adventures that took place in either the countryside or Buenos Aires, Latin America’s foremost city at the time. The film’s heavy-handed comedy revolved around mocking a clueless Italian immigrant.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><img height="212" align="middle" width="300" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Photo%20du%20film%20Noblesse%20Gaucha%20-%201915.jpg"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><em>                                                                   Gaucho Nobility, 1915</em></span><em><br></em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Given the lack of an effective national film archive, it is thanks to the Buenos Aires City Museum that we are today familiar with Argentinian silent films. <strong><em>The Last </em></strong><em><strong>Indian Attack</strong></em> (Alcides Greca, 1918), produced in Rosario, illustrates Sarmiento’s classic dilemma between urban civilisation and the barbarism of indigenous provinces with a curious blend of authenticity and artfulness. The same issue was treated in a more compassionate and conventional way in La Quena de la Muerte (Nelo Cosimi, 1928).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p><iframe height="480" frameborder="0" width="600" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QZqS8znTNdk" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><em>The Last Indian Attack</em> (Alcides Greca, 1918)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><img height="244" align="left" width="190" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/carlos-gardel.jpg" style="margin-right: 10px;" alt="">During the silent era, screenings on <em>calle Corrientes</em>, the Broadway of Buenos Aires, were accompanied by “Latin American orchestras” playing tangoes. Max Glucksmann, a cinema owner, distributor and producer of new musical varieties, was also the first to publish music scores at a time when Argentinian music was becoming an export product.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In a way, the talkies can be seen to have promoted the links between tango and cinema. The director, José Agustin Ferreyra, whose career began in 1915, drew inspiration from the melodramatic atmosphere of popular songs and made a genuine star of <strong>Libertad Lamarque</strong>. Paramount quickly caught on to the potential of tango and signed a contract with its foremost exponent,<strong> Carlos Gardel</strong>, who was a living legend until his accidental death in 1935.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Argentinian producers continued to exploit the same vein to saturation point, alternating between tear-jerking melodramas and populist comedies. One particularly outstanding actress from those days still lingers in people’s memories: <strong>Nini Marshall</strong>, to whom Alfredo Arias paid a worthy tribute.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 268px;"><tbody><tr><td><img height="223" width="290" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Libertad%20Lamarque.jpg" alt=""></td> <td> <p><img height="168" width="270" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Nini%20Marshall.jpg"></p> </td> </tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Libertad Lamarque</span></td> <td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nini Marshall</span></td> </tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>On the eve of World War II, major studios mushroomed in the suburbs of Buenos Aires: Lumiton, Argentina Sono Film and Estudios San Miguel, where Spanish Republican refugees found shelter with Miguel Machinandiarena, a boss of Basque descent. <em><strong>The Ghost Lady</strong></em> (Luis Saslavsky, 1945), for example, was a gorgeous Spanish version of <em>Carnival in Flanders</em>, featuring dialogues by Calderon de la Barca that were reworked by the poet Rafael Alberti.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><img height="307" align="middle" width="430" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Photo%20du%20film%20La%20dame%20fant%C3%B4me%20de%20Luis%20Saslavsky%20-%201945.jpg" alt=""></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><em>The Ghost Lady </em>(Luis Saslavsky, 1945)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>While Argentina dominated Spanish-language productions, the United States backed its principal competitor, Mexico, for political reasons. In fact, the military who seized power in 1943 remained obligingly neutral towards the Germans, who were present in significant numbers in Argentina.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><img height="212" align="left" width="250" style="margin-right: 10px;" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Evita%20et%20Juan%20Domingo%20Peron.jpg" alt="">During the reign of General <strong>Juan Domingo Peron</strong> (1945-1955), his wife, the starlet <strong>Evita Peron</strong>, drew up a blacklist of artists who were forbidden to appear on screen or on the airwaves. Lamarque, Marshall and many others went into exile, strengthening their Mexican rivals. Peronist control focused on current affairs, but fear ensured that Argentinian productions remained mired in hoary clichés.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Modernity chomped at the bit in post-war cinema clubs and eventually flourished in Argentina after the fall of Peron, encouraged by the creation of a National Institute of Filmmaking in 1957. The figurehead for the transition between major studios and art-house films was Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, son of director Leopoldo Torres Rios, whose approach was distinctly realist.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>The duo formed by Torre Nilsson and his novelist wife Beatriz Guido led to a series of oppressive works characterised by an expressionist, almost baroque, artistic vision: the trilogy, <em>End of Innocence </em>(1957) – <em>The Fall</em> (1959) – <em>The Hand in the Trap</em> (1961) gave the pair a place among the top ten most important living filmmakers according to critics in the English-speaking world.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><iframe height="480" frameborder="0" width="600" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-O4gIwPdoHo" title="YouTube video player"></iframe> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><em>L<em>a Casa del angel</em></em> (1957) directed by Leopoldo Torres Rios</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><img height="284" align="right" width="185" style="margin-left: 10px;" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Affiche%20du%20film%20Le%20kidnappeur%20de%20Leopold%20Torre%20Nilsson%20-%201958.jpg" alt="">Throughout his prolific and irregular career, Torre Nilsson made use of crude neorealism (<em><strong>The Kidnapper</strong></em>, <strong>1958</strong>), attacked political blockages (<em>The Party is Over</em>, 1960) and adopted the new generation’s freedom of expression (<em>The Terrace</em>, 1963), which he supported in the face of censorship and the over-cautiousness of more traditional producers.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><img height="255" align="left" width="170" alt="" style="margin-right: 10px;" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Manuel%20Antin.jpg">The “60s generation” or “Nuevo Cine” was a vague and diverse grouping that included, amongst others, David José Kohon, Leonardo Favio, Lautaro Murua, <strong>Manuel Antin </strong>and Fernando Birri, who were more or less divided between social angst, intimism and literary influences. However, even before it could reach its apogee, the movement faltered on account of the new restrictions imposed following the 1966 coup.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Under pressure, cinema found itself divided between a militant radical tendency, symbolised by the documentary, <em>The Hour of the Furnaces </em>by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino (1968), and allegory, a magnificent example of which is <em>Invasion </em>by Hugo Santiago (1969), based on a screenplay by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><iframe height="480" frameborder="0" width="600" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gt8aUBW1IFY" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><em> The Hour of the Furnaces </em>directed by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino (1968)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img height="282" align="left" width="190" alt="" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/Affiche-Camila.jpg" style="margin-right: 10px;">The democratic spring of 1973 paved the way for a greater range of expression, but this was short-lived as the putsch of 1976 plunged Argentina into a gulf of terror. This period also saw the rise of the directors Adolfo Aristarain (<em>Time for</em> <em>Revenge</em>, 1981) and Maria Luisa Bemberg (<em><strong>Camila</strong></em>, <strong>1984</strong>).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>The renaissance of cinema under democracy, following a chaotic transition that was hardly auspicious for production, was nothing short of miraculous. Manuel Antin contributed to this revival in two ways: firstly, through his pluralist management of the National Institute of Filmmaking after democracy was restored in 1983, and secondly, by creating the Cinema University (known as the FUC) in 1991, which marked the beginning of a real explosion in film studies in Buenos Aires.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Now a bubbling metropolis once again, the capital’s festival of independent cinema has stolen top billing from the international Mar del Plata Festival, more prone to institutional vagaries. Buenos Aires is without doubt the city with the greatest number of film students per inhabitant in the world!<br>This desire for redemption through image gave birth to a new Argentinian cinema at the turn of the century. The country had never seen such a profusion of vocations or such a variety of movements. Local and international audiences made a success of <em><strong>The Secret in their Eyes</strong></em><strong> (2009)</strong> directed by Juan José Campanella, a regular Argentinian contributor to the world of American television series, who won a timely Oscar.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><div style="width: 600px; height: 470px;" id="blogvision"><object height="470" width="600"><param value="http://www.allocine.fr/blogvision/18992873" name="movie"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"><embed height="470" width="600" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.allocine.fr/blogvision/18992873"></embed></object></div><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Cinema-lovers will have retained the names of Pablo Trapero (<em>Crane World</em>, 1999), Lucrecia Martel (<em>The Swamp</em>, 2001) and Martin Rejtman (<em>Silvia Prieto</em>, 1998) from their very first films. Those undaunted by a more ascetic approach would no doubt also add Lisandro Alonso (<em>Freedom</em>, 2001) and Israel Adrian Caetano (<em>Bolivia</em>, 2001) to the list.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><img height="410" width="610" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/MOSA-reals-argentins.jpg" alt=""></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Children of militants who disappeared or died under the military dictatorship have embraced subjective documentary narrated in the first person to express their grief and duty to remember. In this, they have refused to be subservient to previous generations, as demonstrated by <em>The Blonds </em>(Albertina Carri, 2003) and <em>M </em>(Nicolas Prividera, 2007), preceded by an example of unabashed subjectivity, <em>La T.V. y yo</em> (Andrés Di Tella, 2002). <br><br>Argentinians are not short of hope or even faith in the future of their cinema. Long may it last!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><h3 class="fck-title-2"><br><span style="font-size: large;">Argentina at Cannes</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><img height="200" align="left" width="200" src="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/Image/CINEMATOGRAPHIES/ARGENTINE/elsa%20daniel.jpg" style="margin-right: 10px;" alt=""><strong>Elsa Daniel</strong>, the muse of Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, made a lasting impression at Cannes back in 1959 during the presentation of <em>The Fall</em>. The director himself was awarded a prize by the FIPRESCI in 1961 for <em>The Hand in the Trap.</em> The international reputation of Torre Nilsson owes much to English and French criticism. Marcel Oms wrote a first monograph about him in 1962 in the Premier Plan collection directed by Bernard Chardère, a Cannes regular.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Festival-goers had the privilege of watching a film by Manuel Antin, <em>The Venerable Ones</em> (1962), which tackles the fascistic tendencies still prevalent in Buenos Aires. As such, this ill-fated film remains unreleased in its own country.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>At the 1985 festival, <strong>Norma Aleandro</strong>, an important figurehead of Argentinian cinema, won the prize for Best Female Actor (jointly with Cher) for <strong>Luis Puenzo’s </strong><em><strong>The Official Story</strong></em>, which was also recognised by the Ecumenical Jury before scooping the Oscar for Best Foreign Film the following year.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br><iframe height="480" frameborder="0" width="600" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z-T4zihht0k" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"> <em><em><strong>The Official Story</strong></em></em> directed by Luis Puenzo</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Strengthened by years of exile in France and a successful transition to fiction, Fernando Solanas won the Award for Best Director in 1988 with <em>The South</em>, an entirely musical film about a past that refuses to go away and the impossibility of turning back the clock. Returning to the Croisette four years later with <em>The</em> <em>Journey</em>, Solanas won the Ecumenical Prize and the Superior Technical Commission award.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p><iframe height="480" frameborder="0" width="600" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/83KNjriLz9M" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"> <em><em>The South</em></em> directed by Fernando Solanas</span><em><br></em></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br>Un Certain Regard, Critics’ Week and the Directors’ Fortnight have now taken up the baton for the new generation of Argentinian filmmakers.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://affif-sitepublic-media-prod.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/File/Filmographie%20Pays/Argentinean%20Cinema.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">> DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE AS A PDF</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><br></span><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>* Paulo Paranagua is a journalist and film historian.</strong></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><br><br></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>The Festival de Cannes would like to thank the authors for contributing to the web</strong></span></em><em><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>s</strong></span></em><em><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>ite for free</strong></span></em>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
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May 12-23, 2026