Pierre Perrault (29 June 1927 – 23 June 1999) was a Canadian documentary
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
with the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
.
Over his 40-year career, he directed 32 films and was one of Canada's most important filmmakers, although he is largely unknown outside of Québec.
Early life
Perrault was born and raised in Montreal, the son of a prosperous lumber merchant, and attended the most prestigious private schools in the city. Due to rebellious behaviour, he was expelled from
Collège de Montréal, and
Collège André-Grasset before graduating from
Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal. While there, with
Hubert Aquin
Hubert Aquin (24 October 1929 – 15 March 1977) was a Quebec writer, filmmaker and intellectual. He is particularly known for his novel ''Next Episode (novel), Next Episode''. He is also an important figure in the history of the Quebec Soverei ...
and
Marcel Dubé
Marcel Dubé (January 3, 1930 – April 7, 2016) was a Canadian playwright. He produced over 300 works for radio, television, and stage. During his career he promoted the preservation and sanctity of the French language in Quebec.
__TOC__
Early ...
, he founded the student journal Cahiers d’Arlequin, in which he published his first play, ''Pierre en vrac''.
In 1948, he entered the Université de Montréal Law School, where he was editor of the student journal and won three hockey championships. From there, he studied the history of law at the
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
and international law at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. He was called to the bar in 1954 but he had already realized that the law was not his calling.
Career
In 1955, Perrault began writing a weekly radio show at
Radio Canada. In 1956, he permanently left the law and began writing for ''Le chant des hommes'', a daily Radio Canada series about folk music.
By then, he had married archaeologist Yolande Simard, who was from the
Charlevoix
Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...
region, on the north shore of the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
. In 1956, with French folk singer Jacques Douai, the couple traveled through Charlevoix, interviewing locals and recording their music. These interviews and recordings became the basis of his weekly radio series, ''Au pays de Neufve-France'' which, in turn, was the inspiration for a
CBC CBC may refer to:
Media
* Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico
* Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster
** CBC Television
** CBC Radio One
** CBC Music
** ...
television series of the same name.
On that trip through Charlevoix, Perrault had met many artists and artisans, and he pitched the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
(NFB) on the idea of doing a film about them. The result, ''Master Artisans of Canada'', was Perrault's first film, and it would introduce Perrault to the director, producer and cinematographer
Judith Crawley, who handled the English versions of his work for the rest of his career. Crawley and her husband,
Budge Crawley owned a film production company which employed the French director
René Bonnière. Perrault and Bonnière came up with the idea of turning the Charlevoix interviews and recordings, and the resultant radio show scripts, into documentary shorts. From 1960 to 1963, the two would create 14 films, 13 of which would become the NFB (and
CBC CBC may refer to:
Media
* Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico
* Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster
** CBC Television
** CBC Radio One
** CBC Music
** ...
) series ''
St. Lawrence North''.
After his next film for the NFB, the critically acclaimed ''
Pour la suite du monde'' Perrault became a full-time employee of the NFB in 1965. He went on to create another 16 films, most relating to Quebec's culture, society and environment. He retired in 1996 and died three years later, survived by his wife Yolande Simard Perrault (1928-2019) and their two children.
Legacy
Canadian film historian Peter Morris wrote this about Perrault in his 1984 book ''The Film Companion'': "The most famous
direct cinema filmmaker in Quebec, who developed a unique 'cinema of speech' that has 'spoken' about Quebec, its land and its people, and that has been at once witness of its past and often prophecy of its future. His approach involves close collaboration with his cinematographers (
Michel Brault
Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the Nationa ...
and
Bernard Gosselin, who often co-direct), direct involvement with the people or events, and later, a careful construction of scenes in the editing room. From the 1960s and early 1970s (on ''Pour la suite du monde'', ''Le règne du jour'', ''Les voitures d'eau'' and ''L'Acadie L'Acadie?!'') through his later films on Abitibi and First Nations people, he expressed the concept of 'ethnic class' that some feel avoids more basic issues, even though it gave voice to long-buried cultural aspirations."
Perrault's life and work were analyzed by
Jean-Daniel Lafond
Jean-Daniel Lafond (born August 18, 1944) is a French-Canadian filmmaker, teacher of philosophy, and the husband to the former Governor General Michaëlle Jean, making him the viceregal consort of Canada during her service.
Biography
Lafond w ...
in the 1986 documentary ''
Dream Tracks (Les Traces du rêve)''.
The
Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma
The Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma (formerly known as Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois) is a festival created in 1982 to celebrate the cinematographic production of Quebec, Canada.
The goal of the festival is to promote the Cinema of Quebec and i ...
film festival has established the Prix Pierre et Yolande Perrault for Best Documentary.
Perrault’s papers are held in the Pierre Perrault Archives at
Université Laval
(; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...
.
Honours
*
Ludger-Duvernay Prize
The Ludger-Duvernay Prize is a Quebec award created in 1944 and named in honour of journalist Ludger Duvernay. It is awarded by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal to recognize the merits of a person whose competence and influence in the ...
,
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society (, ) is an institution in the Canadian province of Quebec dedicated to the protection of Quebec francophone interests and to the promotion of Quebec sovereignism. It is known as the oldest patriotic association in ...
: Laureate (1968)
* Honorary Doctorate,
Laval University
Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of:
People
* House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne
* Laval (surname)
Places Belgium
* Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...
(1986)
*
Prix Albert-Tessier, Government of Québec (1994)
* Honorary Doctorate,
Lumière University Lyon 2
Lumière University Lyon 2 () is one of the three universities that comprise the current University of Lyon system, having splintered from an older university of the same name, and is primarily based on two campuses in Lyon itself. It has a total ...
(1996)
* Honorary Doctorate,
Université de Sherbrooke
The Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS; Quebec English, English: ''University of Sherbrooke'') is a French-language Public university, public research university in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, with a second campus in Longueuil, a suburb on the Mont ...
(1997)
* Officer,
National Order of Québec (1998)
Filmography
All
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
*''Master Artisans of Canada'' - documentary short 1957 - co-writer with
Judith Crawley
*''Toutes Isles'' (''All the Islands'') - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Winter Crossing at L'Isle-Aux-Coudres'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: White-Whale Hunters of Anse-Aux-Basques'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Turlutte'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Three Seasons'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Soiree at St. Hilarion'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: On the Sea'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: The Land of Jacques Cartier'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Ka Ke Ki Ku'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Canadian Diamonds'' - documentary short 1960 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: The Jean Richard'' - documentary short 1963 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Whalehead'' - documentary short 1963 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Attiuk'' - documentary short 1963 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
St. Lawrence North: Winter Sealing at La Tabatière'' - documentary short 1963 - writer, producer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''
Pour la suite du monde'' (aka ''For the Ones to Come'', ''For Those Who Will Follow'', ''Of Whales, the Moon, and Men'' and ''The Moontrap'') - documentary 1963 - co-director with
Michel Brault
Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the Nationa ...
*''
The Times That Are'' (''Le Règne du jour'') - documentary 1967 - director
*''
The River Schooners'' (''Les Voitures d'eau'') - documentary short 1968 - writer, co-director with
René Bonnière
*''Beluga Days'' (aka ''Le Beau plaisir'') - documentary short 1968 -co-director with
Michel Brault
Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the Nationa ...
and
Bernard Gosselin
*''Wake Up, mes bons amis'' (aka ''Un Pays sans bon sens'') - documentary 1970 - director
*''Acadia Acadia?!?'' - documentary 1971 - co-director with
Michel Brault
Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the Nationa ...
*''Tickets s.v.p.'' - animated short film 1973 - writer and director
*''Un royaume vous attend'' (''A Kingdom Awaits'') - documentary 1976 - director
*''Le retour à la terre'' (''Return to Earth'') - documentary 1976 - director
*''Le goût de la farine'' - documentary 1977 - director
*''Gens d'Abitibi'' - documentary, 1980 - writer and director
*''
The Shimmering Beast'' - documentary 1982 - director
*''Land Without Trees, or the Mouchouânipi'' - documentary 1983 - director
*''Les voiles bas et en travers'' - documentary 1983 - director
*''La grande allure'' - documentary (2 parts) 1985 - writer, director
*''Oumigmag or the Fickle Art of Documentary Filmmaking'' - documentary short 1993 - director
*''Icewarrior'' (aka ''Cornouailles'') - documentary 1996 - writer, director
Film Awards
''Winter Crossing at L'Isle-Aux-Coudres'' (1960)
*
11th Canadian Film Awards,
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
: Best Film, TV Information, 1959
''
Pour la suite du monde'' (1963)
* Ibero-American-Filipino Documentary Film Contest,
Bilbao
Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...
, Spain: First Prize, Gold Medal, 1963
*
16th Canadian Film Awards,
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
: Film of the Year, 1964
*
16th Canadian Film Awards,
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
: Special Award "in recognition of its visual qualities, perceptions and artistry”, 1964
* Évreux International Short Film Festival,
Évreux
Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy.
History Antiquity
In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century AD, was named '' Mediolanum Aulercorum'', "the central town ...
, France: Grand Prize, Golden Viking, 1964
*
Columbus International Film & Animation Festival
The Columbus International Film + Animation Festival is a Columbus, Ohio, United States annual film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually ann ...
,
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
: Chris Award, First Prize 1966
*
Melbourne Film Festival,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
: Diploma of Merit, 1966
*
Sardinia International Ethnographic Film Festival, Nuoro, Italy: Special Mention, 1994
*
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
,
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
: Canada’s Ten-Best Films, 8th Place, 1984
''Acadia Acadia?!?'' (1971)
* Festival international du film d'expression française,
Dinard
Dinard (; , ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France.
Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this has resul ...
, France: L'Émeraude de Dinard - Festival's Grand Prize, 1971
''Oumigmag or the Fickle Art of Documentary Filmmaking'' (1993)
*New York EXPO of Short Film and Video, New York: Gold Medal, Animation, 1993
* International Wildlife Film Festival,
Albert, Somme
Albert () is a Communes of France, commune in the Somme (department), Somme Department in France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
It is located about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume.
History
Albert was founded as a Roman ...
, France: Jury Mention 1994
*
Alberta Film & Television Awards,
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
: Jury Mention 1994
''Icewarrior'' (1996)
*Festival du Film des Diablerets,
Les Diablerets
Les Diablerets is a village and ski resort located in the municipality of Ormont-Dessus in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
The village lies at an altitude of on the north side of the massif of the Diablerets, , in the Swiss Alps. It can be a ...
, Switzerland: Diable d'Or Award, Safety of Mountain Environment, 1996
*European Nature Film Festival Valvert,
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
: Third Place
Bibliography
Most of Perrault’s writings were adapted from his radio programs and films. The poems in his first two books of poetry, ''Portulan'' and ''Ballades du temps précieux'' were adapted from his radio scripts. Many of the prose poems in ''Toutes Isles: chroniques de terre et de mer'', and the poems in ''En déspesoir de cause: poèms de circonstances atténuantes'' were from his films. Works from these three collections formed the basis of ''Chouennes: poems, 1961–71''.
Perrault’s books of prose writing, ''Le Mal du nord'' and ''Nous autres icitte à l’île'', included writings by Jacques Cartier and other explorers, as well as oral histories of the people Perrault had interviewed over the years. He published three volumes of poetry in the late 1990s—''Jusqu’à plus oultre…'', ''Irréconciliabules'' and ''La visage humain d’un fleuve sans estuaire'', and the notes he had compiled for a book he was writing about the St Lawrence River, ''Partismes'', were published posthumously in 2001.
The notes he kept about the city of Montreal, and interviews he had done with Montrealers, were published in 2009 as ''J'habite une ville''. Two other posthumously-published books are from dozens of interviews with Perrault conducted by the film scholar Simone Suchet.
* ''Imagerie sur ma ville'' (1961)
* ''Portulan'' (1961)
* ''Ballades du temps précieux'' (1963)
* ''Toutes Isles: chroniques de terre et de mer'' (1963)
* ''En déspesoir de cause: poèms de circonstances atténuantes'' (1971)
* ''Chouennes: poems, 1961–71'' (1975)
* ''De la parole aux actes'' (1985)
* ''La Grande Allure: Recit de Voyage'' 1991
* ''Le Mal du nord'' (1991)
* ''Caméramages'' (1991)
* ''Jusqu’à plus oultre…'' (1997)
* ''Irréconciliabules'' (1998)
* ''La visage humain d’un fleuve sans estuaire'' (1998)
* ''Nous autres icitte à l’île'' (1999)
* ''Partismes'' (2001)
* ''J'habite une ville'' (2009)
* ''Activiste poétique: Filmer le Québec'' (as told to Simone Suchet) (2014)
* ''Pierre Perrault, un homme debout'' (as told to Simone Suchet) (2015)
Literary Awards
* Grand Jury Prize for Canadian Letters: ''Portulan'', 1961
*
Governor General’s Literary Award: ''Au coeur de la rose'', 1964
*
Governor General’s Literary Award: ''Chouennes: poems, 1961–71'', 1975
* Prix Victor-Barbeau, Académie des lettres du Québec: ''L’oumigmatique ou l’objectif documentaire'', 1996
*
Governor General’s Literary Award: ''Le Mal du Nord'', 1999
Further reading
*Olivier Ducharme et Pierre-Alexandre Fradet, ''Une vie sans bon sens. Regard philosophique sur Pierre Perrault'', foreword by
Jean-Daniel Lafond
Jean-Daniel Lafond (born August 18, 1944) is a French-Canadian filmmaker, teacher of philosophy, and the husband to the former Governor General Michaëlle Jean, making him the viceregal consort of Canada during her service.
Biography
Lafond w ...
, Montréal, Nota bene, coll. "Philosophie continentale", 2016, 210 p.
*David Clandfield, Jerry White, Pierre Perreault;
References
External links
*
Biography of Pierre Perrault National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
website
Watch films by Pierre Perrault National Film Board of Canada website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrault, Pierre
1927 births
1999 deaths
Canadian documentary film directors
Canadian screenwriters in French
National Film Board of Canada people
Film directors from Montreal
Writers from Montreal
Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers
Prix Albert-Tessier winners
20th-century Canadian screenwriters
Screenwriters from Quebec