René Gabriel Bonnière (born 10 March 1928) is a Canadian film director and editor, originally from France. He has had a prolific career, working in television and film in both French and English productions.

Biography

Bonnière was born in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France. He first began his film career in France as a director for the French army, working alongside Henri Colpi and composer

Georges Delerue Georges Delerue (12 March 1925 – 20 March 1992) was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for '' A Little Romance'' (1980), three C� ...

. He then worked as an assistant to filmmaking pioneer

Marcel L'Herbier Marcel L'Herbier (; 23 April 1888 – 26 November 1979) was a French filmmaker who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued unti ...

. He emigrated from France in May 1955, arriving in New York City with his wife, Claude, on the SS ''Flandre''. Bonnière spent six months working at a bank on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

before looking north for a return to the film industry. He contacted filmmaker F. R. Crawley and 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); Crawley met him in New York and invited him to move to Canada. From 1956 to 1971, Bonnière worked for Crawley Films, directing dozens of films. His first works were ''Beaver Dam'' (short), ''Maîtres artisans du Canada'' and ''The Legend of the Raven''. He also collaborated with

Pierre Perrault Pierre Perrault (29 June 1927 – 23 June 1999) was a Canadian documentary film director with the National Film Board of Canada. Over his 40-year career, he directed 32 films and was one of Canada's most important filmmakers, although he ...

, considered one of Canada's finest filmmakers. In 1963, he directed ''

Amanita Pestilens ''Amanita Pestilens'' is a 1963 Canadian-American psychological horror-fantasy /drama film produced by F. R. Crawley, and directed by René Bonnière. It was "the first Canadian feature film to be shot in both English and French with the sam ...

'', the first Canadian film in colour and the first to be shot simultaneously in English and French. In a profile on Bonnière,

Cinémathèque québécoise The Cinémathèque québécoise () is a film conservatory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its purpose is to preserve, document, film, and television footage and related documents and artifacts for future use by the public. The Cinémathèque's coll ...

notes that his work for Crawley helped bridge the gap between Canada's French- and English-language films. He also worked for the NFB, producing several documentaries, many about Canada's indigenous communities.

Personal life

Bonnière is married to artist Claude Bonnière, who won a 1982

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

for art direction for the ''

ABC Afterschool Special ''ABC Afterschool Special'' is an American anthology television series that aired on ABC from October 4, 1972, to January 23, 1997, usually in the late afternoon on weekdays. Most episodes were dramatically presented situations, often controve ...

'', '' My Mother Was Never a Kid''.

Filmography

Bonnière has worked as a director and editor in both television and film.

Television

Films

References

External links

*
Films by René Bonnière at the NFB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonniere, Rene 1928 births Living people Mass media people from Lyon French film directors Film directors from Toronto French film editors Canadian film editors Canadian television directors French emigrants to Canada Military personnel from Lyon