Yvan Patry (1948–1999) was a Canadian documentary filmmaker. Yvan was born in

Iroquois Falls, Ontario Iroquois Falls is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,418 at the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census. The town centre lies 11 km east of Ontario Highway 11, Hwy 11 on the banks of the Abitibi River, west of Lake Abitibi. ...

. During the 1970s he worked as a professor at Montmorency College in

Laval, Quebec Laval is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in Can ...

, where he produced several educational films. Yvan's short film ''Octobre 68'' was included in the SRC's public television series "Les temps changent". The NFB produced his first feature ''Ainsi soient-ils'' - a fiction film centred on Quebec youth and the new cultural mentality that came about after 1968. In 1974 Yvan Patry teamed with Bernard Lalond, Roger Frappier, Guy Bergeron, and André Gagnon to direct ''On a raison de se révolter'', a film on workers' conflicts that was intended to politicize Quebec workers. Throughout the 1980s Yvan made several trips to

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. He co-directed (with Danièle Lacourse) ''Nicaragua/Honduras: Entre deux guerres'' (1983), followed by ''Nicaragua: La guerre sale'' (1985); two significant documentaries on the war fought by the

Contras In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista Na ...

against the population of

. Yvan Patry and Danièle Lacourse continued to film together in regions of conflict through the 1980s and 1990s until Yvan's death in 1999. Their most notable works include ''The Rwandan Series'', a 5-part in-depth look at the central African country. ''Hand of God, Hand of the Devil''; ''Sitting on a Volcano''; and ''Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold'' recount the horrifying crimes that took place before, during, and after the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

. ''Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold'' won the

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

"Best of Festival" award in 1998. Yvan was also the founder of Alter Ciné, an organization of filmmakers and international journalists in cooperation with

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

organizations.

Films as Director

* (1968) Octobre 68 (TV, short) * (1969) Ainsi soient-ils * (1974) On a raison de se révolter * (1983) Nicaragua/Honduras: Entre deux guerres (co-dir.) * (1985) Nicaragua: La guerre sale (co-dir.) * (1986) The Forgotten War * (1986) Songs of the Next Harvest * (1986) A Time to Heal * (1990) Nuit et Silence (TV, co-dir.) * (1994) Denial * (1994) L'histoire muselée (TV, co-dir.) * (1995) Hand of God, Hand of the Devil (TV, co-dir.) * (1996) We Were Cowards, aka Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold, Part 1 (co-dir.) * (1996) We Feel Betrayed, aka Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold, Part 2 (co-dir.) * (1996) Blood was Flowing Like a River, aka Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold, Part 3 (co-dir.)

References

Rist, Peter. "Guide to the cinema(s) of Canada", Greenwood Press, 2001.

External links

* Yvan Patry at th
Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patry, Yvan 1948 births Film producers from Quebec Film directors from Quebec Canadian documentary film directors People from Iroquois Falls, Ontario Franco-Ontarian people 1999 deaths Canadian documentary film producers Film producers from Ontario Film directors from Ontario