I'm Just a Simple Filmmaker: An Interview with Michel Brault
2007; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2562-2528
Autores Tópico(s)Cinema and Media Studies
ResumoIn close-up, his head is tilted towards her. Hers is slightly tilted, too. He is looking at her. She is looking down. This frame, extracted from the rest of the twenty-three that make up a cinematic instance, is on the cover of a book in my hands, featuring the delicate beauty of Genevieve Bujold and Claude Gauthier caressing a strand of her hair in the snow. The book is a gift from Michel Brault given to me in a hotel suite where I conducted the following interview during the Toronto International Film Festival. The beautiful black and white image is unmistakably his own, from Entre la mer et l'eau douce (1967). Published by TIFF Group in 2007, Andre Loiselle's Cinema as History: Michel Brault and Modern Quebec explores the intricate embroidery of Michel Brault's filmmaking interwoven with Quebec's history. Loiselle rightly claims that to follow the career of Michel Brault as a director and cinematographer is to follow the history of modern Quebec. Sitting across from me, in the subdued light of a September afternoon, is the man behind some of the most unforgettable images I have seen in cinema, as director, Les ordres (1974), Pour la suite du monde (1963), l'Acadie, l'Acadie (1971) and as director of photography, Mon oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971), A tout prendre (Claude Jutra, 1961), Les Bons Debarras (Francis Mankiewicz, 1980), Mourir a tue-tete (Anne Claire Poirier, 1979), Chronique d'un ete (Jean Rouch, Edgar Morin, 1961). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Aysegul Koc: I find the cinema of Quebec somehow patriarchal. Of course we see filmmakers like Anne Claire Poirer, Lea Pool, Louise Archambault but that is rare, whereas there seems to be a succession of male filmmakers, often with camaraderie amongst them or a father to son relationship between them. Michel Brault: I don't think so. Maybe it is because I could be considered one of those fathers (laughs). Cinematically I don't know if I have sons, it takes a couple of generations to say how that pattern works. It hasn't been that long that Quebec cinema exists. No, I don't believe so, Aysegul. (He gives a perfect rendition of my name, although he has just met me for the first time). AK: How would you explain the scarcity of women? MB: You find that there aren't many women in Quebecois cinema? AK: Yes. MB: I am not the person to ask, perhaps. I see much fewer films than before. I have not kept track of recent developments, new filmmakers. But just a little while ago I saw a beautiful film by Anais Barbeau. There is Catherine Martin. Do you know her? She has made many films. (Silence) Then, there is the mother of cinema Quebecois, perhaps Anne Claire Poirier? I should think so. AK: Where do you see the cinema of Quebec in the contemporary cinema of the world? MB: The cinema that we made in the 60s, when our cinema began to be really dynamic has in itself its tradition. You were saying that Quebec's cinema is patriarchal but let's say a director like Alanis Obomsawin makes her films with filmmakers who were in that tradition. All my life, when I was younger, my friends and I would watch all the good films we could get in the world. We'd even go to New York to see a film. But today it is impossible to follow the incredible flow of films made all around the globe. Our cinema of course suffers from that as well. I don't work in the industry anymore so it is hard to tell from the perspective of a filmmaker working now. AK: What about your production company, Nanouk Films? MB: No, not anymore. The company takes care of the films that I made already, but that is all. I am a little too old. I cannot work all day anymore. One has to be very alert when making a film. AK: How long has it been, that you quit filmmaking? MB: Slowly, I can say in the last three years. I've just made a film on poetry, three films of one minute each actually, that make part of an ensemble. …
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