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Pierre Hébert

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B: January 19, 1944 in Montréal, Québec

Born in Montreal in 1944, Pierre Hébert studied anthropology at the Université de Montréal in the early 1960s. He had already developed an interest in art and cinema. After hearing about the cameraless animated films of Norman McLaren, he undertook his own experiments by scratching images on the emulsion of 8mm film, an act that has continued to inform his practice today. He was part of the exciting growth of Quebec cinema in the early 1960s and was active in organizations such as Cinémathèque québécoise. Hébert went to work for the NFB’s animation unit in 1965. He was co-animator with Francine Desbiens, Suzanne Gervais on the 1973 short Du coq à l’âne. From 1993 to 1995, he served as president of La Cinémathèque québecoise, a film archive based in Montréal. He has also been teaching animation in various universities and writing for cinema and art magazines. He published three essays (L’Ange et l’automate, 1999, Corps, langage, technologie in 2006, and in 2021, Toucher au cinéma). In August 2010, he was recognized for his work with an honorary professorship by the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. He has been a member of the board of the artist-run video centre Videographe, in Montreal since 2011. Other recent awards include a ppecial career award from the Tehran International Animation Festival in 2017, Best Canadian Animation Film award for Tu ressembles à moi at Les Sommets du cinéma d’animation, in Montréal in 2014. We list his credits as an animator and/or animation director.

Also see: Pierre Hébert: Animation without Borders