Michel Brault

Michel Brault was a writereditordirectorcinematographer His first encounter with film production was in 1947 when he helped Claude Jutra complete his first short emLe Dment du Lac JeanJeunesem More than fifty years later he directed what he called his last feature emQuand je serai parti vous vivrez encoreem 1999 and his last documentary emLa Manicem 2002 Brault was one of the very few Quebec filmmakers who had remained active since the forties Beyond his longevity Brault held a unique posllion in Qubec cinema for his key role as eilher director or cinematographer in the production of more than two hundred films From the short documentaries he directed at the National Film Board of Canada in the late fifties and early sixties to his finest achievements ndash Pour la suite du monde 1963 and emLes ordresem 1974 ndash as well as all the films he photographed for Caude Jutra Anne Claire Poirier Francis Mankiewicz and many others Braults oeuvre when considered in its entirety provides a most illuminating overview of the hitsory of Qubec cinema since the Second World War In fact Brault was considered to be Canadas most gifted cinematographer and an innovative seminal force in Qubec cinema since the 1950s His early cameraman work with Gilles Groulx Claude Jutra and Pierre Perrault virtually defines the look of classic Quebec cinema He became involved with filmmaking while still at university and joined the National Film Board in 1956 working on the celebrated Candid Eye series From 1961 to 1962 he was in France where he worked with directors such as Jean Rouch and Mario Ruspoli and shot the influential iChronique d8217un ti with Raoul Coutard and others In France he is considered an originator and one of the purist practitioners of cinmavrit Brault returned to Quebec and the NFB but quit the Board in 1965 when Pierre Juneau the director of French production refused to okay his first fiction feature iEntre la mer et l8217eau doucei He went on to have a very successful freelance career in feature films documentaries shorts and television His cinematography ranges from the gritty cinmavrit style of i tout prendrei to the lyricism of iKamouraskai and his directorial work from the terse documentary stylings of iLa Luttei to smoothly proficient television dramas such as iLes Noces du papieri He won Canadian Film Awards for his work behind the camera on ia hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscamononcleantoineMon oncle Antoineai and iLe Temps dune chassei and a hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscaawardsarchivegenieawardsGenie Awardsaa for his work on ia hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscalesbondebarrasLes Bons Dbarrasai and iThresholdi iLes ordresi which he directed shot and wrote won him three more CFAs and he shared the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975 The film seamlessly fuses documentary and fiction styles while dramatizing the trauma of innocent people caught up in the October Crisis of 1970 It is still regarded as a masterpiece of Canadian cinema Part of a preface to an interview recorded in 1980 with a hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscajutraclaudeClaude Jutraa the famed Qubec director said this of Brault Michel is a cameraman whose contribution is so important as to be equal to that of a film auteur But hes not just that When he wants to he can also be a film director And a script writer while were at it He makes up a story and puts it down on paper He works out the stage direction He directs the actors Beginning with emLa fleur de lAgeem and continuing with emEntre la mer et leau douceem he reached the apogee of his career with emLes ordresem An astounding undertaking Never has a dissident position been so clearly enunciated in Quebec cinema or indeed in Canadian cinemabrbrMichel Brault suffered a heart attack while travelling to the Film North festival in Huntsville Ontario where he was to receive the Bullrsquos Eye Lifetime Achievement Award for an awardwinning career that included directing the 1974 October Crisis docudrama emLes ordresem and his work as a cinematographer for the 1971 comingofage drama emMon oncle Antoineem He is pictured while attending the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto in 2012 brbrThese are Michel Braults credits as a directorbrbrAlso see a hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscatheileauxcoudrestrilogyThe leauxCoudres Trilogyabrbr br