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Francophones Across Canada
Spanning 80 years, this wide-ranging selection of films celebrates the Canadian Francophonie and its diverse, rich communities, from one end of the country to the other.
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French EnoughAlexis Normand 2022 18 minAt her family’s cabin on Wakaw Lake, Saskatchewan, renowned Fransaskois singer-songwriter Alexis Normand invites audiences into a series of candid exchanges about belonging and bilingualism on the Prairies. Weaving together old home movies with current conversations, French Enough illuminates the struggle and triumph of reclaiming francophone Canadian identity. As parents, children and grandchildren sing, play and celebrate, in both French and English, the act of carrying a language forward finally becomes a thing of freedom and joy. -
Nova Scotia Acadians, The2012 2 minThis animated clip illustrates the lives and realities of Nova Scotia Acadians. It comes from the game Ta parole est en jeu, which playfully explores the richness and variety of the French language in Canada.
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Mai en décembre (Godard en Abitibi)2000 25 min1968. France is in the throes of worker and student protests, and a handful of outraged filmmakers disrupts the Cannes Festival. In Quebec, the rise of nationalism leads to clashes during St. Jean Baptiste Day festivities. Against this backdrop, Jean-Luc Godard, on the heels of his hit films À bout de souffle (Breathless, 1959) and Pierrot le fou (1965), is invited to “Les dix jours du cinéma politique” (ten days of political cinema) at Montreal’s Verdi Theatre. But Godard doesn’t make the trip merely to hobnob with admirers. He has another project in mind. In Rouyn-Noranda, a television station has given him carte blanche, and he starts a revolution… This film is part of the Libre Courts collection of first documentary shorts. Seven documentaries, seven filmmakers, a fresh outlook. Daring. Emotional. Cinema.
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Band of ExilesYves Bisaillon 1994 58 minHere in Toronto, four young Somali refugees are finishing high school. What did they bring with them? What did they find in Canada? Their testimonies, about us and about themselves, interspersed with newsreel footage and sequences of a theatrical creation in which they put all their soul, make them immediately endearing and overturn many prejudices held against refugees. A film that makes you want to get to know them better.
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Jack Kerouac's Road - A Franco-American OdysseyHerménégilde Chiasson 1989 54 minPart documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.
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The GossipsPhil Comeau 1978 57 minThis feature fiction film describes Acadia from a new and humorous angle. In a small village in the Acadian region of Nova Scotia, a couple living out of wedlock and a broad-minded priest scandalize the village gossips. They suspect that a treacherous act is about to be committed. Suspense builds, stoked by the clacking tongues of a trio of suspicious housewives.
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Instant FrenchDavid Bairstow 1965 21 minThis short film features the adventures of a group of businessmen who are forced into taking French lessons to stay competitive in their field. At first put out by this news, one by one they begin to realize that gaining fluency in another language has its benefits. Produced in 1965, the film, intended as a good-natured spoof, is definitely a product of its time.
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Ti-Jean Goes WestRaymond Garceau 1957 23 minPart comic adventure, part travelogue, this short film features the folkloric character of Ti-Jean, a French-Canadian kid endowed with magic powers. He travels west, drawing upon his superhuman strength to save a farmer’s crops. In their day (the 1950s) the Ti-Jean films were among the NFB’s most popular titles.
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Alexis Tremblay: HabitantJane Marsh 1943 37 minThis short documentary illustrates rural French Canadian life in the early 1940s. The film follows Alexis Tremblay and his family through the busy autumn days as they bring in the harvest and help with bread baking and soap making. Winter sees the children revelling in outdoor sports while the women are busy with their weaving, and, with the coming of spring young and old alike repair to the fields once more to plough the earth in preparation for another season of varied crops. One of the first NFB films to be produced, directed, written and shot by women.
