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Québec (18)
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Artist in MontrealJean Palardy 1954 30 minThis short film introduces us to the "automatistes," followers of an abstract art form that developed in Montreal. The movement, initiated by Paul-Émile Borduas, is explained by the artists themselves when narrator Bruce Ruddick drops in at their cooperative studio. The film also captures painter Paterson Ewen at his home and joins the crowd at L'Échouerie, the artists' rendezvous spot. Dr. Robert Hubbard, chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada, comments on non-objective art in general and automatism in particular. -
By Woman's HandPepita Ferrari 1994 58 minIn 1920, a group of young Montreal women artists formed the nucleus of what would later become known as the Beaver Hall Hill Group. Together, they created an artistic environment of mutual support that lasted for more than three decades. By Woman's Hand explores this unique group through the eyes of Prudence Heward, Sarah Robertson and Anne Savage, its three most prominent members.
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BannerfilmDonald Winkler 1972 9 minThe work of Norman Laliberté, one of the most creative designers of banners in North America. He is shown in his workroom, piecing and stitching together bits of varicoloured fabric to create figures and symbols reminiscent of ancient pomp and pageantry. Music and movement in the film heighten this effect. His arrangement of shapes and colours grows, before your eyes, into a bold, glowing canvas in cloth.
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The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam BorensteinJoyce Borenstein 1991 29 minWith great singleness of purpose, Sam Borenstein painted for over 40 years. Despite his obvious talent it was only near the end of his life that his work began to be known. Twenty years after the artist's death, animation filmmaker Joyce Borenstein brings her father's work to a wider audience. Using various animation techniques in this documentary, she skillfully and harmoniously integrates archival material, filmed sequences, the painting themselves, and reminiscences of friends and family, to bring Sam Borenstein's work to life.
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Canadians AbroadDon Haldane 1956 30 minThis short documentary from 1956 catches up with several talented Canadians who have found a home in the entertainment or arts scenes of London and Paris. Among them are Toronto-born Beverley Baxter, a baronet and MP who claims that London has a history of being invaded (first the Romans, now the Canadians), and then-aspiring novelist Mordecai Richler, who feels he has a better chance of making a living in England than he does back home.
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Jack BushMurray Battle 1979 56 minThe late Canadian painter Jack Bush said he painted "from the belly." Born in Montreal in 1909, he earned his living as a commercial artist until his work gained recognition in the New York art market in 1968. In an interview he gave before his death, Bush talks about his life, his work, and the development of art in Canada over the past 25 years. Exhibitions of his work are shown, in particular a retrospective at which he and his friend Clement Greenberg, noted New York art critic, talk about his paintings.
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The Jolifou InnColin Low 1955 10 minThis short film depicts Canada as it was a hundred years ago, as seen through the paintings of artist and adventurer Cornelius Krieghoff. The changing seasons, the Quebec countryside, village life — all were an unending inspiration to Krieghoff.
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Le Québec as Seen by Cartier-Bresson1969 10 minThe photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson were the first ever to be displayed in the Louvre, Paris. In this film the world-famous photographer turns his lens on the Québec scene, finding there the same fascination with form and movement that gives his work a mark of individuality. Here, in town and country, are young people, old people, streets and fences, homes and edifices captured in a moment of time to give a composite representation of the world of Québec.
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My Floating World: Miyuki TanobeIan Rankin , Stephan Steinhouse , … 1979 26 minThis documentary short is a portrait of Miyuki Tanobe, a Japanese painter who has chosen to make Québec her home. She works in the Nihonga style, applying centuries-old techniques to scenes drawn directly from the working-class neighborhoods of Montréal. The film records the progression of one of her paintings from preliminary sketch to completion.
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Notman's WorldAlbert Kish 1989 29 minThis documentary short is a portrait of Canadian photographer William Notman. Photography was still in its infancy when he opened his first studio in Montreal in the late 1850s. He rapidly turned his art, and a budding technology, into a highly successful business. Within 5 years he was appointed Photographer to the Queen. Not content with doing mere portraiture, he saw photography as a means of documenting history. With the use of props in his studio, composite photographs, and calling on his background as a trained artist, Notman immortalized the people and places of Canada.
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Nothing SacredGarry Beitel 2003 51 minThis feature documentary is a portrait of Montreal political cartoonists Aislin and Serge Chapleau. In the pages of The Montreal Gazette and La Presse, respectively, they’ve been skewering politicians for 30 years. But who are these biting satirists? The film seeks to answer this question through interviews with the cartoonist's friends, families, colleagues, and even a few of their favourite victims, including Gilles Duceppe and Louise Beaudoin. Featuring many of their classic cartoons, Nothing Sacred pays tribute to gifted iconoclasts whose hilarious characters have seeped into our collective consciousness.
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Ozias Leduc... Painter of the Soul's SeasonsMichel Brault 1996 58 minOzias Leduc (1864-1955) was one of Quebec's most important visual artists. Largely self-taught, Leduc's wide-ranging painting, writing and photography have both a symbolic and spiritual dimension. This biography illuminates Leduc's life by drawing on the writings of two of his friends, writer Robert de Roquebrune (1889-1978) and painter Paul-Émile Borduas (1905-1960). Their recollections paint the portrait of an enigmatic and reserved man who summed up his vocation with the words, "The artist's sole mission is to give expression to the Beautiful. The Beautiful as free as space and time."
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Portrait of the ArtistGordon Burwash , Julian Biggs , … 1964 28 minGlimpses into the lives of three artists: Erhabor Amokpae of Lagos; Cid de Sosa Pinto of Sao Paulo; and Gord Smith of Montréal. Each artist provides his own commentary on how he lives, works, thinks and feels.
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Paul-Émile Borduas (1905-1960)Jacques Godbout 1964 21 minA film about the life and work of one of Canada's foremost modern painters. Borduas swung from religious painting to the purest of black-and-white abstraction. This film provides the opportunity to follow the development of his styles--surrealism, cubism, and automatism.
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Primitive Painters of CharlevoixJean Palardy 1947 21 minArt in contemporary Québec, including paintings by the late Marie Bouchard, her sister Cécile, Alfred Deschênes, Marie Anne Simard, and Robert Cauchon. Self-taught, these painters show strong individuality, sincerity and vitality.
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RiopelleMarianne Feaver 1984 27 minThe paintings of Jean-Paul Riopelle are known around the world. But the painter himself remains private, inaccessible. This documentary attempts to learn more about the man behind the artist, the creative genius behind the work. As we follow him in his day-to-day activities, we see him working in his studio, relaxing with his friends, attending an exhibition of his paintings, and hunting and fishing in the heart of the Quebec wilderness--a source of deep and continuing inspiration for him.
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Saturday NightRosana Matecki 2021 15 minA short documentary essay on solitude, filmed in Spanish and narrated by filmmaker Rosana Matecki, Saturday Night offers a poetic and bittersweet snapshot of aging in an urban setting, viewed through the lens of dance. An immersive soundscape and a delicate tempo set the mood for this intimate exploration of resilience and nostalgia.
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We Are All... Picasso!Jacques Giraldeau 1969 58 minA general look at the Québec art scene--what painters and sculptors say about their work, about the place of art in society, and what has fired Québec's particular interest in art. The views of well-known artists are heard, as well as those of several museum directors, art critics, and some members of the lay public who confess to be not entirely in accord with the more modern art forms.
