Michel Brault, one of the pioneers of handheld film documentaries in the 1960s, died on Saturday (September 21) on his way to receive a lifetime achievement award in Toronto. He was 85.
The Montreal-born filmmaker started as a cameraman and director of photography at the National Film Board of Canada. With Gilles Groulx he co-directed the 1958 classic of Canadian direct cinema documentary, Les raquetteurs.
His cinematography was crucial to the Chronique d’un été a cinéma vérité classic in France by Jean Rouch and sociologist Edgar Morin which won the Cannes Critics award in 1961.
Throughout his career as a cameraman, director of photography, writer, director and producer Brault worked on both documentaries and fiction films.
He is the only Canadian to win a Cannes director’s award for his feature 1974 fiction film Les Ordres. He used documentary style filmmaking to tell the story of a number of individuals caught up in the implementation of the War Measures Act in Canada during the 1970 October Crisis in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec.
“A master of direct cinema, a brilliant cameraman, an inspired cinematographer, and a sensitive and gifted director who was equally adept in both fiction and documentary, Michel Brault is one of our greats,” said Tom Perlmutter, Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson, in a statement released Monday.
“Ever keen to explore the innovative potential of new technologies, he helped Quebec cinema take off in the 1960s, working with the NFB’s French team. He has remained a source of inspiration for subsequent generations of filmmakers and film technicians.”
More information:
Toronto Star – Quebec film legend Michel Brault, known for cinéma-vérité style, dies – here
Le Monde – Michel Brault, l’inventeur du cinéma direct – here
POV Magazine – A Dream of Communication (the seminal work of Michel Brault) – here
List of film Michel Brault’s film credits – here
View some of the films of Michel Brault (at NFB.ca website) – here
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