Jean Pierre Lefebvre
| Jean Pierre Lefebvre | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 August 1941 Montreal, Canada |
| Occupation |
Film director Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1965–present |
Jean Pierre Lefebvre (French: [ləfɛvʁ]; born 17 August 1941) is a French Canadian filmmaker. He is widely admired as "the godfather of independent Canadian cinema," particularly among young, independent filmmakers.[1]
Biography
After making three independent features, Lefebvre made two films for the NFB in the late 1960s, including the 1968 feature Mon amie Pierrette, co-starring Raôul Duguay, and produced by Clément Perron.[2] Lefebvre was then asked to head the NFB's French-language fiction studio. He began its Premières Oeuvres series, designed to make low-budget shorts and features. Four features and a number of shorts were produced within a year before the initiative was halted by the NFB, and Lefebvre left to form his own production company, Cinak.[3]
Lefebvre was one of the first Canadian filmmakers to receive international acclaim for his work; his film Il ne faut pas mourir pour ça (1967) was the first Canadian film to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival.[3] He proved to be successful again at Cannes when he received the International Critics' Prize for Les fleurs sauvages (1982) and his film Le jour S... (1984) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section.[4] Les dernières fiançailles (1973) won the prestigious Prix de l'Organisation catholique internationale du cinéma in 1974.
Il ne faut pas mourir pour ça (1967), Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort (1977), and Aujourd'hui ou jamais (1997) make up his Abel Trilogy; 3 feature films starring the recurring character of Abel Gagné played by Marcel Sabourin.
In 1991, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his innovative and high-quality feature films".[5] In 1995 he was awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier. In 2013, Lefebvre received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award.[6]
Filmography
Features
- Le révolutionnaire (1964)
- Patricia et Jean-Baptiste (1966)
- II ne faut pas mourir pour ça (1967)
- Mon amie Pierrette (1968)
- Jusqu'au coeur (1968)
- La chambre blanche (1969)
- Un succès commercial ou Q-bec My Love (1969)
- Les maudits sauvages (1971)
- Mon oeil (1971)
- Ultimatum (1973)
- Les dernières fiançailles (1973)
- On n'engraisse pas les cochons à l'eau claire (1973)
- L'amour blessé (1975)
- Le gars des vues (1976)
- Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort (1977)
- Avoir 16 ans (1979)
- Les fleurs sauvages (1982)
- Le jour S... (1983)
- La boite à soleil (1988)
- Le fabuleux voyage de l'ange (1991)
- Aujourd'hui ou jamais (1997)
Other Work
- L'homoman (Short film, 1964)
- Au rythme de mon coeur! (Documentary, 1983)
- Alfred Laliberté sculpteur (Documentary, 1987)
- Ensemble (Video, 1988)
- Sentiers secrets (Video, 1988)
- Laubach Literacy of Canada: The Changing Workplace (Documentary short, 1989)
- Atelier altitude (Short film, 1993)
- Il était une fois Sabrina et Manu (Short film, 1994)
- L'âge des images (Series of 5 videos, 1994-1995)
- H comme hasard (Short film, 1999) (Part of the collective anthology project Un abécédaire)
- See you in Toronto (Short film, 2000)
- Le manuscript érotique (TV movie, 2002)
References
- ↑ "Jean-Pierre Lefebvre - Northern Stars".
- ↑ "Mon amie Pierrette" (Requires Adobe Flash). Online film (in French). National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
- 1 2 "Canadian Film Encyclopedia - Jean Pierre Lefebvre".
- ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Le jour S...".
- ↑ Order of Canada citation
- ↑ Governor General's Performing Arts Awards - Award Recipients