June 3, 2015 – Montreal, National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Acclaimed Quebec filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque’s latest documentary, Sur les traces de Maria Chapdelaine (Remembering Maria Chapdelaine), produced by Colette Loumède at the NFB, will be screened in its original French version at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise on July 8, 9 and 10, with the director in attendance on July 8. The poster art for the film will appear on the cover of a new paperback edition of Louis Hémon’s classic novel Maria Chapdelaine from publisher Bibliothèque québécoise. The book will be on sale at the Montreal screenings in July and in bookstores on September 3.
The documentary had its world premiere in February 2015 as part of an homage to Labrecque at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, and also received a special screening in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec, organized in collaboration with the Louis Hémon Museum. The film retraces the bold journey of French director Julien Duvivier, who came to Quebec’s Lac-Saint-Jean region to shoot a film adaptation of Hémon’s novel in 1934.
Quick Facts
• About the film
In 1934, French filmmaker Julien Duvivier arrived in the village of Péribonka, in Quebec’s Lac-Saint-Jean region, to shoot a film adaptation of Louis Hémon’s classic novel Maria Chapdelaine. Some 80 years later, documentary filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque sets out to retrace Duvivier’s steps in this bold filmmaking adventure. Drawing on clips from Duvivier’s film, archival material from France and Quebec, and original footage shot by Labrecque and his team in Péribonka, the documentary Sur les traces de Maria Chapdelaine explores the boundary between reality and the fantasy world of film.
• About Jean-Claude Labrecque
Born in 1938, Jean-Claude Labrecque has created a significant body of work and served as an astute, passionate witness to Quebec’s culture and history. Since 1965, he has directed some 40 documentary and fiction films, including the triptych Nuit de la poésie (1970/1980/1991), Marie Uguay (1982), À hauteur d’homme (2003) and Infiniment Québec (Forever Quebec) (2008). He received a Jutra-Hommage for Lifetime Achievement in 2008. His most recent film, Sur les traces de Maria Chapdelaine (Remembering Maria Chapdelaine) (2014), explores the theme of memory, which recurs so often in his work. It is the latest chapter in Labrecque’s long and productive partnership with the NFB.
Quotes
“For me, Sur les traces de Maria Chapdelaine was an opportunity to cross paths and work with the great Quebec film director and cinematographer Jean-Claude Labrecque. At the NFB, we gave him total freedom, so that the production experience would open up creative possibilities for him and let him explore the theme of memory with the full array of artistic talents that he has at his fingertips. That the cover of the new edition of Louis Hémon’s prestigious novel Maria Chapdelaine will use the poster art from the film is a clear sign of its importance to Quebec culture. ” ─ Colette Loumède, Executive Producer, Quebec Studio, NFB
“Since it was first published 100 years ago, the story of Maria Chapdelaine has been embraced around the world, because it tells the tragic tale of a love and a people, set in a northern country at the far end of the Earth. The great divide between adventurers and settlers in French-Canadian culture is personified by the woodsman François Paradis and the farm girl Maria Chapdelaine. This iconic, powerful, universal novel has become the single most essential piece of Quebec literature. Over 150 editions of this masterpiece of French-speaking culture have been published to date. It has been translated into 25 different languages and adapted for the stage, the cinema, and television. This documentary by a formidable filmmaker again demonstrates the fascination that Maria Chapdelaine continues to hold for us all.”
─ Pierre Filion, Publisher, Bibliothèque québécoise
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Press screening
Monday, June 22, 10 a.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise
335 De Maisonneuve Boulevard East
Montreal
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About the NFB
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) creates groundbreaking interactive works, social-issue documentaries and auteur animation. The NFB has produced over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 11 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
About the Bibliothèque québécoise (BQ)
BQ is an independent publishing house founded in 1988 and operated jointly by Éditions Hurtubise and Leméac. BQ’s catalogue of some 250 titles offers the best of Quebec literature in French and English-Canadian literature in French translation. Many generations of readers have enjoyed books from BQ, which remains not only a collection of paperback classics but also a home for innovative literature from the past and the present. In June 2015, BQ will be launching its all-new website, www.livres-bq.com, providing up-to-date information on all of the titles and authors in its catalogue.
