Michel Brault

“You can’t tell the truth: you can reveal,” says Quebec filmmaker Michel Brault, addressing the implicit claims of cinéma vérité. He prefers the term cinéma direct, a style he helped define at the National Film Board in the late ’50s. In collaboration with such figures as Claude Jutra, Gilles Groulx, Pierre Perrault and Marcel Carrière, Brault broke new ground with handheld cameras. He was cinematographer on The Snowshoers and co-directed Pour la suite du monde — seminal cinéma direct titles — and did the camera for Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin's Chronicle of a Summer, often cited as the first European cinéma direct documentary. He’s also shot features, including Kamouraska and the landmark Mon oncle Antoine. He earned a Best Director Award at Cannes for Orders (1974). He was an important public figure in Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, and much of his work is concerned with Quebec culture and politics.

Selected Filmography

The Paper Wedding (1989)
Berlin International Film Festival nominee for Golden Berlin Bear

Good Riddance - cinematographer (1980)

Orders (1974)
Cannes Film Festival — Best Director

L' Acadie, L'Acadie?!? (1971)

Drifting Upstream (1967)

Geneviève (1964)

Chronicle of a Summer - cinematographer (1961)

Pour la suite du monde (1963)
Cannes Film Festival nominee for Golden Palm
Bilbao International Festival — Golden Mikeldi
Canadian Film Award

Wrestling (1961)

The Snowshoers - cinematographer (1958)