The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content Accessibility

French-language Writers (13)

  • Antonine Maillet - The Possibilities Are Endless
    Antonine Maillet - The Possibilities Are Endless
    Ginette Pellerin 2009 52 min
    Made famous in 1971 by the success of La Sagouine and achieving international celebrity after winning the Prix Goncourt for Pélagie-la-Charrette in 1979, Antonine Maillet has been the mouthpiece of the Acadian people throughout the world for fifty years. This documentary takes us from Bouctouche to Montreal by way of Moncton to discover a great writer who has rarely spoken of herself with such candour and generosity. An unforgettable autobiographical document.
  • Backyard Theatre
    Backyard Theatre
    1973 27 min
    Backyard Theatre is a documentary about playwright Michel Tremblay and director André Brassard’s flavourful brand of Quebec theatre, which captured the earthy wit and joual (slang) of Montreal's East End working-class neighbourhood. The film features impromptu improvisation by the cast of Les belles-soeurs and Demain matin, Montréal m'attend, two genre-defining plays.
  • The Black Squirrel
    The Black Squirrel
    Fadel Saleh 1999 57 min
    This feature film is a different portrait of Ottawa, as transfigured by the loving but provocative gaze of well-known Francophone writer Daniel Poliquin. In his novels, the national capital metamorphoses, like the dreaded rat that supposedly changed into the city's ubiquitous black squirrel in a bid to win our affection. Alternating reality and fiction, the film reveals another Ottawa through the dreams and desires of his novels' characters - all portrayed by Poliquin himself.
  • The Creative Process: Where Do I Start?
    The Creative Process: Where Do I Start?
    Scott Smith 2009 12 min
    This short documentary captures the savvy of great Canadian storytellers on film. Sharing their insights on inspiration, authenticity, tenacity and what compels them in their creative endeavors are Double Happiness director Mina Shum, Oscar® winner Denys Arcand, The Hockey Sweater author Roch Carrier, Emporte-moi director Léa Pool and Zacharias Kunuk, the filmmaker behind Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner).
  • The Cabinet of Doctor Ferron
    The Cabinet of Doctor Ferron
    Jean-Daniel Lafond 2003 1 h 21 min
    This feature-length documentary focuses on acclaimed novelist, playwright, essayist, political gadfly, and practicing doctor, Jacques Ferron. Using a combination of fiction and biography, the filmmaker takes viewers on a pilgrimage into the life and fictional world of the prolific author. The film reveals a complex and appealing man who was a Quebec nationalist, an ironic polemicist, and an anguished humanist devoted to social and political justice.
  • Enigmatico
    Enigmatico
    David Mortin  &  Patricia Fogliato 1995 51 min
    Interweaving poetry, painting, photography, music and sculpture, this feature documentary is an innovative look at the lives and work of Canadian men and women artists of Italian origin. Broaching issues of identity and culture, the film explores the relationship between the immigrant experience and the creative process.
  • Eye Witness No. 68
    Eye Witness No. 68
    Walford Hewitson Douglas Wilkinson , … 1954 10 min
    Birth of a Book: A look at the Canadian literary field showing authors who have made the grade, such as Morley Callaghan, Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy and Roger Lemelin. Eskimo Work Arctic Coal Mine: Baffin Island Inuit of Pond Inlet find easy cash and a ready market for the product of their surface coal mine. Dispatch Riders Perform Cycle Capers In Kingston, Ontario: the display team of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals stages a dare-devil motorcycling exhibition.
  • Firewords: Louky Bersianik, Jovette Marchessault, Nicole Brossard
    Firewords: Louky Bersianik, Jovette Marchessault, Nicole Brossard
    Dorothy Todd Henaut 1986 1 h 24 min
    This feature documentary offers an intimate glimpse of three respected yet controversial Quebec writers. Now recognized at home and abroad, Louky Bersianik, Jovette Marchessault and Nicole Brossard have contributed greatly to the creation of a distinctive women’s literature. Confirming that fresh approaches to literature are still possible, they have helped to heighten awareness of the politics of language. Excerpts from their works vividly convey each woman’s style, concerns and rhythms. They examine personal and global issues from a feminist perspective: human relationships, work, justice, poverty, loneliness, women’s spirituality, and the future.
  • Michel Marc Bouchard: Speaking Out
    Michel Marc Bouchard: Speaking Out
    Martin Talbot 2023 5 min
    A window onto the world of a theatre giant, and an opportunity to discover the man behind the words. Michel Marc Bouchard discusses his youth and talks candidly about what has motivated him over the years to speak out and share his concerns, which resonate here at home and across the globe.
  • A Song for Quebec
    A Song for Quebec
    Dorothy Todd Henaut 1988 55 min
    Produced in 1988, this feature documentary presents a living history of Quebec's last 40 years as seen through the eyes of one couple. Pauline Julien and Gérald Godin, two Quebec artists, share their perspectives on the events that have marked Quebec's evolution. Julien, a singer, and Godin, a poet, express their love and passion for the province (and each other) while providing a unique take on the Quebec nationalist movement.
  • Two Episodes from the Life of Hubert Aquin
    Two Episodes from the Life of Hubert Aquin
    Jacques Godbout 1979 56 min
    This feature documentary by Jacques Godbout retraces the life of Hubert Aquin, one of Quebec's most brilliant writers. The film revolves around 2 episodes in Aquin's life: the dramatic events leading up to the publication of his first novel, and the anguish of the months preceding his suicide. (Aquin ended his life in 1977.) An unusual montage technique intercuts excerpts from a feature film in which he was the lead actor with the recollections of people who knew him well.
  • The Ungrateful Land: Roch Carrier Remembers Ste-Justine
    The Ungrateful Land: Roch Carrier Remembers Ste-Justine
    Cynthia Scott 1972 27 min
    Here is the village of Ste-Justine as one gifted man, novelist and playwright Roch Carrier, remembers it. In this small corner of Québec there is space in the landscape and in the vast spread of forest, but the fringe of rocks around every field speaks of the backbreaking hardship that was the lot of Carrier's father and of his grandfather before him. This is a nostalgic view of rural Québec.
  • Where Is Here?
    Where Is Here?
    This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
    Sturla Gunnarsson 1987 53 min
    A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the 100th anniversary issue of Saturday Night magazine. The film follows a number of prominent Canadian writers as they research and write stories for this special edition. Interviews with Antonine Maillet, Robertson Davies, Mordecai Richler, David Macfarlane, Margaret Atwood and Peter Foster are featured, as well as excerpts from some of their stories.