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Quebec Musicians (12)

  • Crossroads--Three Jazz Pianists
    Crossroads--Three Jazz Pianists
    Martin Duckworth 1988 27 min
    Shot in 1987 at the Montréal International Jazz Festival, this documentary film presents musical performances and conversations between three jazz pianists with remarkably different styles--Soviet Leonid Chizhik, Black Montrealer Oliver Jones, and French-Canadian Jean Beaudet. It introduces viewers to the diversity of interpretation within today's jazz world, explores the roots of modern jazz and the specific formative influences on the musicians profiled, and reaches for a definition of twentieth-century jazz.
  • Diane Juster: Foundation of a Song
    Diane Juster: Foundation of a Song
    Gilles Doiron 2024 4 min
    Diane Juster: Foundation of a song explores the legendary singer-songwriter’s profound relationship to melody, lyrics and emotion. In this intimate tribute, Juster, an untiring advocate for protecting and encouraging Canadian artists, reflects on a legacy of love from her parents, one she’s passing on to a new generation of artists.
  • Finding Macpherson
    Finding Macpherson
    Serge Giguère 2014 1 h 17 min
    This feature doc tells the story of the improbable friendship between acclaimed Quebec singer Félix Leclerc and the intriguing Frank Randolph Macpherson. A chemical engineer from Jamaica, Macpherson immigrated to Quebec in 1917 and was the inspiration for the popular song that Leclerc named after him. But this is also a story about memory: it was animator Martine Chartrand’s memory of this song that compelled her to create the striking animated short MacPherson, made by filming paintings on glass using 35mm film. A sympathetic look at an artist at work, Finding Macpherson takes audiences on a personal journey, exploring the imperceptible yet powerful connections that bind us to each other.
  • Florent Vollant: I Dream in Innu
    Florent Vollant: I Dream in Innu
    Nicolas Renaud 2021 5 min
    The soul of the Innu language is the land, water and forests of the fast-disappearing caribou. Through his music, Florent Vollant continues to make this language heard around the world.
  • The Girl With the Red Beret
    The Girl With the Red Beret
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    Janet Perlman 2023 5 min
    A girl takes a wild ride on the metro in Montreal. Travelling from station to station, she encounters an array of colourful characters in a bizarre musical journey that’s peppered with hilarious and unexpected incidents. This joyful, heartwarming animated film portrays Montreal in all its vitality, creativity and diversity, with plenty of humour and good cheer, to the tune of Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s timeless hit “Complainte pour Ste-Catherine.”
  • Harmonium in California
    Harmonium in California
    Robert Fortier 1979 28 min
    This short documentary follows Quebec band Harmonium as they tour California in the mid-'70s with then-Premier René Lévesque in an effort to promote the province as well as introduce the group to the world's biggest music market. Here, we follow the ups and downs of Harmonium's promotional efforts and hear some of their music.
  • Je suis fait de musique (English Version)
    Je suis fait de musique (English Version)
    Michel Brault  &  André Gladu 1978 26 min
    Well-known button-accordion player Philippe Bruneau from Montréal tells of how he became an internationally recognized folk musician. His outstanding compositions dedicated to many of Quebec’s great musicians have become and inspiration for generations of young Trad musicians.
  • Le reel des ouvriers (English Version)
    Le reel des ouvriers (English Version)
    Michel Brault  &  André Gladu 1977 27 min
    Musicians from Quebec’s Portneuf region adopted and adapted Irish fiddle and drum tunes. Road worker and fiddler André Alain; carpenter and accordion player Jean-Claude Petit; and bus driver, frame-drum player, and jig dancer Arthur Tremblay introduce us to their lively music.
  • Le quêteux Tremblay (English Version)
    Le quêteux Tremblay (English Version)
    Michel Brault  &  André Gladu 1977 25 min
    Gaspé fiddler William Tremblay describes his lifestyle. In times past, Quebec’s quêteux—neither beggars nor homeless—had a social function. They were respected figures who brought news, told tales and stories, cast spells, and were often fine musicians. In exchange, they were welcomed, lodged, and fed.
  • Les ruine-babines (English Version)
    Les ruine-babines (English Version)
    Michel Brault  &  André Gladu 1975 24 min
    In Quebec, ruine-babines (literally, lip destroyer) is a common term for the harmonica. It’s also the name of a group of young musicians from the Montréal region. Gilles Garand, Louise De Grosbois, and friends embarked on an exploration of their musical roots, and they talk about their discovery of French-Canadian folk music.
  • The Megaphone Reel
    The Megaphone Reel
    Serge Giguère 1999 52 min
    This musical documentary by Serge Giguère focuses on Gilles Garand, a passionate promoter of Quebec’s heritage and an ardent champion of workers’ rights. Garand is a lively figure—a harmonica and accordion player, a CNTU servicing representative, and an organizer of La Grande Rencontre. Filmed in Montreal, Quebec City, and France, the film offers a rare opportunity to hear the masters of Quebec traditional music, Aldor Morin and Philippe Bruneau, who are featured at La Grande Rencontre. In French with English subtitles.
  • Pitou Boudreault, violoneux (English Version)
    Pitou Boudreault, violoneux (English Version)
    Michel Brault  &  André Gladu 1976 26 min
    Chicoutimi carpenter Louis Boudreault epitomized the typical Quebec fiddler. He relates how he learned his trade and his introduction to music by his father, Idas. Having learned the dance music of the Lac Saint-Jean region from his great uncle Thomas Vaillancourt, he explains how good fiddlers learn by connecting with the dancers.