Undoubtedly the name of Werner Nold, who died Wednesday evening at the age of 90 following pneumonia, is not known to the general public. However, it should be. Indeed, the innovative techniques of this editor contributed to the entry of Quebec cinema into modernity. This, during his time at the National Film Board, from the beginning of the 1960s. During the 35 years that he worked at the NFB, Werner Nold collaborated with Gilles Carle, Pierre Perreault, Michel Brault, Denys Arcand, Jean-Claude Labrecque, Jean Beaudin, Francis Mankiewicz…
Born in Samedan, Switzerland, in 1935, Werner Nold was captivated from childhood by the magic of cinema. During an interview at his home in 2010, he told me that he had rushed behind the cinema screen as a kid, in the hope of finding Charlie Chaplin there after a film. Years later, his dream was fulfilled.
“I was so intimidated that I couldn’t find anything to say to him,” admitted with a laugh the man who had just received the Albert-Tessier Prize, the most prestigious distinction awarded to the seventh art in Quebec.
In 1955, in his early twenties and with a degree in photography, Werner Nold left Switzerland and settled in Quebec. In 1961, after a few years as a television cameraman and director, he landed a position at the NFB.
In the meantime, his passion for cinema had only grown. Although never having studied editing strictly speaking, Werner Nold had very personal ideas about the techniques he could use in his new role.
In the same interview, he revealed:
“I realized that in photography, and even in directing, which I dabbled in, I was a slave to the rules I had learned. A guy could capture a very expressive backlight with his camera, but I, on the other hand, did not allow myself to do so because I had been taught that photographing a backlight was not possible. Conversely, I approached editing without preconceptions and without constraints because I had no training in the field. »
In The dictionary of Quebec cinemaMichel Coulombe and Marcel Jean give among other examples of signature processes:
“Nold takes pleasure in inserting autonomous sequences, small films within the film, into the structure. »
The results are not only conclusive, but astonishing. Quickly, the young guard of filmmakers asked for Werner Nold to edit their films: For the rest of the world, The happy life of Léopold Z, Between the sea and fresh water, IXE-13, Time for a hunt, OK… Laliberténotably.
Without doubt one of his most brilliant collaborations was on the documentary by Jean-Claude Labrecque The 21st Gamese Olympiad. Werner Nold had to edit 330,608 feet of film on this occasion. In his letter of support to his old accomplice for the Albert-Tessier Prize, Labrecque described Nold as a “master for Quebec filmmakers”.
A great soloist
For Werner Nold, transmission is a fundamental value in this case. Thus, throughout his career as an editor, he simultaneously taught his profession at the University of Quebec in Montreal, in Chicoutimi, as well as at Florida State University.
From 1967 to his death, Werner Nold shared the life of Lucette Lupien, herself an important figure in local cinema. It was the latter who announced, Friday morning, the death of her partner.
always in The dictionary of Quebec cinemaMichel Coulombe and Marcel Jean conclude:
“If Nold chooses editing rather than directing, it is because he admits to preferring “to be a great soloist rather than a small, obscure conductor”. This choice proved to be judicious since he produced more than a hundred films, including several works that are among the most successful in Quebec production. »