Documentary filmmaker Danic Champoux died Friday at the age of 45. A hasty start for this creator who drew his inspiration from direct cinema while placing the human in the foreground.
“He left too soon, he had other things to talk about. We will have to do without his unique view of society, it will leave a hole in Quebec, ”drops Patrick Fauquembergue, long-time collaborator and friend of the director, at the end of the line.
Danic Champoux has signed several works throughout his career, including CHSLD, my love (2020), nominated for Gemini, The girl from the crater (2019), and Mom and Me (2011). He was recognized for his destabilizing films and his great humanity.
The documentary filmmaker is also behind the Urbania web-series Fragments, stories to share. Personal accounts of about ten minutes in the same vein as his film Self-portrait without me (2014), with an equally bare setting to leave room for testimonials.
In 2001, his first film My father was awarded the prestigious Pierre-et-Yolande-Perrault prize at the Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma.
A brand forever
“Danic left his mark in Quebec: his films and the unique tone of his works will mark Quebec culture for a long time,” reads a statement from his press officer.
Several actors in the film industry also shared their condolences on social networks on Saturday, while emphasizing “the trace” that the artist leaves behind him.
“Filmmaker with a benevolent and luminous gaze, he will have made his mark by directing more than fifteen award-winning documentaries”, abounds the National Film Board (NFB) of Canada.
“At the NFB, we are very affected by the sudden loss of a unique filmmaker, still driven by a deep desire to explore people and society through cinema. We had a project in development with Danic. His listening, his approach and his gaze, attentive as much to the intimate as to the collective, will be missed, “said in a press release Nathalie Cloutier, executive producer of the Documentary Studio of Quebec and of the Canadian and Acadian Francophonie of the ONF.