Sharp? Indeed! Dense? Certainly! Interesting and informative? Absolutely!
The history of Quebec is vast and each historian contributes to lift a corner of the veil. Thus, in terms of the history of cinema, particularly governmental, the contribution of Marc-André Robert with this work devoted to the Quebec Film Office seems essential to us.
Already, reading the introduction announces two things: a sense of clarity, essential to give color to this subject with its hermetic appearance, and a depth in the research. The mere fact of reading where and how Mr. Robert conducted his research is exciting with its appearance of an archival thriller. And if you are not yet convinced, go take a look at the bibliography.
That said, what is this creature of the Office du film du Québec (OFQ)? Born in 1961 with the Quiet Revolution, the OFQ is one with its time. Quebec emancipates itself, creates new institutions, welcomes the world with Expo 67.
To support this excitement, it was necessary to write, produce and distribute informational and educational films intended to reach the public. Which the OFQ did, supported by a small group of visionary and passionate civil servants.
But there is a downside to this. These employees were not immune to the tug-of-war, quarrels and other squabbles waged by politicians and senior officials, who pulled the cover off the container to the detriment of the content. This is recounted in the first part of the book.
The OFQ also suffered several redefinitions attributable to its passage from the Executive Council to the Provincial Secretariat, then to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and finally to the Ministry of Communications in the Lévesque government in 1976… before dissolving into another structure. Are you still following?
And what about the films in all this, you might ask? Have they been made? Tons! Hundreds of short films, often commissioned by ministries. Covering a thousand and one subjects, as we tell in part 2 (more statistical) and part 3 (more narrative).
One example among others. When filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque decided to make a film about General de Gaulle’s visit to Quebec in the summer of 1967, he knocked on the OFQ’s door for help, which was refused. Labrecque then turned to another government agency, the Office de l’information et de la publicité (OIPQ), which accepted. Stung, the OFQ commissioned a film at the last minute, which would be started by filmmaker Paul Vézina and completed by Claude Fournier. But even though Fournier’s film was “a much more critical and ironic document” than Labrecque’s, Daniel Johnson’s government suddenly considered it a “hot potato” with the “Vive le Québec libre!” shouted by the French president. This passage is delightful.
Unfortunately, the author believes, the organization has faced too many winds and tides to have left its mark.
Thus, the creation of Radio-Québec (now Télé-Québec) made it lose its educational mandate. All this to say, believes Mr. Robert, that the OFQ is “one of the rare political defeats of the Quiet Revolution.” Nothing less!
Finally, a word to say that the OFQ had an ancestor, the Service de ciné-photographie de la province du Québec, once again defended by a few visionary employees, including the incredible Joseph Morin, whom the author affectionately calls “self-taught pioneers.” These two words convey all the essence that Marc-André Robert brings not only to his subject, government cinema, but to its artisans.
What do you think? Express your opinion
Extract
“In the 1964 edition of the General catalog of 16 mm films from the Film Officetitles from these two directories [distribution française et secteur anglo-protestant] are classified according to 28 headings representing different subjects. In the collections of the OFQ film library, we find as many films on forestry industries as on human anatomy, the Balkans, obstetrics, libraries or even veterinary medicine. The portrait of the subjects covered is as varied as it is interesting. It shows the whole range of needs of the film library users in terms of educational and information documents.
Who is Marc-André Robert?
Professor of documentation techniques at the Collège de Maisonneuve, Marc-André Robert is a historian and librarian. For a long time, he has been studying the relationship between cinema and history and government and state cinema. He is the author of the essay In the camera of Abbé Proulx and co-author of Comic imagination in Quebec cinemaalso published by Septentrion.
The Quebec Film Board
North
450 pages