A major figure in Quebec documentary cinema, producer and director André Gladu has had a remarkable career in preserving the oral heritage of Quebec and French-speaking communities across North America. He has made an impressive number of documentary films, many of which have won awards at national and international festivals. His major contribution, Le son des Français d’Amérique (The Sound of French America) (1974-1980), which he initiated and co-directed with Michel Brault, is an ethnographic work that is both engaged and humanistic, full of joie de vivre, and has been inscribed since 2017 in UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register.
Attending the festival for the first time, he will present two film screenings and talks drawn from the series Le Son des Français d’Amérique. These two discussions, involving exchanges with the audience, will be hosted by Pierre-André Bujold.
Saturday, October 10 at 5:30 PM
Film screening and talk featuring the documentary Le quêteux Tremblay – 1977 – 25 min
William Tremblay, a fiddler from Gaspésie, talks about his living conditions. Neither a beggar nor a drifter, the quêteux in Quebec once had a social function. A respected figure, he brought news, told tales and stories, could cast spells, and was often a good musician. In exchange, he was welcomed, housed, and fed.