Michel Brault facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michel Brault
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| Born | 25 June 1928 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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| Died | 21 September 2013 (aged 85) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| Occupation | Cinematographer, film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1958–2013 |
Michel Brault (June 25, 1928 – September 21, 2013) was a very important Canadian filmmaker. He was a talented cinematographer (the person who operates the camera), film director, and screenwriter. Michel Brault was a key figure in a style of filmmaking called Direct Cinema. This style tries to show real life as it happens, almost like a documentary. He was also known for being one of the first to use a hand-held camera, which made films feel more real and immediate.
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A Career in Film
Michel Brault started making films while he was still at university. In 1956, he joined the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), which is famous for making documentaries. He worked on a well-known series called Candid Eye.
From 1961 to 1962, Brault worked in France. There, he collaborated with famous directors like Jean Rouch. He also filmed an important movie called Chronique d’un été. In France, many people saw him as a founder of cinéma-vérité, which is another name for Direct Cinema. It means "cinema truth" and aims to capture life without acting or special effects.
Brault came back to Quebec and the NFB. But he left in 1965 because his first fiction film, Entre la mer et l'eau douce, was not accepted by the NFB director. After that, he became a successful freelance filmmaker. He worked on many different types of projects, including feature films, documentaries, short films, and TV shows.
His camera work was very diverse. For example, in À tout prendre, he used a raw, realistic style. But in Kamouraska, his work was much more poetic. As a director, he made tough documentaries like La lutte and smooth TV dramas like Les noces de papier.
Michel Brault won many awards for his work. He won Canadian Film Awards for filming Mon oncle Antoine and The Time of the Hunt. He also won Genie Awards for his camera work on Good Riddance and Threshold.
His film Orders (1974) was a huge success. He directed, filmed, and wrote it. For this movie, he won the Canadian Film Award for direction and shared the best director award at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Orders mixed documentary and fiction styles. It showed the difficult experiences of innocent people during the October Crisis of 1970 in Quebec. This film is still considered a masterpiece of Canadian cinema.
His Final Days
Michel Brault passed away on September 21, 2013. He had a heart attack while traveling to the Film North – Huntsville International Film Festival. He was going to receive a special Lifetime Achievement Award there. He had just arrived in Toronto from Montreal and was on his way to Huntsville when he started feeling unwell. A ceremony was held for him in Quebec to honor his life and work. Many important people, including the provincial premier, attended.
Family Life
Michel Brault's son, Sylvain Brault, followed in his footsteps and became one of Quebec's top cameramen. His daughter, Anouk, is a film producer.
Awards and Recognition
Michel Brault received many honors throughout his career, including:
- 1964 - Film of the Year, Canadian Film Awards
- 1975 - Best Director, Canadian Film Awards
- 1975 - Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
- 1980 - Molson Prize
- 1981 and 1983 - Genie Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography
- 1986 - Prix Albert-Tessier
- 1990 - Best director prize at the Flanders International Film Festival
- 1996 - Governor General's Performing Arts Award
- 2003 - Officer of the Ordre national du Québec
- 2005 - Prix Jutra lifetime achievement award
- 2013 - Bull’s Eye Lifetime Achievement Award, Film North – Huntsville International Film Festival
Selected Films
Michel Brault worked on over 200 films as a director or cinematographer. Here are some of his most notable works:
As Director
Fiction Films
- Matin - 1960 (short film)
- Between Salt and Sweet Water (Entre la mer et l'eau douce) - 1967
- Orders (Les ordres) - 1974
- Le son des français d'Amérique - 1974-1980 (TV series)
- The Paper Wedding (Les noces de papier) - 1989 (TV movie)
- Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par...) - 1992 (segment "La dernière partie")
- My Friend Max (Mon amie Max) - 1994 (TV movie)
- The Long Winter (Quand je serai parti... vous vivrez encore) - 1999
Documentaries
- Les raquetteurs (Co-Directed with Gilles Groulx, 1958)
- La lutte (Co-Directed with Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier and Claude Jutra, 1961)
- Pour la suite du monde (Co-Directed with Marcel Carrière and Pierre Perrault, 1963)
- L'Acadie l'Acadie?!? (Co-Directed with Pierre Perrault, 1971)
- Ozias Leduc, comme l'espace et le temps (Short film, 1996)
As Cinematographer
- Chronique d'un été - 1961
- Mon Oncle Antoine - 1971
- The Time of the Hunt (Le Temps d’une chasse) - 1972
- Kamouraska - 1973
- Good Riddance (Les Bons débarras) - 1980
- No Mercy - 1985
