GILLES CARLE STORYBOARD INTIME A tribute exhibition Photo : Idra Labrie For artists of the film community, Gilles Carle remains a model, even a reference. For the public, the source of his inspiration, he is the man who unveiled truths about our society with his tender, amused gaze. With Gilles Carle, Storyboard Intime, presented from January 21 to September 12, 2004, Musée de la civilisation in Québec City pays tribute to this internationally reputed filmmaker. The exhibition is presented in cooperation with Canadian Heritage, the National Film Board of Canada and Global Vision. Doing justice to Gilles Carle’s work in 150 square meters is a challenge worthy of a man who tackled many challenges of his own during the course of his career. Through pictorial works (18 pieces), photos, archives, personal items, film clips, posters, and film-related artifacts, the exhibition shows how Carle’s artistic talents influenced his films and provides visitors with a glimpse of the film production process. Gilles Carle After studying graphic arts and painting at the Montreal School of Fine Arts, working as a graphic designer for Radio-Canada, cofounding Éditions de L'Hexagone with Gaston Miron, and writing scripts for the National Film Board of Canada, Gilles Carle emerged as leading figure in the nascent Québec and Canadian film industry. His creative freedom led him to boldly explore and experiment with form and content and squarely established his work as a significant contribution that justifies the defense of independent cinema. Photo : Idra Labrie The birth of a filmmaker Gilles Carle was one of the figures instrumental in transforming the NFB, whose original mandate left little place for independent cinema, helping create a new, shared esthetic for documentaries and works of fiction. After a handful of highly personal documentaries (Dimanche d'Amérique, Percé on the Rocks), Carle went on to direct his first feature films (La vie heureuse de Léopold Z, L’âge de la machine). During this same period, he also worked on a number of projects for television (La feuille d’érable, Épopée en Amérique), as well as documentaries (Jouer sa vie) and advertising. An authentic Québec voice A witness to his time and an attentive observer of the society in which he lived, Carle captured Québec’s identity as it reacted to a profoundly changing world. With verve and color, he tackled topics like the contrast between urban and rural life (La vraie nature de Bernadette, Les mâles), male-female relationships (Le viol d’une jeune fille douce), bourgeois industrialization and environmentalist intellectualism (RED, La mort d’un bûcheron…). The filmmaker reveals them in a light that is raw yet infused with poetry and sentiment, leaving a filmography that is resolutely avant-garde and experimental. Independent film with a collective spirit Gilles Carle defines his work as independent film with a collective spirit. His preferred approach was far removed from the reporting and documentary tradition. Instead, he places his characters in a free, open setting, an intimate and surrealistic world of cruelty and passion so absurd and exaggerated it is close to allegory. Carle makes abundant use of metaphor, amplifying character traits and archetypes to explain his message, as films like La tête de Normande St-Onge, L’ange et la femme, Fantastica, La guêpe and Pudding chômeur eloquently bear out. As for Carle’s historical films (Les corps célestes, Les Plouffe, Maria Chapdelaine and La postière), they take a new look at Québec history, going beyond the clichés to question our importance and our place in North America. Qualifying his work as “films of observation rather than protest”, Gilles Carle has spent a career drawing attention to social realities left untouched by other filmmakers. Discover his world for yourself from January 21 to September 12, 2004 at Musée de la civilisation. Visit the exhibition Gilles Carle, Storyboard Intime, curated by François Renaud and Réjean-Bernard Cormier. This exhibition is presented in cooperation with Canadian Heritage, the National Film Board of Canada, and Global Vision. Informations: Serge Poulin, [418] 643-2158 Relations publiques et communications Issued : January 20, 2004

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