Director and Screenwriter
(Quebec, June 24, 1941)
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Denys Arcand enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at the Université de Montréal in 1960 and graduated two years later with a degree in history and literature.

While at the Université de Montréal, Arcand co-directed his first film, Seul ou avec d'autres / Alone or with Others (1961), with Denys Héroux and Stéphane Venne. In 1962, at the age of 21, Arcand began his screenwriting-directing career at the National Film Board of Canada, where he spent ten years directing historical and political documentaries: Champlain; Les Montréalistes / Ville-Marie; La route de l'Ouest; On est au coton / Cotton Mill Treadmill; Québec: Duplessis et après... / Quebec: Duplessis and After...; as well as two other films, Volleyball and Parcs atlantiques / Atlantic Parks. During that time, he also directed the film Montréal, un jour d'été outside the NFB.

"I've always been strong minded, an iconoclast and an anarchist."
(RADIO-CANADA INTERVIEW, 2003)

While making documentary films at the NFB during the first half of the 1970s, Arcand also directed three feature-length films in the private sector: La maudite galette / Dirty Money, Réjeanne Padovani and Gina. The first two won him admiration and were hailed by critics at Cannes. Padovani was also acclaimed in New York. But the failure of Gina in 1976 had adverse repercussions leading Arcand to briefly return to documentary filmmaking, directing the film La lutte des travailleurs d'hôpitaux for the CSN (Confederation of National Unions). Funding institutions refused him support for his excellent screenplay Maria Chapdelaine. He subsequently worked in advertising and television, where his credits include the series Empire Inc. and Le crime d'Ovide Plouffe (aka Murder in the Family). His script for the 1978 Radio-Canada television series Duplessis was an immense success. Le confort et l'indifférence / Comfort and Indifference, produced at the NFB in 1981, is his latest political documentary to date.

At the NFB in 1983, Denys Arcand began writing the synopsis for a new fiction piece entitled Conversations scabreuses. He worked as part of a collective headed by Roger Frappier and including Tahani Rached, Léa Pool, Jacques Leduc, Pierre Falardeau and Bernard Gosselin. The title of the resulting screenplay was later changed to Le déclin et la chute de l'empire américain. Arcand began working on the film, which went on to become the first major international success for Quebec cinema: Le déclin de l'empire américain / The Decline of the American Empire. This was followed by Jésus de Montréal / Jesus of Montreal in 1989. Both films were nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Best Foreign Language Film category, marking a first in the history of Quebec filmmaking and drama production.  In the early 1990s, following the sketch Vue d'ailleurs / Seen from Elsewhere, which was part of the film Montréal vu par... / Montreal Sextet, Arcand directed three feature-length films that received mixed reviews: Love and Human Remains, Joyeux calvaire / Poverty and Other Delights and Stardom (aka 15 Moments). In 2003, Les invasions barbares / The Barbarian Invasions was an award-winning triumph both nationally and internationally. Honours included two awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Screenplay and Best Actress), the Henri-Jeanson Prize for screenplay and direction (awarded by the Society of Authors and Dramatists of France), three César awards (Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture), the Best Foreign Film Award from the New York National Board of Review, the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, the 2004 David di Donatello award (best foreign film) in Rome as well as major Jutra and Génie Awards in Montreal and Toronto. L'Âge des ténèbres / Days of Darkness, released in 2007, made the first shortlist for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category and was in the official selection, out of competition, at the Cannes Film Festival.

» See also
Denys Arcand at IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000780/

Denys Arcand on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Arcand

FILMOGRAPHY

À l'EST D'EATON
1959, 20 min (co-directed with Stéphane Venne)
SEUL OU AVEC D'AUTRES / ALONE OR WITH OTHERS
AGEUM (Association générale des étudiants de l'Université de Montréal)
1962, 64 min (co-directed with Denis Héroux and Stéphane Venne)
CHAMPLAIN
NFB, 1964, 28 min
ENTRE LA MER ET L'EAU DOUCE /DRIFTING UPSTREAM
NFB, 1964, screenplay for the 1967 film by Michel Brault, produced by Coopération
LES MONTRÉALISTES / VILLE-MARIE
NFB, 1965, 27 min 36 s
LA ROUTE DE L'OUEST
NFB, 1965, 28 min 7 s
MONTRÉAL, UN JOUR D'ÉTÉ
Les cinéastes associés (associated filmmakers) for the OFQ, 1965, 11 min 47 s
VOLLEYBALL
NFB, 1966, 13 min
PARCS ATLANTIQUES / ATLANTIC PARKS
NFB, 1967, 17 min 20 s
ON EST AU COTON / COTTON MILL, TREADMILL
NFB, 1970, original version: 173 min; 1971, shortened version: 159 min 5 s, censored in 1971, censor lifted in 1976
LA MAUDITE GALETTE / DIRTY MONEY
Cinak Production Company, 1971, 100 min
QUÉBEC: DUPLESSIS ET APRÈS... / QUEBEC: DUPLESSIS AND AFTER...
NFB, 1972, 114 min 32 s
RÉJEANNE PADOVANI
Cinak Production Company, 1973, 94 min
GINA
Carle-Lamy Productions, 1975, 95 minLA LUTTE DES TRAVAILLEURS D'HÔPITAUX
Prisma Productions for the CSN, 1976, 27 min
DUPLESSIS
CBC/Radio-Canada, 1978, Screenplay for seven 60-minute episodes
Directed by Mark Blandford
LE CONFORT ET L'INDIFFÉRENCE / COMFORT AND INDIFFERENCE
NFB, 1981, 108 min 52 s
EMPIRE INC EPISODE II: BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE $17 MILLION?
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 1983, 51 min
EMPIRE INC EPISODE V: TITANS DON'T CRY
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 1983, 51 min
EMPIRE INC EPISODE VI: THE LAST WALTZ
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 1983, 51 min
LE DÉCLIN DE L'EMPIRE AMÉRICAIN / THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
Corporation Image M & M/NFB, 1986
102 min
JÉSUS DE MONTRÉAL / JESUS OF MONTREAL
Max Films/Gérard Mital Productions (France)/NFB, 1989
119 min
LES LETTRES DE LA RELIGIEUSE PORTUGAISE
Radio-Québec, 1991, 20 min
VUE D'AILLEURS / SEEN FROM ELSEWHERE, sketch in MONTRÉAL VU PAR... SIX VARIATIONS SUR UN THÈME / MONTREAL SEXTET
Cinémaginaire/Atlantis Films, 1991, 20 min
LOVE AND HUMAN REMAINS
Max Films/Atlantis Films, 1993, 100 min
JOYEUX CALVAIRE / POVERTY AND OTHER DELIGHTS
Cinémaginaire/Radio-Canada, 1996, 90 min
STARDOM
Alliance Atlantis Films/Cinémaginaire International, 2000, 60 min 43 s
LES INVASIONS BARBARES / THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS
Cinémaginaire/Pyramide Productions (France), 2003,
Quebec version: 112 min; international version: 98 min
L'ÂGE DES TÉNÈBRES / DAYS OF DARKNESS
Cinémaginaire, 2007, 60 min 48 s
Denys Arcand L'œuvre documentaire intégrale 1962-1981 is available in the NFB's Mémoire collection and on sale in the NFB Online Store.

» View films by Denys Arcand at NFB.ca