Pierre Falardeau

Pierre Falardeau (born on December 12, 1946 in Montreal) is a Quebec film and documentary director, intellectual, pamphleteer and noted radical activist for Quebec independence.

Profile

Falardeau studied anthropology at university; he was briefly a teacher of the subject. In the 1960s, he became involved in the independentist Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale, and his passionate belief in the desirability of Quebec independence features prominently in most of his films, including the "Elvis Gratton" series; a sarcastic trilogy about a local Elvis impersonator; and more serious films like "Octobre", about the October crisis; 15 février 1839, about the quelling of the Patriotes movement which led to the Lower Canada Rebellion; and "Le steak", about Québec boxer Gaetan Hart.

Falardeau links his support for Quebec independence to the struggles for national independence and decolonization movements abroad. That linkage, too, is a prominent part of his work, for instance in an unidentified documentary he prepared on political issues confronting the Algerian people.

Falardeau, who occasionally publishes in the Le Couac independent newspaper, has often attracted media controversy. Upon the 2004 cancer death of Claude Ryan, a former provincial Liberal leader and minister who had led the defeat of the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, Falardeau published a harsh critique in lieu of an eulogy in the sovereigntist journal Le Québécois. In 2005 he demonstrated on Canada Day in Quebec City against the celebration of what he called, a "colonizing power". More generally Falardeau has come under fire from critics for reportedly urging federalist anglophones to leave Quebec, for voicing support for military intervention to ensure that no portion of Quebec be allowed to secede from Quebec and remain with Canada in the event of a referendum majority for sovereignty, and for his ambiguous association with the MLNQ, a movement which opposes multiculturalism and recognition of First Nations in Quebec as nations and supports the assimilation of minorities by a unique French-language schooling system through which other languages would be taught. However, Falardeau has repeatedly stated that he supports the mainstream Parti Québécois as the only viable party for realizing Quebec's independence. As far as minorities are concerned, Falardeau claims not to care whether someone is white, black, yellow or green with orange polkadots; if one supports independence, he will consider this person a brother, if not, an enemy.

Style

Falardeau's rhetorical style is well known for mixing intellectual reflection with a deliberately working-class dialect joual which occasionally slips into coarse language. Partly because of this colourful speaking style, he is often sought after for on-air opinions by media outlets seeking sensationalist copy.

Filmography

Continuons le combat (1971)
À mort (1972)
Les Canadiens sont là (1973)
Le Magra (1975)
A Force de courage (1977)
Pea Soup (1978)
Speak White (1980)
Elvis Gratton (1981)
Les Vacances d'Elvis Gratton (1983)
Pas encore Elvis Gratton (1985)
Elvis Gratton, le king des kings (1985)
Le Party (1989)
Le Steak (1992)
Le Temps des bouffons (1993)
Octobre (1994)
Elvis Gratton 2 (Miracle à Memphis) (1999)
15 février 1839 (2001)
Elvis Gratton XXX: La revanche d'Elvis Wong (2004)

Bibliography

Le temps des bouffons (1994)
Octobre (1994)
Cinq intellectuels sur la place publique (1995)
Je me souverain (1995)
Trente lettres pour un oui (1995)
La liberté n'est pas une marque de yogourt (1995)
15 février 1839 (1996)
Elvis Gratton, le livre (1999)
Les boeufs sont lents mais la terre est patiente (1999)
Elvis Gratton 2: Miracle à Memphis, le livre (2000)
15 février 1839: Photos de tournage (2001)
Le party (2001)
Presque tout Pierre Faladreau (2001)
Québec libre! (2004)

External link

Unofficial site Site non-officiel de Pierre Falardeau (in French)

1946 births | Canadian film directors | Living people | Montrealers