Georges Dufaux
Encyclopedia
Georges Dufaux was a Canadian documentary
film director
and cinematographer
.
, in Paris
, Dufaux worked at a film laboratory in Brazil
for three years. He came to Canada in 1956 and joined the NFB
as an assistant cameraman, first working on the series Candid Eye. Dufaux eventually progressed to cinematographer and was responsible for the photography of many important Canadian films such as Les Brûlés (1959), Astataïon ou Le festin des morts (1965), YUL 871 (1966), Isabel
(1968), Fortune and Men's Eyes
(1971), Taureau (1973), Les beaux souvenirs (1981), and Une histoire inventée
(1990). He was also the cinematographer on several of Léa Pool
's films.
Dufaux also worked as director on several short films throughout the 1960s and tried his hand unsuccessfully at a fiction feature film in 1967 with Clément Perron
, C'est pas la faute à Jacques Cartier. He returned to documentary films and in the 1970s directed a number of important feature-length documentaries that approached social issues by exploring their impact on the people affected. Dufaux served as Director of the French Program at the NFB from 1986 to 1989 and in 1998 was awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier
. He died in Switzerland on November 8, 2008.
with stereophonic sound. People of all places, origins, cultures, secular and religious, are here united and seen side by side, creating an impressive, inspiring and challenging portrait. The film's title appears in seven languages.
-À votre santé (1974) (English: For Your Health) A film about the harsh reality of Canadian emergency rooms. Hospitals, dangerously understaffed, face a veritable invasion of patients. Inadequate technical resources make the task more difficult still. Despite a commendable effort the fight may just be a losing battle...
-Au bout de mon âge (1975) (English: At the End of My Days) The film follows the slow and painful itinerary of an aged couple with diminishing capacities, both physical and mental, who are facing a complexity of problems by no means unique: they are not well enough to go into residence but are not ill enough to go into a nursing home.
-Les jardins d'hiver (1976) (English: Winter Gardens) Filmed in a nursing home funded by the government, the film documents the lives of the elderly who are placed there. Options to ensure senior citizens a more active lifestyle are discussed and reflected upon.
-Gui Daò - Sur la voie (1980) (English: Gui Daò - On the Way) A trilogy of films about contemporary Chinese society. Life on a passenger train, daily life in a busy train station, and railway employees unloading freight trains is interspersed which the intimate personal stories of a railway worker and her commitment to work and family life, a retiring train worker and his daughter who will reluctantly replace him, and an optimistic newly-wed couple contrasted with the tested marriage of a middle-aged couple.
-10 jours...48 heures (1986) (English: 10 Days...48 Hours) The film follows several trawlers after a six-month strike as they head out to the Grand Banks. The danger and tedium of life on a modern fishing boat is vividly captured as well as the processing plants and the families of the fisherman back on shore.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
.
Biography
After graduating in 1953 from the École nationale de photographie et de cinématographie on the rue de VaugirardLouis Lumiere College
Louis Lumière College offers theoretical, practical as well as technical and artistic education and training for those wishing to go into the various branches of the audiovisual industry....
, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Dufaux worked at a film laboratory in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
for three years. He came to Canada in 1956 and joined the NFB
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
as an assistant cameraman, first working on the series Candid Eye. Dufaux eventually progressed to cinematographer and was responsible for the photography of many important Canadian films such as Les Brûlés (1959), Astataïon ou Le festin des morts (1965), YUL 871 (1966), Isabel
Isabel (film)
Isabel is a 1968 Canadian film written, directed and produced by Paul Almond. -Synopsis:Learning of her mother's serious illness, Isabel returns to her family's farm on the Gaspé Peninsula. Her mother dies before she can get there, and when her aged uncle Matthew asks her to stay on and help him...
(1968), Fortune and Men's Eyes
Fortune and Men's Eyes
Fortune and Men's Eyes is a 1967 play and 1971 film by John Herbert about a young man's experience in prison, exploring themes of homosexuality and sexual slavery. The title comes from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 which begins with the line "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes". It has...
(1971), Taureau (1973), Les beaux souvenirs (1981), and Une histoire inventée
Une histoire inventée
Une histoire inventée is a 1990 Canadian drama film.-Plot:Toni is the director of a staged rendition of Othello in Montreal. It is a pet project of his, financed by his mafia uncle. Unbeknownst to him, the audiences are also rounded up and paid by the same uncle...
(1990). He was also the cinematographer on several of Léa Pool
Léa Pool
Léa Pool is a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker who has also taught film at UQAM. She is openly lesbian. Her 1986 film Anne Trister was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival. Her 1999 film Emporte-moi was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Special...
's films.
Dufaux also worked as director on several short films throughout the 1960s and tried his hand unsuccessfully at a fiction feature film in 1967 with Clément Perron
Clément Perron
Clément Perron was a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...
, C'est pas la faute à Jacques Cartier. He returned to documentary films and in the 1970s directed a number of important feature-length documentaries that approached social issues by exploring their impact on the people affected. Dufaux served as Director of the French Program at the NFB from 1986 to 1989 and in 1998 was awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier
Prix Albert-Tessier
The Prix Albert-Tessier is an award by the Government of Quebec that is part of the Prix du Québec, given to individuals for an outstanding career in Québec cinema. It is awarded to scriptwriting, acting, composing music, directing, producing and cinematographic techniques. It is named in honour of...
. He died in Switzerland on November 8, 2008.
Major Works As Director
-L'homme multiplié (1969) (English: Multiple Man) A short, silent film about humanity on a global level produced originally in 70 mm70 mm film
70mm film is a wide high-resolution film gauge, with higher resolution than standard 35mm motion picture film format. As used in camera, the film is wide. For projection, the original 65mm film is printed on film. The additional 5mm are for magnetic strips holding four of the six tracks of sound...
with stereophonic sound. People of all places, origins, cultures, secular and religious, are here united and seen side by side, creating an impressive, inspiring and challenging portrait. The film's title appears in seven languages.
-À votre santé (1974) (English: For Your Health) A film about the harsh reality of Canadian emergency rooms. Hospitals, dangerously understaffed, face a veritable invasion of patients. Inadequate technical resources make the task more difficult still. Despite a commendable effort the fight may just be a losing battle...
-Au bout de mon âge (1975) (English: At the End of My Days) The film follows the slow and painful itinerary of an aged couple with diminishing capacities, both physical and mental, who are facing a complexity of problems by no means unique: they are not well enough to go into residence but are not ill enough to go into a nursing home.
-Les jardins d'hiver (1976) (English: Winter Gardens) Filmed in a nursing home funded by the government, the film documents the lives of the elderly who are placed there. Options to ensure senior citizens a more active lifestyle are discussed and reflected upon.
-Gui Daò - Sur la voie (1980) (English: Gui Daò - On the Way) A trilogy of films about contemporary Chinese society. Life on a passenger train, daily life in a busy train station, and railway employees unloading freight trains is interspersed which the intimate personal stories of a railway worker and her commitment to work and family life, a retiring train worker and his daughter who will reluctantly replace him, and an optimistic newly-wed couple contrasted with the tested marriage of a middle-aged couple.
-10 jours...48 heures (1986) (English: 10 Days...48 Hours) The film follows several trawlers after a six-month strike as they head out to the Grand Banks. The danger and tedium of life on a modern fishing boat is vividly captured as well as the processing plants and the families of the fisherman back on shore.
Features
- C'est pas la faute à Jacques Cartier (Fiction Co-Directed with Clément PerronClément PerronClément Perron was a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...
, 1967) - À votre santé (1974)
- Au bout de mon âge (1975)
- Les jardins d'hiver (1976)
- Jeux de la XXIe Olympiade (Co-Directed with Jean BeaudinJean BeaudinJean Beaudin is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 20 films since 1969. His film J.A. Martin Photographer, was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival, where Monique Mercure won the award for Best Actress. The film also won best Film, he won best Director, and Mercure...
, Marcel CarrièreMarcel CarrièreMarcel Carrière is a Canadian film director and sound engineer.-Biography:Marcel Carrière joined the NFB in 1955 after studying electronic engineering and developed his skills as a sound engineer while working on wildlife films, the Candid Eye series and the work of the newly formed French Unit...
and Jean-Claude LabrecqueJean-Claude LabrecqueJean-Claude Labrecque, is a director and cinematographer who learned the basics of filmmaking at the Quebec Film Office and the National Film Board of Canada.-Career:...
, 1977) - Les enfants des normes - Post-Scriptum (1983)
- 10 jours... 48 heures (1986)
Shorts
- Bientôt Noël (Co-Directed with Stanley Jackson, Wolf KoenigWolf KoenigWolf Koenig is a Canadian film director, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the NFB.-Early life:...
and Terence Macartney-Filgate, 1959) - I Was a Ninety-pound Weakling (Co-Directed with Wolf KoenigWolf KoenigWolf Koenig is a Canadian film director, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the NFB.-Early life:...
, 1960) - Les Dieux (Co-Directed with Jacques GodboutJacques GodboutJacques Godbout, CQ is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler , Godbout has become one of the most important writers of his generation, with a major influence on post-1960 Quebec intellectual life.-Biography:Born in...
, 1961) - 36,000 brasses (1962)
- L'école des peintres (Co-Directed with Jacques GodboutJacques GodboutJacques Godbout, CQ is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler , Godbout has become one of the most important writers of his generation, with a major influence on post-1960 Quebec intellectual life.-Biography:Born in...
, 1962) - Pour quelques arpents de neige (Co-Directed with Jacques GodboutJacques GodboutJacques Godbout, CQ is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler , Godbout has become one of the most important writers of his generation, with a major influence on post-1960 Quebec intellectual life.-Biography:Born in...
, 1962) - Rencontres à Mitzic (Co-Directed with Marcel CarrièreMarcel CarrièreMarcel Carrière is a Canadian film director and sound engineer.-Biography:Marcel Carrière joined the NFB in 1955 after studying electronic engineering and developed his skills as a sound engineer while working on wildlife films, the Candid Eye series and the work of the newly formed French Unit...
, 1963) - À propos d'une plage (1964)
- Caroline (Fiction Co-Directed with Clément PerronClément PerronClément Perron was a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...
, 1964) (Re-Released as part of the 1964 anthology film Trois Femmes) - Les départs necessaries (1965)
- Précision (1966)
- Cinéma et réalité (Co-Directed with Clément PerronClément PerronClément Perron was a Canadian film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...
, 1967) - L'homme multiplié (Co-Directed with Claude Godbout, 1969)
- Deux ans et plus (Fiction Co-Directed with Gilles Thérien, 1970)
- À cris perdus (Co-Directed with Marc Beaudet, 1972)
- Nelli Kim (Co-Directed with Pierre Bernier, 1978)
- Les enfants des normes (Series of 8 shorts, 1979)
- Gui Daò - Sur la voie (Series of 3 shorts, 1980)
- Rue Ste-Catherine Est... to West (1992)
- Voyage illusoire (1997)
- De l'art et la manière chez Denys Arcand (2000)