Pierre Falardeau

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Pierre Falardeau (born on December 28, 1946 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Quebec film and documentary director, intellectual, pamphleteer and noted activist for Quebec independence.

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[edit] 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 Quebec 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 a 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. 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 [1].

[edit] Style

Falardeau's rhetorical style is well known for mixing intellectual reflection with a deliberately working-class joual dialect 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.

[edit] Controversy

Falardeau has created some controversy during his career. For example, in 2006, a photograph[2] surfaced of him at an August 2006 Montreal pro-peace rally about the Israel-Lebanon conflict. The picture shows Falardeau with some young men and his friend and filmmaking partner Julien Poulin holding a Hezbollah flag. When asked to comment, Falardeau responded that he approached the men to understand why they supported Hezbollah, and that the flag belonged to the young men. [3] They explained to him that they had victims of the conflict in their family. He has stated that he did not condone the ways of the Hezbollah.

[edit] Les Humains

Les Humains is a song created by aKido in 1998 which featured samples from a speech Pierre Falardeau gave at Université Laval in Quebec.

[edit] 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, président du comité des intellectuels pour le non (1995)
  • Une minute pour l'indépendance (1995)
  • Elvis Gratton 2 (Miracle à Memphis) (1999)
  • 15 février 1839 (2001)
  • Elvis Gratton XXX: La revanche d'Elvis Wong (2004)

[edit] 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)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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