Thunder River

Thunder River

2011 · 8 min · Animation

An intense exercise of looking at a rockface shot near the waterfalls of Rivière au tonnerre, on the North Shore of the St-Lawrence river. A meditation about opacity, about the fissures that can open up anything, any situation on the infinity of meaning. It is the ontological moment, the moment of pure seeing, amongst the episodes of the Places and Monuments series that is a project of exploration of the fissures that crack any banal scene of daily life, any anonymous crowd, any forgotten monument, and that let seek through, until it explodes, the invisible constellations of history.

Directed by Pierre Hébert

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Population Explosion

Population Explosion · 1968

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A film in cut-out animation depicting the demographic problems of the world. It shows that in many countries freedom from the old scourges of famine and disease has in turn created the new problem of more mouths to feed. The film suggests that wealthier nations might increase all forms of aid to struggling nations to create a better world.

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Short animation from Tali

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La Plante Humaine

La Plante Humaine · 1996

La Plante Humaine

Songs and Dances of the Inanimate World: The Subway

Songs and Dances of the Inanimate World: The Subway · 1984

Songs and Dances of the Inanimate World: The Subway

In this animation film without words, filmmaker Pierre Hébert and musicians Robert Lepage and René Lussier worked together, and separately, in their respective media. This cinema/music performance recreates, impressionistically, the dehumanizing environment of the urban subway. Drawings etch the outlines of people hurtling through space in underground tunnels. The sound track, elemental and atonal, gives compelling expression to their alienation.

Du coq à l'âne

Du coq à l'âne · 1973

Du coq à l'âne

MovieAnimationMusic

This animated film, a small educational musical comedy, offers the viewer a proper enigma. He is very smart who succeeds in solving it the first time; because against this background of cold reasoning, fantasy and delirium retain all their rights.

Under the Weather

Under the Weather · 1997

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This animated short follows a group of happy vacationers sunbathing... under cloudy skies. Despite the weather, they look cheerful, eating ice cream and hot dogs, frolicking in the sand. When the sun finally breaks through the clouds, everyone deserts the beach. The film presents a fanciful yet awkward scenario in which the strange behaviour of one person may be the delight of another.

The Crow and the Fox

The Crow and the Fox · 1969

The Crow and the Fox

MovieAnimationComedy

A satirical, updated take on the classic Jean de La Fontaine fable.

Bazin's Film

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A meditation on the passing of time, on a film that was never completed, upon Bazin’s death, on restoration and the future of ruins and on modern-day life that continues in resonance with the old stones.

Black Soul

Black Soul · 2000

MovieAnimationDrama

Painted directly on glass, Black Soul is an exhilarating immersion into the heart of Black culture—a whirlwind voyage through the defining moments of Black History.

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Between Science and Garbage · 2004

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MovieMusicAnimation

A whirlwind of improvisation combines the images of animator Pierre Hébert with the avant-garde sound of techno whiz Bob Ostertag in this singular multimedia experience, a hybrid of live animation and performance art.

Fundamental Principles in Genetics

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The Statue of Giordano Bruno

The Statue of Giordano Bruno · 2005

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MovieDocumentaryMusic

This film was made out of the capture of a live animation performance presented in Rome in January 2005 by Pierre Hébert and the musician Bob Ostertag. It is based on live action shooting done that same afternoon on the Campo dei Fiori where the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned by the Inquisition in 1600. A commemorative statue was erected in the 19th century, that somberly dominate the market held everyday on the piazza. The film is about the resurgence of the past in this place where normal daily activities go on imperturbably. The capture of the performance was reworked, shortened and complemented with more studio performances.

Prelude and Fugues – The Wood Thrush

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This work, shot on film stock, is constructed like a fugue, based on the tension between the ideal of freedom (the wood thrush) and the inevitability of confinement (trapped flies). A poem punctuates the different parts of the film. The final stanza gives meaning to the whole: man in free fall / dizzying quest for solid ground.

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MovieAnimationDocumentary

This is a poetic and animated meditation inspired by two trips the director made to Japan. Images and sounds from daily life as well as recordings of his performances, most notably one with the dancer-choreographer Teita Iwabushi. There is no story as such, but a formal construction with sound and images. What can be seen in Japan when Mount Fuji is invisible, lost in the clouds?

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