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

Population Explosion

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.

La Pirouette

La Pirouette · 2002

Short animation from Tali

Knowing to Learn

Knowing to Learn · 1966

Knowing to Learn

MovieDocumentary

This feature documentary about education explores the mid-century state of learning in the classrooms of North America. New approaches to learning and the emerging technologies that facilitate them are explored, including the new roles of the computer, tape recorder and television. Directed by Quebec cinema giant Claude Jutra (Mon Oncle Antoine), the film was produced with the collaboration of researchers studying all forms of education, from infancy to adulthood.

Barbaloune

Barbaloune · 2002

Catuor

This film is about cats--actually, one very clever cat. The title is a play on the French quatuor, meaning quartet, but the chorus is not the usual alley-cat variety. The cat in this film is talented indeed. He is both pianist and piano, trumpet and trumpeter and, if need be, even becomes the music--a pulsing rock and roll--or a whole swarm of alley cats.

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.

Under the Weather

Under the Weather · 1997

Under the Weather

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.

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.

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

Bazin's Film · 2017

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.

La Lettre d'amour

La Lettre d'amour · 1989

La Lettre d'amour

Such diverse modes of expression as dance, music, poetic narration and images drawn directly on film combine to tell the story of a letter and the joy it carries to its destination. In French, with English sub-titles.

Opus 1

Abstract film by Pierre Hébert, originally made in 1964 and remastered in 2007.

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.

Memories of War

Memories of War · 1983

Memories of War

This haunting animation film, rich with symbolism, is the filmmaker's plea for a peaceful world in which to raise his newborn son. Using the menacing imagery of the howling wind, the artist provokes viewers to reflect on the insanity of war. While the film is symbolic, its message is unmistakably clear: unless there is an end to conflict, we will continue to see our children swept away like leaves in the wind.

Adieu bipède

Adieu bipède · 1987

In Adieu bipède (1987), Hébert turned to performance, using the scratching technique for the scenes with dancing and music. He used the same technique in La Lettre d'amour (1988).

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