My Mother's Letters
"The image is like a musical score that the sound editor must study, practice, cut, and interpret. They modulate, arrange, and orchestrate various soundscapes to achieve the desired emotional effect." This is how sound editor and designer Claude Beaugrand described his craft in a poignant essay published in 24 images magazine in 1992. Both a craftsman and an artist, he would immerse himself in the directors' works he collaborated on, seeking, as he said, the "heart of the film."
Our tribute to Claude Beaugrand, who passed away on October 8, 2023, celebrates his talent and versatility, emphasizing his unique non-naturalistic approach to sound design, from La plante humaine by Pierre Hébert to Maurice Richard by Charles Binamé. The tribute also highlights two of his rarely seen short films, Clichés et ramasse-miettes and Peines perdues, both brilliant reflections on image and sound.
Director Serge Giguère got his hands on a hundred letters written by his mother at the turn of the 1950s. While these letters recount the difficult, but often comical, daily life of a working-class family of sixteen children, Serge Giguère undertakes to cobble together his own memories to bring out an array of eclectic moments, like an echo of his mother who sews, upholster and invents her life from day to day. Through heartfelt conversations with his daughter and interviews with his surviving siblings, My Mother’s Letters probes what is most intimate in the heart of each of us: maternal love lived, sought after, and always questioned.
Serge Giguère
Serge Giguère is one of the leading figures in Quebec's documentary cinema over the past few decades. He was awarded the Governor General's Award in 2008 and the Prix Albert-Tessier Award in 2021. A camera assistant for Pierre Perrault, Arthur Lamothe and Jean-Claude Labrecque, he became cameraman for Gilles Groulx (24 heures ou plus), Jean Beaudry and François Bouvier (Jacques et novembre), Silvia Van Brabant (Remous; Seul dans mon putain d'univers), Maurice Bulbulian (Chroniques de Nitinaht), Carole Lagagnière (Un toit, un violon, la lune) and Lucie Lambert (Paysage sous les paupières). In 1974, he co-founded Les films d'aventures sociales du Québec with Robert Tremblay, who co-directed three films with him, including Belle famille (1978). He then directed a series of five films on some of Quebec's most popular cultural figures and the film À force de rêves (Jutra Award for Best Documentary, 2007). His most recent film, Les lettres de ma mère (2018), is one of his most inventive and personal projects.
Explore
Our blog
L'univers sonore de Claude Beaugrand vu par Olivier Calvert
À titre de monteur sonore, Olivier Calvert a travaillé aux côtés du regretté Claude Beaugrand pour les films Maurice Richard, Soie, Yellowknife et Embrasse-moi comme tu m’aimes, pour ne nommer que ceux-là. Nous l’avons invité à plonger dans ses souvenirs de sa collaboration avec Claude Beaugrand, qui s’est éteint le 8 octobre 2023.
