Dossier

Helen Doyle

“A festival of women’s films in Quebec City in 1973, and a revelation: We could make movies, our own movies . . . we could become the movie girls! That first meeting Nicole Giguère and I had with Hélène Roy, who ran the event. And not long afterwards, renting out a space on Saint-Jean Street. La Femme et le Film had just been born, and it had one guiding principle: By women, for women, with women. ‘Light’ video was the most accessible tool for us. We changed the name to Vidéo Femmes, but we never changed our mission . . . and we only added passion.”

A freelance writer and director since 1973 and co-founder of the Vidéo Femmes collective, Helen Doyle launched her own production company, Tatouages de la Mémoire, in 2000. Her work reflects a steadfast commitment to social and feminist issues, as well as an astonishing level of formal research. Her work is recognized in Quebec, throughout Canada, and abroad. It has garnered several awards and honourable mentions, including the Étoile de la SCAM. In 2008, she received the first Film Career Grant from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec (CALQ). In 2015, the publication of a box set and monograph of her work, La liberté de voir, marked the 40th anniversary of her filmmaking career.

Johanne Fournier

“At Vidéo Femmes, I honed my craft. I learned to write with images and sound and the infinite miracles of editing. I shared and received mutual aid, friendship, several lifetimes.”

A native of Matane, Johanne Fournier studied at the National Theatre School of Canada and worked as an actress for several years before stepping behind the camera. In 1980, she joined Vidéo Femmes in Quebec City and contributed to the creation of some thirty documentary, essay, and fiction films as a scriptwriter, director, and editor. She returned to Matane in 1997, where she made Larguer les amarres (l999) for the NFB with her daughter Catherine Vidal. Her river trilogy followed, thanks to grants from the arts councils of Quebec and Canada: Poissons (collage) (2004), Cabines (2007), and Le temps que prennent les bateaux (2011). She received the Artistic Creation Award from the Conseil des Arts et Lettres du Québec in 2007. In the spring of 2017, Leméac Éditeur published her first book, Tout doit partir, which won the Jovette-Bernier Award that same year and was a finalist for the Rendez-Vous du Premier Roman Award. In the fall of 2021, she released L’état de nos routes, which was also published by Leméac Éditeur.

Nicole Giguère

“I got my start as a filmmaker with the Vidéo Femmes collective, which was founded by Hélène Roy, Helen Doyle, and me in the 1970s. During my twelve years with the group, I made a number of films and videos on issues relating to the status of women. I explored a range of styles, from social documentaries to short fiction, music videos, and musical films.

I have lived in Montréal since 1986, working as a freelance scriptwriter and director on auteur documentaries and television series. My most personal films focus on international adoption. Alice au pays des gros nez (2003) and On me prend pour une chinoise! were both filmed over several years. My feature-length documentary Prisons sans barreaux, chroniques de l’hypersensibilité environnementale, which I co-directed with Isabelle Hayeur, premiered at the Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma in February 2020. Since 2007, I’ve been a member of the board of directors of Réalisatrices Équitables, as treasurer and coordinator of several activities promoting women filmmakers.”

Lucie Godbout

“I love writing in all its forms. I also love painting. The two of them together led me to video, television, and cinema. After graduating from university with a degree in literature and cinema, I joined Vidéo Femmes, my first ‘real’ job after working as a waitress and a library clerk! I was in charge of communications and of setting up a distribution system that could keep up with the exponential growth of Vidéo Femmes.

Some of my friends and I founded the Les Folles Alliées theatre company, where we could freely express our feminist ideals and values. In television, I’ve worked as a researcher, assistant director, supporting director, and scriptwriter. In documentary filmmaking, I was a researcher and a scriptwriter, and in fiction filmmaking, I was a scriptwriter.”

Ginette Gosselin

“After working as a nurse for several years, I joined Vidéo Femmes in 1989 as the distribution officer and general manager. For almost eight years, I helped develop the distribution network, while also maintaining the centre’s financial viability.”

Hélène Roy

Hélène Roy is a Quebec-based freelance program planner, screenwriter, and director. She co-founded the Vidéo Femmes collective with Nicole Giguère and Helen Doyle in 1973. After completing her studies at the Montréal School of Fine Arts, she became involved in children’s theatre and cinema in Quebec City. In 1976, she teamed up with Luce Guilbeault and Nicole Brossard to document the creation of a revolutionary feminist play entitled La Nef des sorcières at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. The result was the documentary film Une nef... et ses sorcières (1977), which chronicles the creation of the now legendary play. She went on to direct two other documentary films: Une chambre à soi, une maison bien à nous (1981) about self-run women’s community centres, and Demain, la cinquantaine (1986), which tackled the subject of menopause. At the end of her career, she became active in the festival scene, creating the Mondiale de Films et Vidéos de Femmes with Nicole Bonenfant, which ran until 1993.

Lynda Roy

“I was involved with Vidéo Femmes from 1980 to 1998, serving successively as creator, administrator, and director of the women’s production, distribution, and film screening centre. Also, from 1983 to 1993, I was president of La Bande Vidéo et Film de Québec, a technical access centre for creative pursuits. From 1992 to 1993, I initiated a project to archive Vidéo Femmes’ productions (the 1974-1981 series), and in 1997 I set up the Laboratoires Vidéo at Vidéo Femmes, to teach and oversee a series of theoretical and practical courses in film and video for twelve young female directors.

I have a master’s degree in project management from UQAR (1998) and possess expertise in organizing cultural events. I have also worked with a number of organizations, including the Festival International d’Été de Québec, Printemps du Québec en France, the organizing committee of Quebec City’s 400th anniversary, and Les Arts et la Ville.”

Nathalie Roy

“I have been active in the cultu ral milieu for over thirty years, working in film and video broadcasting and distribution for Vidéo Femmes (1981-1986), Vidéographe (1989-1995), and the National Film Board of Canada (2000-2002). Committed to promoting documentaries and the works of our local artists, I developed distribution networks and acted as coordinator and program planner for several independent film festivals.

In 2006, my expertise in copyright management led me to work in the collections department of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. It was there that I developed my interest in the visual arts, architecture, and sculpture. Concurrently with my career, I also worked in a stone sculpture studio for over ten years. I have worked in publishing and communications for organizations such as Culture Montréal and Centre Turbine. Now based in the Lanaudière region, I am president of the board of directors of the Corporation du Patrimoine de Berthier.”

Sylvie Tremblay

“I am an artist—a singer-songwriter (as we called ourselves back then). In the 1970s, I met Nicole Giguère, who became a very good friend of mine. Thanks to her, I was able to take part in various productions, including several by Vidéo Femmes, as a music composer and songwriter. They included On fait toutes du show business by Nicole Giguère, Les tatouages de la mémoire by Hélène Doyle, Le sourire d’une parfumeuse by Johanne Fournier and Françoise Dugré, and Le sida au féminin by Lise Bonenfant and Marie Fortin. Those free-spirited women, brimming with energy and projects, were a source of inspiration to me. They still are.”