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Jean-Claude Labrecque was born in Quebec City, Quebec, and trained as a camera assistant at the NFB. As a Cinematographer, he shot many of the early key films of Claude Jutra (À tout prendre), Michel Brault (Entre la mer et l’eau douce), Gilles Carle (La vie heureuse de Léopold Z), Gilles Groulx (Le Chat dans le sac) and Don Owen (The Ernie Game). He turned to directing in 1965 with 60 Cycles, about a long-distance bike race on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River, which has been described as a virtual encyclopedia of camera techniques. It won 22 international awards and was nominated for a BAFTA. He left the NFB in 1967 to set-up his own production company, although he continued to freelance with the Board.
Throughout his lengthy career, Jean-Claude Labrecque’s interests have focused on matters of concern to the Québécois people, whether in sports, culture or politics. His better-known films include La Visite du Général de Gaulle au Québec (where he captured on film the infamous 'Vive le Québec libre!’ outburst by French President Charles de Gaulle), Games of the XXI Olympiad and his second feature, Les Vautours, an eloquent and charming personal meditation on the birth of a generation, considered by critics to be his best film. More recently he served as Bernard Émond’s cameraman on such critically acclaimed films as La Femme qui boit and Contre toute espérance. Among his many awards and citations, he won two Canadian Film Awards, in 1964 and 1970, and the Prix Jutra for best documentary in 2003. He has lectured on filmmaking at Université du Québec à Montréal.
Quote
"My love for the camera began at a young age. The National Film Board was my university. Once you’ve mastered technique, you’re home free. You can gamble a bit and experiment. At the NFB and around the world, we pushed our cameras and film stock to the limit. When we made 60 Cycles, we used a 1000 mm lens from NASA that was more than 1 metre wide. The images were extremely compressed, and that became the first shot of the movie. That film really rocked the boat. It was essential viewing." Interviewed on Kodak Canada Web site
Fiction
Les mattes (1972)
Les vautours (1975)
L'Affaire Coffin (1979)
Les années de rêves (1983)
Aéroport: Court-circuit (TV movie, 1984)
Le frère André (1987)
Bonjour Monsieur Gauguin (1988)
Documentaries
Lewis Mumford on the City, Part 6: The City and the Future (Short film Co-Directed with various, 1963)
60 Cycles (Short film, 1965)
Intermède (Short film, 1966)
La visite du général de Gaulle au Québec (Short film, 1967)
La vie (Short film Co-Directed with Jean-Louis Frund, 1968)
La guerre des pianos (Short film Co-Directed with Jean Dansereau, 1969)
Hiver en froid mineur (Short film, 1969)
Les canots de glace (Short film, 1969)
Essai à la mille (Short film, 1970)
La nuit de la poésie 27 mars 1970 (Co-Directed with Jean-Pierre Masse, 1970)
Canada the Land (Short film Co-Directed with Rex Tasker, 1971)
Images de la Gaspésie (Short film, 1972)
Hochelaga (Short film, 1972)
Université du Québec (Short film, 1972)
Les notes de la vie (Short film, 1973)
L'entreprise de toute une vie (Episode of Relation Pedagogique series Co-Directed with Jacques Gagné, 1973)
Claude Gauvreau – poète (Short film, 1974)
Québec fête juin '75 (Co-Directed with Claude Jutra, 1976)
On s'pratique... c'est pour les Olympiques (Short film, 1976)
Member of the Order of Canada in 2009 "for his contributions to the development of film as a director of documentaries and fictional films, and as a renowned director of photography here in Canada and abroad".
