Cinema of Quebec
The history of cinema in Québec started on June 27, 1896 when the French Louis Minier inaugurated the first movie projection in North America in a Montreal theatre room. However, it would have to wait until the 1960s before a genuine Quebec cinema industry would emerge.
Before the french NFB
At first, there were some documentarians. In the 1940s and 1950s, the first commercial attemps at cinema happened. The most famous movie from that era is La petite Aurore, l'enfant martyre, a kitsh movie about child abuse.
The french NFB
At the end of the 1950s, L'Office National du Film (the french branch of the National Film Board of Canada was established in Montreal. Cinema-Vérité auteurs Michel Brault and Pierre Perrault made their debut. For most of the 1960s, Quebec films were about the country. Other important filmmakers of the 60s include Gilles Groulx and Claude Jutra. The decade also saw the beginnings of Gilles Carle and Denys Arcand.
The 1970s
The seventies marked a high in "national" filmmaking. Commercial directors such as Denis Héroux were making hugely profitable movies for the first time since _La Petite Aurore..._ with such fare as Valerie and Deux femmes en or. Arcand and Carle had critical (especially at Cannes) and some commercial success with very Québécois films such as Gina (Arcand) and La vraie nature de Bernadette (Carle). In 1975, director Claude Jutra released the most critically praised canadian film to date, Mon oncle Antoine. However, his next movie, an adaptation of Anne Hébert's Kamouraska was a failure.
The 1980s
The victory of the "no" camp was a turning point in Quebec history and culture. Denys Arcand made one of his most acclaimed picture with the NFB, Le confort et l'indifférence, about the result of the referendum. He then procedeed to direct two movies that were nominated for best foreign picture at the academy awards: 1986's Le déclin de l'empire américain and 1989's Jésus de Montréal.
After 1980, most felt that the struggle to build a nation that had animated early Quebec cinema was lost. The 1986 success, at home and abroad, of _Le déclin..._ marked another turning point in the movie history of the province. The government-funded movie "industry" tried to repeat Arcand's success with international co-productions, big budget movies and so-called "mass audience movies". Almost all these attemps failed, both artistically and commercially.
Meanwhile, videast Robert Morin made himself known with personal movies like Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur. Sadly, Claude Jutra committed suicide in the 1980s after a struggle with Alzeihmer's disease, and Gilles Carle became too sick to direct.
The 1990s and beyond
1990-2002 is not considered a great period in Quebec filmmaking. Arcand's output was called sub-par, and new filmmakers didn't make the grade. 2003 was called "the year of Quebec's cinema's rebirth" with Arcand finally winning the foreign film Oscar for his _Le déclin.._ sequel Les invasions barbares and Gaz bar blues and La grande séduction gaining critical and public acclaim.