Anne Claire Poirier has some two dozen films to her credit as a writer, editor, director and/or producer.
After earning a law degree from the University of Montreal and studying theatre at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique, she joined the French-language network of the CBC, where she worked as an actress, interviewer, host and drama critic.
In 1960, she moved to the National Film Board, initially working in Versions and then as an assistant editor and assistant director. In 1963, producer Jacques Bobet gave her a chance to write, direct and edit her first short film, 30 Minutes, Mister Plummer, a profile of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer. The following year, she directed and edited La Fin des étés, a dramatic short co-written with novelist Hubert Aquin. This second film had a complex time structure that made it stand out from other Quebec films of the period.
In 1968, Poirier made her mark with Mother-To-Be (De mère en fille), a frank exploration of the emotions… read more
Anne Claire Poirier has some two dozen films to her credit as a writer, editor, director and/or producer.
After earning a law degree from the University of Montreal and studying theatre at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique, she joined the French-language network of the CBC, where she worked as an actress, interviewer, host and drama critic.
In 1960, she moved to the National Film Board, initially working in Versions and then as an assistant editor and assistant director. In 1963, producer Jacques Bobet gave her a chance to write, direct and edit her first short film, 30 Minutes, Mister Plummer, a profile of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer. The following year, she directed and edited La Fin des étés, a dramatic short co-written with novelist Hubert Aquin. This second film had a complex time structure that made it stand out from other Quebec films of the period.
In 1968, Poirier made her mark with Mother-To-Be (De mère en fille), a frank exploration of the emotions and anxieties experienced by a pregnant woman. Not only was it her first feature-length film, it was the first feature ever made by a woman in Quebec. Poirier’s feminist concerns were reflected in a report she and Jeanne Morazain submitted to the NFB in 1971 calling for a separate film program co-ordinated by women, which resulted in the creation of the En tant que femmes program. Between 1972 and 1975, as head of this program, Poirier produced films by directors Mireille Dansereau, Aimée Danis and Hélène Girard to serve as conscious-raising tools for both women and men.
During this time, Poirier also directed two films of her own: They Called Us “Les Filles du Roy” (Les Filles du Roy) (1974), a history of Quebec women’s traditional role of servant and helpmate, which employed a very effective juxtaposition of different elements in a personal style that would characterize her later dramas, and Before the Time Comes (Le Temps de l’avant) (1975), a dramatic feature about abortion.
From 1975 to 1978, she served as Executive Producer of the Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle program and studio head in the French Production Branch.
In 1979, her film A Scream from Silence (Mourir à tue-tête), about rape and the individual and collective domination of women’s bodies, raised a storm of debate and propelled her to international attention. A cry of rage that still echoes today, it is arguably the most powerful film of Poirier’s career.
Her next film, La Quarantaine (1982), was a more traditional drama, followed in 1988 by Salut Victor!, a TV movie written in collaboration with Marthe Blackburn about the unlikely friendship that develops between two men living in a residence for senior citizens.
In 1989, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Film Board, she made the collage film Il y a longtemps que je t’aime tracing the changing image of women in NFB films.
Poirier was appointed to the Ordre national du Québec in 1985 and received the Government of Quebec’s Albert Tessier Award for lifetime achievement in 1988.
In 1996, Anne Claire Poirier directed Tu as crié LET ME GO, a reflection on the underlying meaning of the facts and events surrounding the violent death of her daughter Yanne, a young drug addict murdered two years earlier. The film deeply touched the public when it was shown in commercial release and has also won a number of prestigious awards.
In November 2001, Anne Claire Poirier received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards and, in February 2002, the Jutra-Hommage Award given by La Grande Nuit du cinéma. —National Film Board of Canada
