MONTREAL,
April 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - For the
second consecutive year, a film restored by Éléphant: The memory
of Québec cinema will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Classics
section, which celebrates restored, digitized versions of
masterpieces of world cinema. This year, the honour falls to Les
Ordres (1974) by Michel Brault.
The Cannes Festival will be held from May 13
to 24, 2015.
"Quebecor is pleased to see that
Éléphant's film restoration expertise is being recognized
abroad, and particularly at Cannes, one of the most prestigious film
festivals in the world," said Pierre
Dion, President and CEO of Quebecor. "Being selected for
Cannes Classics is an exceptional opportunity to showcase the
quality and richness of Québec's cinematic heritage before the
largest possible audience, which is precisely the mission and
purpose of Éléphant. Hats off to the entire team!"
Michel Brault won
the best director award at the 1975 Cannes Festival for Les
Ordres. This year, the Québec classic returns to the big screen
at Cannes in a fully restored and
digitized version. Les Ordres has in fact been restored
three times by Éléphant, first in 2009 under the watchful
eye of Michel Brault himself, and
twice since to apply new techniques and preserve the digital file.
All the restoration and digitization work was done by Technicolor
Creative Services in Montréal under the direct supervision of
Éléphant directors Marie-José Raymond and Claude Fournier.
Since last year, three films restored by
Éléphant have been selected for screening at major
international festivals: Léolo by Jean-Claude Lauzon was shown at Cannes Classics
in 2014 and the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, and
Les Bons débarras by
Francis Mankiewicz was presented at
the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon.
In July 2015, Les Bons débarras will also be screened at
the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. With the extraordinary
exposure received by these films, it is no exaggeration to say that
Éléphant is bringing our classic movies back to life, to the
delight of movie-lovers everywhere.
Preserving Québec's cinematic heritage for
future generations
The aim of Éléphant: The memory of Québec cinema, launched
by Quebecor in 2008, is to digitally remaster all the fictional
feature films in Québec's cinematic heritage and make them readily
available. To date, more than 200 movies have been restored and
digitized, and more are being added to the catalogue regularly. The
films are available on Videotron's illico video on demand service,
illico mobile and illico.tv. Since November
18, 2013, movie buffs have also been able to access part of
the catalogue through iTunes Canada, and since April
15, 2014 through iTunes Europe and iTunes Africa in countries where French or English is
an official language.
Except for a small amount to cover a portion of
the platform's operating costs, all distribution revenues go to the
rights holders and the filmmakers. Éléphant: The memory of
Québec cinema is a philanthropic project from which Quebecor
derives no financial benefit.
Visit our website: http://elephant.canoe.ca/
Follow us on Twitter: @elephantcineqc
Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/elephantcineqc
About Quebecor
Quebecor, a Canadian leader in telecommunications, entertainment,
news media and culture, is one of the best-performing integrated
communications companies in the industry. Driven by their
determination to deliver the best possible customer experience, all
of Quebecor's subsidiaries and brands are differentiated by their
high-quality, multiplatform, convergent products and services.
Quebecor (TSX: QBR.A, QBR.B) is headquartered in
Québec. It holds a 75.36% interest in Quebecor Media, which employs
close to 11,300 people in Canada.
A family business founded in 1950, Quebecor is
strongly committed to the community. Every year, it actively
supports people working with more than 250 organizations in the
vital fields of culture, health, education, the environment and
entrepreneurship.
To download the photograph of Michel Brault, click here.
To view five excerpts from the film, click here.
SOURCE Quebecor