-From the 1920s to the 1980s, thousands of Quebec dads, Super 8 or 16 mm cameras in hand, captured the happiest moments of their little family's daily life. What no one else has done, neither anthropologists, nor fictional filmmakers, nor experienced NFB documentary filmmakers. The dads of the province of Quebec (in Canada) have unknowingly filmed our collective autobiography.
The family film is therefore a witness to our lives over nearly a century. Witness of our history, the one of the big events, but especially the one of the small days. Witness of our intimate history. Witness of our childhood, those of our parents and grandparents. Witness of our daily life, with its thousand-and-one details, day after day, decade after decade. Witness of the links that unite us, parents, friends; spectator of the relationships that we maintain with the world.
The first series of "J'ai la mémoire qui tourne" showed the rituals surrounding the four seasons. Those that are unchanging and those that have disappeared. The second series will bear witness to the spectacular evolution experienced by Quebecers in the twentieth century through four themes that reveal the profound nature of Quebecers. The family film bears witness to childhood, daily life, the world and history.
Our history has been told to us a thousand times. At school, in history books, in novels. In documentaries too, thanks to the selective camera of the filmmakers. But this time, thanks to Dad's lens, we see the Quebec of yesterday and the day before as we never see it: as it is.
La Ruelle Productions has one of the largest archives of family films in Quebec. As part of the production, we have transferred and digitized over 20,000 reels of home movies from all over Quebec and Canada. These images, dating from 1920 to 1980, represent a true page of our collective history.
