Chants de Vielles

Le Son des Français d’Amérique

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Chants de Vielles festival and the 50th anniversary of Son des Français d’Amérique (SFA, 1974), the filmmaker and co-author of this Quebec documentary series, André Gladu, presents two restored SFA episodes in the form of ciné-rencontres.

A true return to his roots for the director, who returns to his first inspirations with an episode shot in St-Denis-sur-Richelieu in Montérégie (a village facing St-Antoine-sur-Richelieu) and in Chéticamp in Acadia, and co-directed with Michel Brault. A return to the roots, too, as all 27 episodes of the SFA series have been restored (2020-2022) since their inscription on UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register in 2017. This work restores the films as they were shot in the 70s.

Festival Schedule

From the 1970s onwards, André Gladu directed several documentaries on Quebec and the French-speaking peoples of America, including Le reel du pendu (1971), Le son des Français d’Amérique (1974-1980), Marc-Aurèle Fortin (1983), Pellan (1985), Liberty Street Blues (1986) on New Orleans jazz, Gaston Miron – les outils du poète (1994).

In 1987-88, he conceived the Musée de l’image en mouvement project for the Cinémathèque québécoise. From 1997 to 2002, he was a producer at the NFB’s Studio Culture et Expérimentation, French Program. Later, as resident filmmaker, he created Tintamarre (2004) and Marron (2006). Starting in 2014, he directed a cycle of short films on Lanaudière traditions: Le chant du monde (2015), Matawinie “ La rencontre des eaux ” (2016), L’esprit du violon Trad (2018), Excusez-là and L’autre bout du monde (2021).

In 2015, he received the Prix Hommages from the Académie Charles-Cros. In 2018, he was awarded the Prix du Québec Albert-Tessier pour le cinéma. Since 2020, he has been working on restoring and broadcasting the 27 episodes of Son des Français d’Amérique in collaboration with the Cinémathèque québécoise, Éléphant – Mémoire du cinéma québécois and the NFB.