Jean Pierre Lefebvre is one of the most inventive and prolific of all Canadian filmmakers. From the sixties to the eighties, his films were as much celebrated at international film festivals as are the films of Atom Egoyan today.

More recently, Lefebvre has explored the creative potential of video as a visual medium. In Jean Pierre Lefebvre: Vidéaste, Peter Harcourt provides an overview of Lefebvre’s films and an incisive consideration of his five-part video project L’age des Images (1993-95). Two essays by Lefebvre, one a personal account of the influence of Québécois films on his work, the other an argument for a “national cinema”, along with a recent interview with him round out this timely look at a director of great distinction and emotive power.

Published by the Toronto International Film Festival. Distributed in Canada by Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Distributed outside Canada by Indiana University Press.

Peter Harcourt is the author of Six European Directors: Speculations on the Meaning of Film Style.

Peter Harcourt's profile page

"Solid, scholarly and informative."

The Toronto Star